Republicans" move on redistricting draws criticism Under the state Constitution, redistricting takes place only once a decade, in years ending in one. But Republicans said the measure was needed to correct districts they say were unfairly drawn by Democrats in 2011. "On a day when Americans celebrated Martin Luther King Jr."s birthday and inaugurated Barack Obama as president, Virginia Senate Republicans took advantage of the absence of civil rights leader Sen. Henry Marsh to push through a hyper-partisan change to Virginia's already gerrymandered legislative district map," the senators" statement reads. This is not the way we should be conducting the people's business in Virginia. We are encouraged by Governor McDonnell's statements today expressing disapproval of the tactics that were used. We urge legislative leaders and other elected officials to do the right thing to correct this disappointing and disruptive partisan action. Former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe, the lone Democrat running this year to succeed Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), also weighed in. "I join Governor McDonnell in urging the legislature to end this divisive partisan effort and instead focus on making Virginia the best place for business with mainstream solutions on transportation and education," McAuliffe said. We simply cannot afford to have the legislature spend more time on divisive partisan fights, especially as we have so many important issues to address. McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said Monday that the governor was "very surprised" by the measure. He did not take a position on it, saying he had not yet read the legislation, but indicated that he would rather not have the Senate consumed with redistricting this session, when McDonnell is counting on bipartisan support for his transportation and education plans. "The Governor's priorities this session are transportation, education and the budget," Martin said via e-mail. Not redistricting. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who would have been in a position to kill the bill by breaking a tie vote had it not come up on a day when a Democrat was absent, was more directly critical. "Lieutenant Governor Bolling has grave concerns about the adoption of a revised redistricting plan at this point in the process, and it is not something that he supported," said Ibbie Hedrick, deputy chief of staff for Bolling. Bolling (R) is weighing an independent bid for governor. State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, said Tuesday that he had not seen the details of the redistricting plan. "I have to deal with defending it now," Cuccinelli said. I'm not worried about the constitutionality of it. I'm worried about how it plays out in the General Assembly. Errin Haines contributed to this report.