UNBELIEVABLE

I suppose Jim Tucker hopes this would be under the radar. He wants to use Louisiana taxpayer dollars to hire the chief counsel of the Republican National Committee to “guide” the Justice Department in their review of our redistricting plan. Which is another way of saying: We’re all hiring the RNC lawyer to defend the legislature against the charge that maybe they should have included 30 majority-minority districts, which was suggested by the House clerk, instead of 29, which is what they did instead.

H/t Kevin Franck. Quoting (bold mine):

House Speaker Jim Tucker has hired a Washington, D.C.-based firm with ties to the GOP to guide the state House redistricting plan to the U.S. Justice Department for review.

Tucker, R-Terrytown, said a contract with Holtzman Vogel PLLC wasn’t final, and he didn’t provide a projected cost. He said the money will come from the state House budget.

The managing partner of Holtzman Vogel is chief counsel to the Republican National Committee, and another member of the firm was deputy general counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaign during the 2004 election cycle.

The state Senate’s in-house legal staff will submit the Senate remap to federal officials. But Senate President Joel Chaisson and his legal advisers were in agreement on the plan, while Tucker was at odds with his chief redistricting adviser in the House.

House Clerk Alfred “Butch” Speer said he believed failure to create a 30th minority district in the 105-member House could be considered discriminatory and could jeopardize approval by federal officials under the Voting Rights Act. Tucker supported 29 minority districts instead, and a lawyer with Holtzman Vogel advised Louisiana lawmakers that the 29 seats would meet requirements.