Asheville districts bill advances in NC House committee

Mark Barrett | The Citizen-Times

RALEIGH – A House committee on Wednesday passed a bill to elect most Asheville City Council members by district, sending it on to consideration by the full House.

The bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson, would require the city to put six districts in place no later than Nov. 1 and begin using them in the 2019 election. If the city does not act by then, the legislature would draw districts in 2018.

That would conflict with council plans to put the issue up to a referendum of city voters Nov. 7, the same date as this year's general election for four council seats. Council has set a June 27 public hearing on the idea and proposes to vote July 25 on whether to hold a referendum on council districts.

The bill may set up another court battle between the city and the General Assembly. Mayor Esther Manheimer said later Wednesday, "There's really not a lot of clarity in this situation," but the city could argue in court that Edwards' bill is unconstitutional.

Edwards' bill passed the Senate in April, and has since picked up support from Rep. Brian Turner, D-Buncombe. That will improve its chances of passing the House when it comes up for a floor vote, likely some time over the next week.

Edwards told the House Elections and Ethics Law Committee Wednesday that members of City Council have typically come from only a few areas of the city, leaving those in other parts feeling disenfranchised.

The bill would require that six of council's seven members be selected in single-member districts. Only the mayor would be voted on citywide.

The city has grown dramatically since its current system of government was put in place in 1935, Edwards said.

"The city of Asheville has changed. It's election process has not changed," and it should now, Edwards said.

He said he doubts the sincerity of city leaders' efforts to look at district elections.

"It is my strong opinion that politics has gotten in the way of the city of Asheville making the right decision," Edwards said.

'Left-wing voting cartel'

Turner said in an interview after the meeting that he had agreed to support Edwards' bill in return for Edwards' support of an amendment Turner will offer on the House floor to give the job of drawing up districts to an independent commission.

Council would appoint the seven-member commission, which would have no more than three members from any one political party, he said.

That would advance the cause of handing the job of redistricting in general over to an independent body, he said. North Carolina's legislative and congressional districts have been the subject of numerous lawsuits since the 1970s charging that they are unconstitutional. At least two lawsuits are still active.

"If my amendment is successful, this would be one of the first, if not the first, independent districting commissions in North Carolina," Turner said. "If we're looking at the goal of ending gerrymandering ... this is a great first step."

Turner's district includes South Asheville, where much of the push for district elections originates. Edwards also represents that part of the city.

Philip Isley, a lobbyist for the city, told the committee Asheville voters should be given the chance to weigh in as City Council proposes. He asked that the bill's effective date be moved back to December or January.

Three Asheville residents who spoke to the committee said Edwards' bill is needed to improve representation of different parts of the city on council or to weaken liberals' hold on council.

"I ask you to help ensure that every citizen is represented," said downtown resident Shelia Surrett. "Please help end progressive ... discrimination against Asheville citizens with traditional values."

Joe Dunn, a South Asheville resident and former councilman, said only three South Asheville residents have served on council since the early 1970s.

"Asheville's being run by a left-wing voting cartel made up primarily by residents of the central part of the city," he said.

South Asheville resident Dusty Pless said his part of the city "really has no representation" on council.

Who decides?

Rep. Susan Fisher, D-Buncombe, said the General Assembly should give city government space to address the issue as council proposes.

"I would submit to you that if the city is working in good faith to present this as a referendum before the voters of Asheville that they be given a chance to do this," she said.

Approving the bill increases the chances that the legislature will one day run roughshod over the wishes of voters or legislators elsewhere, she told fellow committee members.

"If this can happen in Asheville, it can also happen in your city," she said.

Turner gave an equivocal answer when asked whether he thinks Asheville City Council should be elected by district.

"If the goal is to have geographical representation, then I think that would be a good way to do it," he said. "I don't support districts that are drawn for partisan purposes."

Many people in his district back the idea, he said.

"I've had a number of constituents bring this to my attention," Turner said. "It's been a topic at my town halls that I've had in South Asheville. ... That is a constituency that I represent and I need to be listening to."

Opponents argue that the General Assembly should not impose its will on the city and that district elections would encourage council members to pay too much attention to the interests of their districts and not enough to what's best for the entire city.

Supporters say too many council members have come from North Asheville and not enough from the rest of the city.

Manheimer said later Wednesday that City Council will probably move ahead with the process of setting a Nov. 7 referendum on the idea of districts.

"If the people say yes, then I don't think there's a question that we would move forward on the districts," she said.

If districts are voted down, "We'll need to evaluate our options, because what's important to me is that the City Council do what the people want," Manheimer said.

State law sets up a process whereby the governing boards of municipalities can change their form of government themselves or ask voters to do so in a referendum.

A federal judge in April struck down a law passed by the General Assembly to change the way Greensboro City Council is chosen, saying it singled out Greensboro for different treatment than other North Carolina municipalities because it did not allow the city to employ that process. The judge cited the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says laws apply to everyone equally.

Manheimer said the decision suggests, "You can't take away one city's right to a referendum on districts while every other city gets that right."

A similar bill to Edwards' was defeated on the last day of the General Assembly's regular session in 2016, but one committee member who voted against it then said he will support Edwards' bill.

Edwards said the causes of the House vote against a bill sponsored by his predecessor, then-Sen Tom Apodaca, apparently had more to do with procedural issues or disputes between the House and Senate than the merits of the bill.

Several North Carolina cities have had legal battles with the General Assembly in recent years. In December, the state Supreme Court struck down a 2013 law that would have required Asheville to hand over its water system to the Metropolitan Sewerage District.