Two groups said in a motion filed with the court that making changes to Assembly Districts 8 and 9 on Milwaukee's south side may also require adjustments to the cpneighboring Assembly districts, as well as at least one state Senate district.This was politically-and-structurally-predictable, and logical - - because the redrawn districts are obviously contiguous to other boundaries - - yet the state seemed to hope that the Court might not notice.
And by refusing to come back into session, GOP leaders and the state invited the court to handle the redistricting repair: I'd love to see the court take the AG and the GOP legislative leaders up on their offer, break out their redistricting Etch-a-Sketches, and have at it.
As I noted even before the judges ruling:
But wouldn't that be a fitting karmic outcome and unintended consequence enabled by the sudden resignation of State Senator Pam Galloway, (R-Wausau) to her party's smarty-pants' secret legislating and scheming: a do-over, but with both parties in the Senate having an equal say in what would be a very different redistricting process.
If the Repubs don't want to participate, fine, but they should turn over all research, working documents and communications to and from MBF and state legislators. This was paid for by the taxpayers. Dems and Judges could use the info to undo intent of GOP assault on Democratic or divided voting districts across the state.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteAs a taxpayer, I know that my tax dollars often pay for lawyers to work on the map-drawing process. But this time, I really feel like my taxes have gone directly towards giving the GOP a ten-year political advantage. It's bad enough that the GOP has been working so hard to destroy democracy in Wisconsin this past year but my taxes shouldn't have to pay for it too.
ReplyDeleteI am not an attorney, but it seems to me that there is enough evidence in the judges' ruling about the GOP's secrecy, and in the orders to release documents improperly withheld to support a taxpayers' lawsuit for the return of a portion or all of the fees and/or public legislative staffers'salaries.
ReplyDeleteHere's another idea:
ReplyDeleteTake state legislative districts AS THEY WERE in 2010, figure out how many voters to add or subtract to make each district even, or relatively even, then add or subtract that many voters to make the district MORE BALANCED (Repubs and Dems). Both parties should have to fight for their seats. Too much security in their re-electibility causes many legislators to vote along party lines, often against the interests of their constituencies.
OR: Begin the process with already identified boundaries--cities, towns, villages, counties--and try to align legislative district boundaries with those. This method would remedy most situations where neighborhoods and communities are divided, or one side of the street belongs to District A, and the other to District P.
In other words, use common sense as the basis for determining districts. Not who is living where, or how likely they are to vote Repub or Dem.
"This was politically-and-structurally-predictable, and logical - - because the redrawn districts are obviously contiguous to other boundaries - - yet the state seemed to hope that the Court might not notice."
ReplyDeleteRiiiiiight. It's so logical that a panel of judges ordered only one line between the 8th and 9th Assembly Districts be adjusted. It can be done - even Dr. Mayer preserved the outer boundary of both districts.
What this proves is that Voces de la Izquierda didn't file the lawsuit on behalf of voting Latinos, but on behalf of the Democrat Party. You gotta love how they play Latinos for fools.