THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 28, 1995 TAG: 9506280448
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
A city-funded study that looks into whether Chesapeake's voting system is racist will remain secret until it is filed with the U.S. Justice Department.
That was the tentative bargain struck by city officials with a citizens' group that had sued for the study's public release.
The city commissioned the study, conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Election Data Services Inc., to help its case against the U.S. Justice Department.
The Justice Department ruled a year ago that the city's system of at-large voting for City Council elections showed a pattern of racial polarization, and therefore at-large elections for choosing School Board members would violate federal laws mandating black representation. Instead, the board would have to be elected using a ward system.
The School Board now is appointed by City Council. City voters chose overwhelmingly in 1993 to switch to ballots for board members, but the Justice Department must approve the election method.
City Council voted in September to ask the Justice Department to reconsider its year-ago ruling.
City officials said they did not know yet how much the study cost, because they have not received the final bill. But the taxpayers' association said $50,000 have been appropriated so far.
The study analyzed election returns and precinct demographics and composition to show whether the Justice Department's claim of racial polarization during voting in Chesapeake was valid, city officials said.
City Attorney Ronald S. Hallman, in rejecting Freedom of Information Act requests by the Chesapeake Taxpayers' Association and The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, said he was not required to make the study public because it was compiled for use in a legal proceeding.
Hallman said he was keeping the study's results secret because he didn't want to reveal his evidence before filing the appeal with the Justice Department.
``I don't understand it, because there's nothing classified,'' said William H. Pierce, acting vice president for the taxpayers' association who filed suit in General District court to get the study.
In court Tuesday, Pierce and an assistant city attorney agreed that the city would make the document public as soon as the appeal is filed with the Justice Department.
``We anticipate that that will be any day now,'' said Martin M. McMahon, assistant city attorney who argued for keeping the document secret.
Pierce and the taxpayers' association still allege, however, that the city is refusing to release the study as part of a long-standing resistance by City Council to giving up the power of appointing School Board members.
``The City Council is stonewalling this,'' Pierce said. ``We're going to have to drag them kicking and screaming.''
Taxpayers' Association President S. Edward Weidner said the city has been promising for months to file its Justice Department appeal.
``We think they're intentionally dragging their feet,'' Weidner said.
But McMahon said the appeal is important and complicated, and has taken time to draft. The city has no deadline for filing. by CNB