ANDREW KOEPPEL, FORMER NC/7 GOP DISTRICT CHAIRMAN, HAS DISTRIBUTED THE FOLLOWING EMAIL OUTLINING HIS VIEWS ON NC REDISTRICTING:

On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 10:30 AM, Andrew Koeppel <andrewkoeppel55@hotmail.com> wrote:

Below is the testimony I gave last night to the Re-Districting Committee at their meetings in New Hanover, Brunswick , and Bladen Counties.
Since we now have 9,535,483 people in our state and 13  Congressional districts, and we can do the math and see that we need to create districts that each have as close to 733,500 people each as possible.

In addition, in accordance with our state constitution, we know there is a need to try to follow county lines as much as possible. 

With those thoughts in mind, we know that a coastal district in the southeast would have common environmental concerns. In addition,  it would include both state ports. Given these facts, the district I am proposing and the population of each county within it is described below.

New Hanover  202,667 - Brunswick 107,431- Pender 52,217- Onslow 177,772- Carteret 66,469- Jones- 10,153- Duplin 58,505- Columbus-58,098. The total population is 733,312.

I would be remiss, in my judgment, if I did not comment on two adjacent districts and propose counties for them. Since I was the 7th District Chairman for six years, I feel a need to address those counties that were in the 7th District but would not be in the above district.

What would be a reconfigured 8th District is described below.

Robeson 134,168- Bladen 35,190- Hoke 46,952- Scotland 36,157- Richmond 46,639- Anson 26,948- Montgomery 27,798 - Stanly 60,585- Cabarrus 178,011- Moore 88,247- Lee 57,866. The total population is 738,561.

The remaining district including counties I represented would be a reconfigured 2nd District. It is described below.

Sampson 63,431- Cumberland 319,431- Harnett 114,678- Johnston 168,878- Wilson 81,234. The total population is 747,652.

I would welcome any comments by the people receiving this e-mail. It is no secret that the Re-Districting Committees are going to be confronted with some difficult decisions.

It is my hope that the above information will be seriously considered and will hopefully make some of those decisions somewhat easier.    Andy

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Andy, sounds like you made a good case to me!  I think what people want is more compact districts that make sense.  As much as I hate being in David Price's district, if I were drawing the maps, I'd keep me in a 4th District that included all of Orange and Durham, and only such other territory as is needed to meet the population criteria.  Durham and Orange are homogenous and basically have the same characteristics with the hospitals and universities and heavy Democrat populations.  My hope is that all the districts will be drawn so fairly that good candidates of either party can win.

Martha Jenkins

Martha Jenkins was elected NFRW 3rd vice president at the 35th Biennial Convention in Orlando and took office in January 2010. She previously served as vice chairman of the NFRW Public Relations Committee, which helped update the list of NFRW media contacts and sent out news releases to support the GOP agenda.

Jenkins also served as president of the North Carolina Federation of Republican Women from 2003-2007. In 2005, she was a finalist for the NFRW Ronald Reagan Leadership Award, and in 2007, she won the Reagan Award as the outstanding state president for 2006-2007.