Posted by Tina
Partisan attacks on FOX News and Rush Limbaugh are one thing but using civil rights voting laws to overturn a political decision of local people in a small town and claiming the reason is that they are too dumb to know how to vote is way over the top. If left unchallenged this manipulation of the voting rights law could set a terrible standard for decisions in other districts and in upcoming 2010 redistricting following the census.
The small North Carolina town of Kinston decided overwhelmingly in a referendum to choose from a nonpartisan field of candidates when deciding who would represent them. The Obama Justice Department has decided not to allow them to hold nonpartisan elections. The reason they gave for the decision is unbelievable:
“Removing the partisan cue in municipal elections will, in all likelihood, eliminate the single factor that allows black candidates to be elected to office.” ** “In Kinston elections, voters base their choice more on the race of a candidate rather than his or her political affiliation, and without either the appeal to party loyalty or the ability to vote a straight ticket, the limited remaining support from white voters for a black Democratic candidate will diminish even more.” – Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King in a letter to City Attorney James P. Cauley III
This opinion might seem reasonable if you were unaware of the makeup of this small town. It is majority black and majority Democrat. The five-member city council is made up of two black councilmen and three white councilmen, all are Democrats. The current mayor is white but the former mayor who served for many years was black. As one of the articles below pointed out the people in this town all know each other very well. The record indicates that race is not a factor in this towns voting record.
If you missed this story today prepare to be bowled over as you read more in the following articles:
“Understanding Black Political Apathy,” by Abigail Thernstrom – the corner, National Review