Here’s how much the GOP’s redistricting consultant is getting paid

The consultant hired to redraw state legislative districts for Republican House and Senate leaders will be paid $50,000 for his services, according to a contract released Tuesday.

Tom Hofeller, who has helped the GOP draw favorable district lines in multiple states, also drew North Carolina’s legislative maps in 2011. A panel of federal judges ruled those maps to be unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling, the panel ordered the legislature to redraw districts by Sept. 1.

The new contract with Hofeller is dated June 27 and calls for him to receive a flat fee of $50,000 “to allow us and you to better predict the cost of this engagement.” A staff attorney for Senate leader Phil Berger released the contract Tuesday in response to a public records request from the N.C. Insider and The News & Observer.

“We require your professional assistance,” legislative leaders wrote in the contract. “The General Assembly will be drawing new legislative redistricting maps to include both House and Senate districts pursuant to an order from a federal district court. Based on your knowledge and experience, we believe you are best qualified to produce such maps.”

The contract calls for Hofeller to draw House and Senate maps that comply “with criteria adopted by the House and Senate Redistricting Committees.” That criteria is expected to be discussed during a committee meeting Thursday morning.

Hofeller’s work, the contract says, will be “subject to legislative confidentiality,” but documents produced will become public records once the new district plan becomes law.

Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore have authorized Democratic leaders in the legislature to spend up to $50,000 to hire their own redistricting consultants and produce alternative maps.

Hofeller had a similar contract in 2016 to redraw congressional district maps, but he was paid $25,000 for the less complicated task of redrawing 13 districts. He was also paid $5,400 in April for 18 hours of work preparing materials for Republicans in the redistricting lawsuit, a rate of $300 per hour.

Hofeller was profiled in The Atlantic magazine in 2012 in an article titled “The League of Dangerous Mapmakers.”

This story was originally published August 8, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Here’s how much the GOP’s redistricting consultant is getting paid."