Controversial Consultant to Make Over $1 Million from Redistricting
Friday, May 18, 2012
Taxpayers will have paid the consultant who advised the state and more than a dozen cities and towns during their once-per-decade redistricting efforts more than $1 million by the time all checks are issued, GoLocalProv has learned.
Kimball Brace, the founder of Election Data Services, who has helped redraw political maps across the country for over three decades, stands to be paid at least $1,040,494 for his efforts, with the bulk of the money ($692,420) coming from his work altering the Congressional and General Assembly districts.
GoLocalProv spent two months requesting information from Brace about the amount of work he was doing in the state, but he repeatedly said he could not reveal any information until all of the agreements were official. Two weeks ago, he stopped returning calls.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBut after contacting every board of elections' office or town clerk’s office in the state, the site found that at least 15 communities have used Brace’s company to redraw their districts. The amount each community is paying varies greatly depending on the city or town. Coventry, for example, said it was paying just $9,000. Providence, meanwhile, will have shelled out $126,374 when all said and done.
The other cities and towns who used Election Data Services include Central Falls, East Greenwich, Johnston, Narragansett, North Kingstown, North Providence, Portsmouth, Richmond, Warwick, West Warwick, Westerly and Woonsocket.
GOP Files Suit
But despite all of the taxpayer money Brace is receiving, several elected officials and good government advocates say he was part of a flawed process that included rampant gerrymandering and acts of political retribution.
The state’s Republican Party is already asking the courts to adopt a new plan for redistricting following what it considers a particularly egregious effort to remove a potential challenger out of Democratic Rep. Cale Keable’s Burrillville district.
Several hundred voters between Districts 47 and 48, which pushed Republican Donald Fox out Keable’s District 47. Fox, who lost by less than 200 votes in 2010, has indicated he plans to move back into the district to run again.
“The tortured outline of the House Rep. District in question in this suit could only have been designed to disenfranchise a feared opponent,” GOP chairman Mark Zaccaria said in March. “After more than seven decades of one party rule in Rhode Island one would think that the majority would be more secure than that. This lawsuit is about reminding them of the limits imposed upon them by the state laws they, themselves, wrote.”
House Minority leader Brian C. Newberry raised questions about the legislation before the House overwhelmingly approved it. He proposed an amendment that he says wouldn’t have changed anything except for the two House districts, but it was defeated.
“Redistricting is a political process and I have never complained about that,” Newberry said during a floor speech before the vote earlier this year. “I don’t have trouble with politics being involved. However, I do have a problem with the lack of honesty about what’s going on.”
Political Retribution in Providence
In Providence, residents were furious with a map that awarded all of the downtown area, including the lucrative I-195 land, to Council Majority Leader Seth Yurdin. Minority business owners and residents claimed the City Council did not take their concerns into consideration before voting on the new map.
The process also became too political in the capital city, critics say. After Ward 6 Councilman Michael Correia went back on his agreement to support the new ward boundaries, Council leadership decided to remove two schools, a fire department, a police substation and Triggs Golf Course from his ward.
“I can’t be a part of a team if it isn’t legit,” he said. “I will not be a part of the shenanigans. That needs to stop.”
South Side Developer Darrell Lee called the entire process “political trickery” and vowed to take his battle to court, although a suit has not yet been filed
“We’re going to fight you,” he told members of the Council during one meeting. “We’re going to put the money on the table and take it to court.”
According to Common Cause executive director John Marion, the statewide process drew a tremendous amount of attention and had a number of flaws. He said there were plenty of public hearings, but that it appeared to everyone involved that some of the decisions were made behind the scenes and exclusively for political reasons.
Marion said redistricting in Providence was even worse.
“The Providence situation was clearly not as transparent, particularly because the last minute changes really weren't subject to the public scrutiny they should have,” he said. “That's why we proposed to revamp the entire system in our proposal to the Charter Review Commission.”
New Plan
Under Marion’s proposal, which is supported by Councilman Sam Zurier, a “Citizens Ward Boundary Commission” would be created for the next redraw in 2020. The commission would include seven members from various community groups as well as political parties. Marion said the commission would shift the power in redistricting from politicians to residents.
“Under the current system the people with the greatest stake in the outcome of redistricting, the members of the Council, are given all of the power over the process,” Marion said. “Our proposal takes that away from the Council and gives the power to the community.”
Still, any efforts to alter the districts now are likely to be unsuccessful. Brace, who has consistently acknowledged that redistricting is a political process, has never had any of his maps overturned in court.
In the end, it’s the politicians who deserve most of the blame, Marion said.
“Of course when taxpayer money is being spent, things should be transparent,” he said. “The problem with redistricting is that you can create very good structures on paper, but the politicians find ways to manipulate things nonetheless.”
Dan McGowan can be reached at [email protected]
