OPINION:
In the 16 years I served in the Virginia House of Delegates (2002-2018), I learned some things about legislating. Among them was to never assume you have a mandate. Before the November elections in Virginia, neither gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger nor any other Democrat campaigned on raising taxes. Yet in short order, they pursued such a policy with reckless abandon. There was no discussion of mid-decade gerrymandering.
Indeed, 65% of Virginians firmly opposed partisan redistricting in 2020, when they voted for a constitutional amendment outlawing the practice. The amendment required that Virginia’s congressional and state legislative lines be drawn by a 16-member commission of politicians, in consultation with the state legislature. The clear and indisputable evidence is that Virginians insisted on nonpartisan redistricting. Democrats in the General Assembly, however, are assuming they have a mandate to defenestrate even-handed redistricting. They have assumed too much.
Over the years, I witnessed my own party zealously address issues that didn’t reflect what people had elected us to do. The outcome was sadly predictable. We lost seats in subsequent elections. When legislators act as if there is no limit to what they can do, they frequently are confronted by an electorate that doesn’t agree. We are seeing this play out in Virginia.
On April 21, a constitutional referendum will be put to the people, who will be asked to approve one of the most despicably corrupt legislative initiatives ever passed by a party with unassailable control over the entire legislative process. The issue at hand is an amendment to the Virginia Constitution that would permit the Democratic majority to redraw the state’s 11 congressional districts to favor their party 10-to-1. This grossly partisan act, referred to as gerrymandering, would allow the Democrats to brazenly wipe away four congressional seats currently held by Republicans. Democrats are asking voters to suspend a fair-minded system and wrongly substitute it with a politically motivated manipulation that would give their party a chokehold on congressional seats in the commonwealth.
As a former member of the House of Delegates, I recall the many debates we had over the 2020 reform. For years, Democrats have bewailed the old system in which the majority in the General Assembly drew legislative lines. They demanded a nonpartisan system. Not all Republicans favored that, but when it came to a vote in 2020, the Republican majority urged voters to support a fairer system. The Democrats? Sensing that they might have the majority in the years to come, Democrats did a complete about-face to shamelessly oppose the 2020 nonpartisan redistricting effort. Simply put, they wanted the power, not an objectively fair process in the hands of a nonpartisan commission.
Their hypocrisy is astonishing. Rep. Robert Scott, Virginia Democrat, supports this contemptible maneuver. Never mind that when North Carolina pursued mid-decade redistricting, Mr. Scott labeled it “stealing three seats.” My own representative, Democrat Eugene Vindman, asserts that Virginia’s blatant partisan redistricting is “fair-minded” because other states have done so. Pointing to redistricting in Texas and California, he declares, “We didn’t start this fight here.” For Mr. Vindman, it’s all about revenge, not justice.
Ms. Spanberger’s posture on the issue is stunning. She supported the 2020 nonpartisan amendment but now says Virginia must fight “fire with fire.” Even more alarming is her sheepish assurance that upending redistricting is just a “temporary” measure.
She seeks to comfort us with a pledge to return — after the next census — to what two-thirds of Virginians passed in 2020. In other words, “Hey, Virginia, it’s OK, after we’re done cheating you, just this once, we will play by the rules again.”
Clearly, what motivates corrupt Democratic legislators is lust for power, not reform. Don’t be fooled. The Virginia Constitution requires that districts not “unduly favor or disfavor any political party.” Democratic power-mongers are asking us to participate in their political larceny.
They are banking on voters being as ill-motivated as they are. Fortunately, principled Democrats such as former state Sen. Chap Petersen oppose this scheme, joining former Republican Gov. George Allen in opposing “self-dealing politicians.”
Finally, this: In 1887, English Catholic historian, liberal politician and writer Lord Acton was a strong advocate for individual liberty.
Warning of the dangers of concentrated authority, Acton observed, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Democrats are revealing to all of us the inherent risk of abusing authority, which erodes moral judgment. Unchecked Democratic power is leading to inevitable corruption. It falls to us to counter their abuse of power, and we will do so when all of us vote “No” on April 21.
• L. Scott Lingamfelter is a retired U.S. Army colonel and combat veteran (1973-2001) and former Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates (2002-2018). He is the author of “Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War” (University Press of Kentucky, 2020) and “Yanks in Blue Berets: American UN Peacekeepers in the Middle East” (UPK, 2023) and a contributor to The Washington Times commentary page.
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