Category: Meetings

Citizens of all political persuasions agree that gerrymandering — the deliberate manipulation of legislative district boundaries to benefit a particular party or to disadvantage an opposing party — undermines the democratic process.

Independent authorities have ranked Virginia as the fifth most gerrymandered state based on the lack of compactness and contiguity of its districts.

In the interest of learning more about this important issue and what is being done to address the problem, the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club will conduct a public program April 21, featuring Brian Cannon, executive director of OneVirginia2021. The organization is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group whose goal is an amendment to the Virginia Constitution to establish an independent, impartial commission to apply a fair and transparent process in drawing political districts after the next U.S. Census in 2020.

The program will be held at 1:30 p.m. on April 21 in the meeting room of the LOW Community Center. A meet-and-greet sessions will begin at 1 p.m. Everyone, regardless of political affiliation, is welcome.

In Virginia, state legislators redraw district lines for the U.S. Congress, the House of Delegates and the State Senate after every 10-year census. Under the current system, the party in power in the House and the party in power in the Senate can draw the lines to serve their own interests. As a result, 56 candidates in the House of Delegates faced no real competition in the general election in 2013, with 22 Democrats and 34 Republicans facing no major-party challenger. Of the remaining 44 races, only 19 were considered competitive to some degree. In the end, only two seats changed parties.

In 2013, a group of concerned citizens came together in Charlottesville to discuss redistricting in the Commonwealth. From that meeting OneVirginia2021 was born. The group partners with individuals and organizations to raise awareness, provide information and work with legislators to implement meaningful reform. Members of the coalition range from progressives and independents to Tea Party conservatives.

Mr. Cannon has been executive director of OneVirginia2021 since January 2015. He has more than a decade of experience in non-profit leadership, community building, fundraising, and bipartisan advocacy for state policy issues. Previously, he worked as a consultant with startups and high-growth companies.

Mr. Cannon received his bachelor of arts and Juris Doctor degrees from the College of William and Mary. He and his wife, Kelly, live in Richmond with their son. When not working on redistricting reform he serves on several non-profit boards and plays rec league football.

• OneVirginia2021 Web Site
• “Jerry Mandering, Your Representative Probably” video
• A resolution in support of redistricting reform
• “Supreme court weighs legality of Virginia redistricting” from The Hill

The Rev. Adam Colson, pastor for community missions at The Lake of the Woods Church, visited the LOW Democratic Club Jan. 21 to report that the new Living Water Community Health Clinic in Locust Grove is expected to open soon.

The club is one of many community organizations that have supported the establishment of the clinic, which will offer no-cost acute health care to families in the region who cannot afford care.

The Rev. Colson said a recent fund-raising dinner resulted in $10,000 being raised to fund the effort.

He said support for the clinic has been strong with the donation of funds, volunteer hours and equipment. He said the University of Virginia Health System has even pledged access to free surgery for patients in need.

He said the clinic would begin to accept patients withing the next two to three weeks.

The club meeting on September 17 will feature Dr. Martha Neff-Smith of Hospice of the Piedmont. She will speak on end of life options, including hospice care.

Martha is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has held academic positions in the US and several other countries. Her training is in nursing, epidemiology, and bioethics. She is an active retiree who is currently the Director of the Speakers Bureau at Hospice of the Piedmont. She serves on several boards and volunteers for several local and state agencies.

The meeting will take place at 1:30 p.m. in the LOW Community Center.

Eileen Davis of Richmond, an advocate for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing gender equality, will speak to the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club on May 21.

Davis will describe efforts to gain ratification of the ERA in Virginia, one of only three additional states required to make the amendment part of the nation’s fundamental law.

The meeting will take place at 1:30 p.m. May 21 in the LOW Community Center. The public is welcome to attend, regardless of political affiliation.

Ms. Davis, a long-time activist for equality and social justice, is co-founder of Women Matter Use Your Power (women-matter.org).

She is a member of the coordination team advocating for ratification of the stalled Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia.

Ms. Davis is also part of the advocacy team visiting U.S. senators and representatives to secure passage of bills calling for removal of the deadline on the stalled bill, allowing for debate of this important civil rights legislation.

The Equal Rights Amendment states simply: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

The ERA was written in 1923 by Alice Paul, suffragist leader and founder of the National Woman’s Party. After women’s right to vote was guaranteed by the 19th Amendment in 1920, she proposed the ERA as the next step in confirming “equal justice under law” for all citizens. The ERA was introduced into every Congress between 1923 and 1972, when it was passed and sent to the states for ratification. The original seven-year time limit in the ERA’s proposing clause was extended by Congress to June 30, 1982, but at that deadline, the ERA had been ratified by 35 states, three states short of the 38 required to put it into the Constitution.

The ERA has been introduced into every Congress since 1982. Beginning in 1994 with introduction of the first three-state strategy bill in Congress, ERA advocates have been pursuing two different routes to ratification:

• the traditional process outlined in Article V of the Constitution, requiring passage by a two-thirds majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, followed by ratification by legislatures in three-quarters (38) of the 50 states, and
• ratification in three more of the 15 state legislatures that did not ratify the ERA during the 1972-82 ratification campaign, based on legal analysis that when three more states vote yes, this non-traditional process could withstand legal challenge and put the ERA into the Constitution.

To learn more, visit the Web sites listed here:

• Women-Matter.org
• The Equal Rights Amendment
• The New Women Warriors: Reviving the fight for women’s rights, CNN
• ERA Petition, The White House
• 2PassERA.org