The Arkansas Times Blog (Friday April 1, 2011) reported:
Rep. Greg Leding of Fayetteville, who voted for the House-approved congressional redistricting plan that moves a portion of Fayetteville from the 3rd to the 4th Congressional District, has issued a statement on his vote.
LEDING STATEMENT (only first part of statement)
“Of all the votes I’ve cast during this legislative session, this one weighed on my mind more than any other. I listened to a great deal of feedback from my constituents, some who supported and some who opposed this bill.”
“Redistricting is a difficult and, unfortunately, can be a divisive process, but as lawmakers, we have a duty to the people of Arkansas to meet the requirements mandated to us by law. I spent the last severalweeks listening to input from my constituents, and although I may not have been able to answer, I took every email, phone call and message into consideration in weighing this decision.”
Lawmakers have been tasked to address redistricting during this legislative session and with only one proposal on the House floor for consideration, I believe we owe it to the taxpayers to address this matter in the timeframe that has been set for us to do so.”
____________________________
I only put the first part of Leding’s statement up because I wanted to show how he basically said that he listened to all those he represented and “some” supported the move and “some” did not. I just wish he would have said, “The overwhelming amount of the people I represent strongly oppose this but I am don’t care what they think!!! I will go ahead no matter how many polls come out showing a vast majority of Fayetteville residents oppose this action!!!” (Tolbert’s poll is prime example.)
Mike Masterson is one of the Northwest Arkansas residents and his thoughts are below:
Mike Masterson (opinion editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Northwest edition) in his article on March 26, 2011 in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette rightly asserted:
The plan to flagrantly gerrymander Northwest Fayetteville from the Third Congressional District into the southernmost Fourth District is the most corrupted political manipulation I’ve seen in a long while. Remember any legislator who supports this twisted, tortured abomination.
____________________________________
I am a little surprised that Democratic Representatives from South Arkansas did not object either. Jason Tolbert sums up Rep. Matt Shepherd’s objection: In short, a more compact district would be better for both Fayetteville and for south Arkansas both in their representative and in their community of interest.
The Daily Hatch 