FairVote.org's Drew Spencer Penrose: Supreme Court to Hear Critical Case on Partisan Gerrymandering

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Supreme Court To Hear Pivotal Case on Partisan Gerrymandering

Posted Sept. 20, 2017

Interview with Drew Spencer Penrose, legal and and policy director with the group FairVote, conducted by Scott Harris

While Donald Trump emerged as a victor in the 2016 presidential election by winning the majority of Electoral College delegates, he lost the popular vote to his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million ballots. One of the critical states in determining Trump’s narrow victory was Wisconsin, which he won by less than 1 percent of votes cast. Yet, Trump led Clinton in 63 of the state’s 99 Assembly districts and 23 of the state’s 33 state Senate districts.

The votes of Wisconsin Democrats are less powerful than that of Republicans because of the way in which legislative maps are drawn, where Democratic voters are packed into fewer districts. That produces results where the GOP, whatever its share of the vote in statewide races for president or governor, are likely to win a much higher share of legislative seats. The drawing of legislative district maps to provide an advantage to one party over another is known as partisan gerrymandering.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in an important case known as Gill v. Whitford this October, which challenges partisan gerrymandering. The case reached the Supreme Court after Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker appealed a November 2016 three-judge federal panel ruling that ordered Wisconsin’s legislature to redraw the state assembly map due to what it found to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Drew Spencer Penrose, legal and and policy director with the group FairVote. Here, Penrose talks about the importance of this case and possible remedies to prevent partisan manipulation of legislative district maps. [Rush transcript]

DREW SPENCER PENROSE: So what partisan gerrymandering is, in this particular case, when one political party draws district lines in a way to maximize the number of seats they'll get, and minimize the number of seats that an opponent party will get. And in Wisconsin, it's Republicans – it actually has been more Republicans than Democrats mostly because Republicans control more state legislatures than Democrats. It's not just a Republican problem.

In fact, a very similar case is coming out of Maryland, where Democrats pretty openly gerrymandered the state in favor of Democratic candidates. The way that they do it, really goes to the heart of the case. And that is, that, if you can take district and draw it around a lot of Democratic voters, really pack in the Democratic voters, then the Democratic candidate in that district will win with like 70 or 80 percent of the vote. And basically that means that a lot of the votes were wasted on a candidate that was going to win anyway.

And then the other thing you can do is draw districts so that the Democratic can't possibly win. So, if Democrats are 40 percent of the district then all of those votes are essentially as well, but they can't help elect a candidate. And so, if you measure these wasted votes and say are there more wasted votes for Democrats than there are for Republicans? Then that means that Republicans' votes are more efficient. They're actually more powerful than Democratic votes. And that's really what partisan gerrymandering is in this case. It's where you strategically draw these districts in order to make one group of voters most powerful and make another group of voters make their votes very not powerful.

And this case is arguing that that is unconstitutional. It's not the first time that people have tried to make this case. However, it's been very really difficult to get courts to buy into any particular theory of how you determine when this is has happened and when it hasn't, because it's something that can happen just sort of naturally. The people drawing the district lines will be trying to group communities of interest and that sort of thing. The system isn't really designed to create a fair representation. It's a winner take all system and so, sometimes that creates disparities on its own and of course, I've been really hesitant to jump in and try to adjudicate these. But this one's really different. It's a really extreme case of partisan gerrymandering. A really clear case. And what they have that's different from prior cases is that have developed a test, a very simple mathematical test for how you determine if a state is really very lopsided.

And that's what Justice Kennedy has asked for before in prior cases where theories like this have failed. He's asked for a clear test and this time they have one. So, it's a really interesting time. In this case it's before justices who are now on the court who are considered liberal, vote the same ways before them, which I think most people expect that they will and if Justice Kennedy is convinced, then that will be a five-justice majority and that'll be the first case to strike down a partisan gerrymander.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Could you explain to our audience some of the methods that you and your organization favor for determining district maps across the country, state by state that won't skew the electorate in a way that gives one party or the other party a partisan advantage?

DREW SPENCER PENROSE: So, I was talking about wasted votes earlier, that's how gerrymandering is done. It's by manipulating wasted votes. The method that we think it really the best for the United States is called ranked choice voting. If you apply ranked choice voting to a five-winner election, then the number of wasted votes necessarily goes down almost to zero. So of course, the number of wasted votes will be the same between the Democrats and the Republicans because it will be zero. If there are no wasted votes, then there's no disparity in wasted votes. We've had a proposal that we call the Fair Representation Act, which is a model proposal for electing Congress in multi-winner districts, with ranked choice voting. This year in June, our representative, John Beyer from Virginia, actually introduced it as a bill. So there's a bill in Congress right now, HR 3057, that would elect all of Congress from multi-winner districts with ranked choice voting. That would effectively end gerrymandering for all of Congress.

For more information on electoral reform, visit fairvote.org.