Republican Delegate Announces Redistricting Plan
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- A Republican state lawmaker said Wednesday he will advocate a congressional redistricting plan backed by a minority political action committee in an unusual alliance between Maryland Republicans and a group that represents the interests of the black community in heavily Democratic Prince George's County.
Delegate Michael Hough, who represents Frederick and Washington counties, said he will introduced "The Maryland Fair Representation Congressional Plan" in next week's special session on redistricting.
The measure will include a plan for three minority districts backed by the Fannie Lou Hamer Political Action Committee. The group is criticizing a draft proposal for maintaining only two majority African-American districts, instead of the three that the PAC believes are justified due to population growth in minority communities.
"I am proud to work with the Fannie Lou Hamer PAC because we share the belief that redistricting for the purpose of incumbency protection and partisan political gain do a disservice to all who seek individual liberty and transparency in governance," Hough said in a statement.
Radamase Cabrera, a spokesman for Fannie Lou in Maryland, said he worked with Republicans on the proposal.
"Fannie Lou Hammer is fully on board," Cabrera said of Hough's plan.
A draft map submitted last week by Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's advisory panel has upset Republicans and concerned some minority groups. It moves a large portion of Montgomery County into the 6th Congressional district, which has been held by Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett since 1993.
The change would make it more competitive for a Democrat, but critics say it also would dilute minority representation in central Maryland.
Meanwhile, representatives of the NAACP and the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus met with O'Malley officials on Wednesday to talk about their concerns with the draft proposal.
Elbridge James, political action chairman for the NAACP's Maryland State Conference, said he expressed his concerns about the map to Jeanne Hitchcock, O'Malley's secretary of appointments who chaired the redistricting panel, and Joe Bryce, O'Malley's chief legislative officer.
James described the meeting as "tense and terse" at first, but said it became more accommodating as administration officials said they were willing to work with the group to explore possible changes.
"What we got was: `We hear you. We're going to look at it, but we need some help and support from you in terms of the numbers,"' James said.
Delegate Aisha Braveboy, a Prince George's County Democrat who co-chairs the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland's Redistricting Committee, described it as a productive meeting.
"We're providing some suggested changes to the map we think are necessary," Braveboy said. "We hope they will take those changes under consideration before the governor releases his official map."
O'Malley will submit his proposed map to the General Assembly on Monday.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
