Chairman's Corner
Welcome to the Chairman's Corner, where Committee Chair Bob Perry keeps us up on issues and actions. Check back often!
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"I am particularly grateful that the voters of this district and the district as configured prior to 2011 .... allowed me to serve 7 years in the state house." - Bob Perry
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A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF GERRYMANDERING
It is now Tuesday, November 13, 2018, one week since the mid-term election of 2018. As it was on November 6, temperatures today are in the 40s, and it is raining. Different is the new political landscape.
Granite State Democrats awoke Wednesday morning to learn that our executive council, senate, and house of representatives will be led by a Democratic majority next year, this, despite the 2011 gerrymandering of political districts throughout the state (and the nation), including House District #3, made up of Strafford and New Durham, that was intended to secure Republican victories at least through the next redistricting in 2021. In short, in order for there to have been this victory for Democrats last Tuesday, voters had to overcome the bias inherent in gerrymandered districts. To be sure, gerrymandering is almost as old as our country, and is legal, as is protection of incumbents when drafting the new districts.
What exactly is gerrymandering? Here's the definition from Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Gerrymandering: to divide (an area) into political units to give special advantages to one group.
Legal does not make it right. [Click here to see a map of our current House district, in which the towns of Strafford and heavily Republican New Durham are joined only by a single geographical point]
Several bills will be submitted to 2019 legislators for their consideration that would create an independent redistricting commission. Since the New Hampshire Constitution mandates redistricting be the function of our legislature, any plan created by members of an independent redistricting commission would require legislative approval. So why create an independent commission? The theory is that if a redistricting plan is generally viewed as fair, our legislature would be hard pressed to ignore the commission’s recommendations. The concept is not new to New Hampshire; 21 states have, in their laws, some form of independent commission.
Ellen Phillips and I, unsuccessful candidates for the NH House of Representatives in 2018, take this opportunity to thank the voters of Strafford for their support, as evidenced by the official Strafford vote count shown below.
Harrington, 997
Perry, 985
Wuelper 972
Phillips, 912
I am particularly grateful that the voters of this district and the district as configured prior to 2011 with 6 towns (Milton, Middleton, New Durham, Farmington, Barrington and Strafford) allowed me to serve 7 years in the state house. Wanting to protect the most fundamental right of all – the right to vote – I requested of Speaker Norelli that I serve all of those years on the House Election Law Committee. I am equally grateful that 2018 voters will end voter suppression efforts for the next two years, they having created a Democratic legislative majority.
Much more to be discovered at this website over the coming months. We hope it serves as a worthwhile resource for inhabitants of the district. I encourage all registered Democrats and Democrat-leaning undeclared voters to check out our committee meetings and get involved.
Bob Perry
Strafford
Granite State Democrats awoke Wednesday morning to learn that our executive council, senate, and house of representatives will be led by a Democratic majority next year, this, despite the 2011 gerrymandering of political districts throughout the state (and the nation), including House District #3, made up of Strafford and New Durham, that was intended to secure Republican victories at least through the next redistricting in 2021. In short, in order for there to have been this victory for Democrats last Tuesday, voters had to overcome the bias inherent in gerrymandered districts. To be sure, gerrymandering is almost as old as our country, and is legal, as is protection of incumbents when drafting the new districts.
What exactly is gerrymandering? Here's the definition from Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Gerrymandering: to divide (an area) into political units to give special advantages to one group.
Legal does not make it right. [Click here to see a map of our current House district, in which the towns of Strafford and heavily Republican New Durham are joined only by a single geographical point]
Several bills will be submitted to 2019 legislators for their consideration that would create an independent redistricting commission. Since the New Hampshire Constitution mandates redistricting be the function of our legislature, any plan created by members of an independent redistricting commission would require legislative approval. So why create an independent commission? The theory is that if a redistricting plan is generally viewed as fair, our legislature would be hard pressed to ignore the commission’s recommendations. The concept is not new to New Hampshire; 21 states have, in their laws, some form of independent commission.
Ellen Phillips and I, unsuccessful candidates for the NH House of Representatives in 2018, take this opportunity to thank the voters of Strafford for their support, as evidenced by the official Strafford vote count shown below.
Harrington, 997
Perry, 985
Wuelper 972
Phillips, 912
I am particularly grateful that the voters of this district and the district as configured prior to 2011 with 6 towns (Milton, Middleton, New Durham, Farmington, Barrington and Strafford) allowed me to serve 7 years in the state house. Wanting to protect the most fundamental right of all – the right to vote – I requested of Speaker Norelli that I serve all of those years on the House Election Law Committee. I am equally grateful that 2018 voters will end voter suppression efforts for the next two years, they having created a Democratic legislative majority.
Much more to be discovered at this website over the coming months. We hope it serves as a worthwhile resource for inhabitants of the district. I encourage all registered Democrats and Democrat-leaning undeclared voters to check out our committee meetings and get involved.
Bob Perry
Strafford
