Louis Gurvich, chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, has asked the state Senate to pass a bill that would ban health care for transgender youth from the committee that rejected it. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
Louisiana Republican Party officials said Saturday that a private political consultant was involved in drawing up the state’s new political maps last year, though the consultant has insisted he did not draw the districts at the center of federal court disputes.
Louisiana Republican Party Chairman Louis Gurvich told other state party members that JMC Analytics owner John Couvillon “made a big part of the legislative redistricting” that took place in 2022. But in a written statement a couple of hours after Gurvich’s comments, Couvillon said he did not draw any of the political maps approved by the Louisiana Legislature.
“To clarify comments made at today’s LA Republican State Central Committee meeting, JMC Analytics did NOT draw the maps for the Legislature (or any other elected body),” Couvillon. he wrote on Twitter. “The legislature drew the maps, which were revised and developed through the legislative process.”
Last year questions arose about who advised Republican leaders in the legislature on political maps for Congress and state government.
Lawmakers have in-house staff to draw policy lines, but it’s unclear to what extent private consultants were also involved. The name of Couvillon, in particular, was raised as someone who could have advised the Republicans.
Hired legislative leaders a Republican-affiliated law firm for political redistricting without initially telling Democrats or rank-and-file Republican lawmakers. Then they refused to say what other outside contractors they were paid to work on the maps.
Many of these political districts are the subject of litigation. A recent court ruling will likely force Louisiana to adopt a new congressional map with an additional black-majority seat. Changes are also on the table for state legislative maps, and the work of private consultants could come under scrutiny during those legal battles.
GOP state executive committeewoman Gena Gore also said Couvillon had helped the Legislature draw its new political maps while addressing the Republican State Central Committee on Saturday.
However, Rep. John Stefanski, R-Crowley, supported Couvillon’s statement and said lawmakers, with the help of his staff, drew the state’s political maps.
Stefanski, who is running for state attorney general, was the top lawmaker on political redistricting in the Louisiana House of Representatives.
the mail The GOP comments again raise questions about Louisiana’s political redistricting consultants appeared first Illuminator of Louisiana.
