Redistricting proposal clears panel

Lawmakers would have to aim for competitiveness

By Colleen Slevin, Associated Press

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

State lawmakers would have to try to make congressional districts competitive, rather than a slam-dunk for either party, under the latest attempt to referee what's usually a very political fight at the Capitol.

Democratic members of the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee backed the idea Monday, but both Republican members voted against it. Senate Bill 198 now heads to the full Senate for debate.

Lawmakers must redraw district boundaries every 10 years based on the latest census results. The next round of redistricting is due in 2011.

Having an even distribution of Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters in a district would take a back seat to meeting all existing criteria such as making sure districts have the same number of people and keeping regions like the Western Slope or eastern plains in the same district.

Lawmakers would have to try to keep cities and counties in the same districts, but counties could be broken up to make a district more competitive.

Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, the bill's sponsor, said safe districts that always send a member of the same party to Washington help make Congress "dysfunctional."

He said primaries generally determine who gets elected to Congress in those districts and that those races typically attract people at the extremes of the dominant party in the district.

"When they get to Congress they don't think the other side is wrong, they think the other side is evil, and therefore they frequently have trouble reaching compromise and making agreements," said Gordon, D-Denver.

Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, said he doesn't think it's possible to have competitive districts and also meet all the existing criteria for drawing boundaries, which are taken from federal law and previous court rulings.

Cadman, who voted against the bill, thinks carving out competitive districts would lead to counties being divided and different "fingers" of land being added to a district.

Gordon said only about 40 of the nation's 435 congressional districts are considered competitive.

One of them is suburban Denver's 7th Congressional District, which was created because of the population growth seen in the 2000 census.

Those boundaries were drawn by a Denver judge because the General Assembly, split between Republicans and Democrats at the time, couldn't agree on the lines in time for the 2002 elections.

The previous two rounds of redistricting also have ended up in court because of political gridlock.

The bill, which is backed by Colorado Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, also would require lawmakers to hold at least 12 public hearings across the state and allow the public to submit redistricting maps and recommendations.

The state would set up an Internet-based program that people could use to submit their plans.