This page was last updated on December 13, 2011.
Op-Ed: Redistricting – A Change Is Gonna Come; State Rep. Jesse White (D-46); Beaver Countian; December 13, 2011.
Mr. White lost in Beaver County in both 2006 and 2010. On Facebook, Mr. White describes his “Political Views” as “Moderate.” Sure. “Moderate,” “centrist,” etc. are leftyspeak for “liberal,” “progressive,” and other leftisms. On his campaign website, Mr. White describes his “style” as “fiery and aggressive.” According to his biography on his official website, Mr. White “operates his own law practice, White & Associates.” Despite the name, White & Associates appears to be a “one-man band.” Mr. White’s biography also indicates “He worked … in the legal department for the United Steelworkers of America in Pittsburgh.” Mr. White was convicted of defamation and invasion of privacy in April 2011.
Previous White pieces I critiqued are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Mr. White sometimes spams his opinion so you may find his pieces on his campaign website, the Beaver Countian, and/or Canon-MacMillan Patch.
A previous piece by Mr. White on this topic was entitled “Op-Ed: Redistricting – The 46th Curveball.” I didn’t critique that piece, but I did make the following comment on my website: “I can’t help but chuckle when partisan politicians complain of ‘shameless partisan political power grab[s].’ Keep in mind a politician’s definition of ‘bipartisan’ is ‘I get what I want.’ There is at least one other laugh in this piece. Just after Mr. White ‘whine[s] and complain[s] about the inequities of the redistricting process,’ he writes, ‘I’m not going to whine and complain about the inequities of the redistricting process.’”
This second piece is pretty much Mr. White’s idea of not “whin[ing] and complain[ing] about the inequities of the redistricting process.’” You may not be surprised to learn this piece was a lot more “poor, poor me” than concern for the folks Mr. White represents and/or will represent. Some examples of this are “The outcome would fundamentally change my life,” “my 46th district,” “This potentially sets up a primary challenge between two incumbent legislators in the spring of 2012,” “my current territory,” “I have a district office there and really did not want to leave under any circumstances,” “I will likely be forced to close the doors to my Burgettstown district office,” “my Washington County area,” “my new territory,” and “my familiar areas.” There’s a lot of “I” and “my” in those excerpts. In fairness, Mr. White mentioned “the people of the 46th District” once. Mr. White also told us “the real victims in this process will be the constituents who are losing a local legislator for the sake of politically-motivated mathematics.” This is not true, of course. Everyone still gets “a local legislator” though it may not be the one they had, but that’s the case every two years with or without redistricting.
FYI, if Mr. White is “forced to close the doors to [his] Burgettstown district office,” according to his official website he will still have two local offices. Some local reps with districts of the same area or greater than the 46th somehow manage to get along with one or two district offices, but Mr. White apparently needs/needed three. Based on the House rules, it’s not clear if there is a limit on how much a rep can spend for local offices.
For my position on gerrymandering, please read my critique of the Beaver County Times editorial “An American irony.”
© 2004-2011 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.