Blacks caution on erosion of their voting power

If Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield's plans for a combined city-county government or annexation are successful, gains that blacks have made in government representation over the past 20 years will be lost, several black Chattanoogans say.

"If the present government is allowed to gather more white people into the population, it's going to further dilute the black vote," said Bobby Ward, one of the 10 plaintiffs whose 1987 lawsuit overturned Chattanooga's at-large elections as an unconstitutional violation of minority voting rights.

"We will be in the same shape or worse than we were before we filed the suit," Mr. Ward said.

Mr. Littlefield this year launched a comprehensive annexation plan but has offered to suspend annexations if county commissioners will start talks about forming a metropolitan government.

He has said a metro government could be formed that would not dilute black voting power.

The plaintiffs in the 1987 case and other community leaders will participate in a series of meetings this weekend to discuss the impact a combined government would have on the city's black population.

State Rep. Tommie Brown, a plaintiff in the 1987 case, and Rep. JoAnne Favors are hosting the meetings. Rep. Brown did not return messages seeking comment while Rep. Favors declined to comment.

Laughlin McDonald was the American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represented the black plaintiffs in the 1987 voting rights case. Now director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, he said the impact of metro government on black voting power would depend on how the government was formed.

An "at-large" type of government -- which Chattanooga had before the 1987 lawsuit -- could be challenged because a majority of white voters could ensure election of only white candidates, he said. But a government of single-member districts that fairly represents the minority population would be difficult to challenge even if it did dilute minority representation, he said.

"The key is how the districts are drawn," he said.

Mr. McDonald said he has advised Rep. Brown and the other former plaintiffs to draft their own examples of district lines that would protect minority rights.

But whatever happens probably would be done with minorities in mind because of the city's history, he added.

"I would think whatever they would do, they would do it in a racially sensitive way," he said.

CITY'S CHANGING FACE

In 1971, former Vice Mayor John P. Franklin became the only black elected to city government since 1911. He kept that status until a federal judge struck down Chattanooga's at-large commission. The new government formed in 1990 brought in a mayor and nine-member council elected by district.

Blacks represent about 36 percent of Chattanooga's population and about 20 percent of the population in Hamilton County, according to 2008 census estimates.

Since the 1990 change of government, three of the nine council districts -- 5, 8 and 9 -- have been drawn so their populations are more than 60 percent black. District 7 is considered a swing district that's about 54 percent black and could be won by a white or black representative.

"Because we have a city and county government, we're able to elect three to four blacks in the city and two blacks in the county," said Eddie Holmes, former NAACP president. "If we go to a combined government, we're looking at only two blacks being elected."

But district populations are changing, said Joe Rowe, who served on a committee with the City Council to redraw district lines in 2000.

District 9, held by a black councilman until 2009, is now represented by Peter Murphy, who is white. Voters in District 7 unseated a black councilman in 2005 to elect Manny Rico, a Latino.

Both elected officials say they believe race is no longer a predictor of election success.

"Our country and Chattanooga are changing," Mr. Murphy said. "We would not have elected a black president who won in Iowa if it weren't, and we're changing our attitudes about race."

Mr. Rico said he hopes his ethnic background has nothing to do with his election.

"I would hate to think that people voted for me because I was not black," he said. "It's kind of an insult. I'd like to think a lot of people who voted for me were my customers and they knew I'd be fair."

Mr. Littlefield has said a metro government could preserve black voting rights by enlarging the number of elected representatives -- it's negotiable, but he favors 15 or so.

But he echoes Mr. Murphy on how the city is changing.

"We're living in a different time now, and people live where they want to live," Mr. Littlefield said.

"It's going to become more difficult to draw districts that swing one way or another. And that's a good problem to have. It means candidates will have to run on their own merits."

QUOTES:

* I hope that people are getting over color. If a person doesn't have good character and the ability to represent everybody, I don't think you should vote for him, and I don't care what color he is.

District 7 City Council representative Manny Rico

*(With metro government) we may see greater opportunities for minorities to elect their preferred representative. That is what the purpose of majority-minority seats are. They are not in the legal literature to elect someone who has to look like the majority population of the district.

District 9 City Council representative Peter Murphy

*Currently we have three or four department heads in city government. In the county we have zero. So the representation would certainly be different in terms of how we would fare in a merged system.

Former NAACP President Eddie Holmes

* Look at metro government then at annexation and the fact that we're into the census reporting period and we will be into redistricting soon. Those things are not very favorable for the black community. On the next drawing we may lose one (seat) to redistricting because of the shift in the population.

Joe Rowe, former redistricting committee member

IF YOU GO

Three public meetings are set to discuss the potential impact of proposed annexation, consolidation and metropolitan government on the ability to elect blacks in local government.

* Noon to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Southside Recreation Center

* 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 5, Brainerd Recreation Center

* 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 6, Carver Recreation Center

* Information: Call state Rep. Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga, at 622-7474, or state Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, at 624-5088