Brown met privately on Monday with members of the Massachusetts Black Empowerment Coalition to discuss redistricting.
Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., addresses the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in Boston, Monday, Nov. 15, 2010. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)BY MATT MURPHY
BOSTON — While the state's two most prominent Democrats have remained virtually silent on the issue of redistricting, Republican Sen. Scott Brown has shown an early willingness to engage his former state colleagues, particularly with regard to minority voting rights.
Brown, who faces re-election in 2012 for a first full-term, met privately on Monday with members of the Massachusetts Black Empowerment Coalition to discuss redistricting and the group's push to craft a new majority-minority Congressional district that would increase the odds of electing a minority to Congress.
The freshman Republican's approach has been a study in contrasts to that of U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Gov. Deval Patrick, the state's first elected African-American governor, who have both declined to weigh in thus far on the redistricting process as a 28-member panel of lawmakers held hearings across the state and now will begin work to redraw the state's political boundaries.
"He's agreed to reach out to every member of the Legislature to express his views on this. We appreciate the Senator's understanding of how sensitive this issue is to the African-American community," Kevin Peterson, the group's executive director, told the News Service after his meeting with Brown.
The late U.S. Sen. Edward Brook, a Republican, was the only non-white candidate ever elected to Congress from Massachusetts.
"No African-American has ever been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and I think the Commonwealth is ready for that," Peterson said.
Brown was unavailable for comment after the meeting as he quickly headed to catch a plane back to the Capitol, but his office referred questions about his support to a letter he wrote in April to the House and Senate chairs of the Redistricting Committee in which he endorsed a new majority-minority Congressional district centered in Suffolk County.
"It is my hope that any redistricting for congressional or state legislative seats will result in districts that avoid diluting the voting strength of citizens based on the color of their skin," Brown wrote. "In the interest of fairness, a new congressional district centered in Suffolk County that creates a majority-minority seat under the Voting Rights Act should be seriously considered, as well as an increase in the number of state Senate and House seats where persons of color constitute a majority vote."
Assessing the current map, Brown referred to districts "that are not geographically compact and whose lines swerve irrationally around the state so that the only logical conclusion is that it was drawn for the purpose of protecting incumbents."
Peterson met for roughly 30 minutes with Brown at the senator's downtown Boston office along with Nadine Cohen of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and David Harris, the managing director of Hamilton Institute at Harvard Law School led by the coalition's counsel Charles Ogletree.
Peterson said Kerry's office has yet to respond to a letter sent by the coalition to Washington D.C. in June seeking his support.
"We're puzzled as to why he's been so silent on this issue. We will continue to reach out on the matter that, quite frankly, should be a slam dunk for him," Peterson said. "This is a civil rights issue. As a sitting senator he should feel compelled to engage this issue as it's a matter that impacts many of his constituents."
A Kerry spokeswoman said the senator believes redistricting was a matter best left to state leaders.
"Senator Kerry has said that all players should have a seat at the table when it comes to drawing our state's next congressional map, but believes that redistricting is ultimately a State House matter that should be negotiated from home, not Washington," said Whitney Smith, press secretary to Kerry.
Peterson said his group also plans to reach out to Patrick for his support, noting that the governor has been "very quiet" on redistricting, but that they plan to "smoke him out."
"We want to have conversations with the governor. We're in the initial steps of reaching out, and we want the governor to veto any redistricting legislation that doesn't satisfy minority voting rights in the Commonwealth," Peterson said.
The governor's office issued a statement to the News Service Monday afternoon: "The Governor looks forward to reviewing the final proposal put forth by the Redistricting Committee, and supports a fair and transparent redistricting process that gives voice to the many diverse communities across the Commonwealth," spokeswoman Heather Johnson said.
Many states have taken different approaches to redistricting. In some, such as Maryland, governors have put together redistricting commissions, while in Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill called the Voting Rights Act of 2011 preventing a neighborhood's political make-up from being weakened by being divided into multiple legislative districts.
Based on the 2010 Census, Massachusetts will lose one of its 10 Congressional seats, forcing lawmakers to contemplate a new political map that could force one or more Democratic incumbents to run against one another.
The Black Empowerment Coalition has submitted a proposed map to the Redistricting Committee that would create an incumbent-free majority-minority district capturing minority communities to the south of Boston in communities like Randolph, Milton and Brockton and extending north through Boston, Cambridge, parts of Somerville and Everett.
The district would carve out both incumbent U.S. Reps. Michael Capuano, of Somerville, and Stephen Lynch, of South Boston. Capuano's Eighth District is currently a majority-minority district based on total population, but Peterson said his coalition is seeking a district where minorities make up a majority of the voting age population.
Peterson said the map was drawn "with blinders on" seeking only to protect historically disenfranchised minority groups. Though he called Capuano a "good representative," he said empowering the minority voice in the electoral process is the priority.
Senate Redistricting Committee Chairman Stanley Rosenberg said he had not heard from Kerry's office and had just a "passing conversation" with Patrick on the issue, but said the committee welcomed any and all input.
"We are very mindful of our responsibility with regard to the Voting Rights Act and will consider seriously all the maps presented," Rosenberg said. Rosenberg said the committee was still reviewing population and demographic data from the Census, but said early indications are that white population growth in Boston outpaced that of minorities, complicating the idea of a Suffolk County majority-minority district.
After the 2000 Census, minority groups challenged the state House redistricting plan in court and U.S. District Court judge struck down the map, ruling that it diluted minority voting power in state House districts in violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Legislature was forced to revise its plan.
This time around House Redistricting Chairman Michael Moran and Rosenberg have all conceded a lawsuit at some level over redistricting, even going so far as to discuss factoring in time for a court challenge on the calendar to have a map in place for the presidential primary in March.
Peterson, however, said he doesn't believe the courts have to get involved.
"If they do the right thing, they won't get sued, at least not by the minority community," Peterson said.