Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Governor Herbert: Please Veto this Last Minute Messy Map

By Kelli Lundgren

Hours of closed-door Republican caucus meetings on Monday to finalize Utah's redistricting maps delivered two surprise congressional maps. The first, a completely new map never introduced to the minority party or the public until that day, with Republicans claiming it was a modified citizen’s map, a Garber map. Garber was the first to deny it looked anything like his map, stating the only commonality was Utah’s state outline. The rest of everybody only needed a visual to concur.

The second map, SB3002, introduced that day eventually passed through the House and Senate. It was presented to Democrats and the public between 7:30 and 8 p.m. It looks similar to the map the Senate passed two weeks earlier, with the House realizing any map they present to the Senate needs to be similar to the Senate approved map, or else it will go back to the drawing board. Even that Senate map was a last minute surprise map replacing the six finalist maps voted on by the Legislative Redistricting Committee.

So SB3002 is now waiting on only a signature from Governor Gary Herbert to be implemented for the next ten years. And it is a messy map.

Outside of all the other political tragedies of this map, including a blatant dilution of Democratic votes and picking voters for potential candidates, it carves up neighborhoods in Salt Lake County without thought. The only thought was to achieve a “0” or “1” person deviation to secure the map from litigation.

So now we have a messy map that actually splits the centers of some homes. I viewed close up aerial photos of the new boundaries at the Capitol today. Lines also divide quaint neighborhood streets down their centers, zigzagging all over the place, curling around captured neighborhood squares. It’s just a menagerie.

The moral to this story: if Republicans had taken four days, one month, or even the full six months they used for the public road tour, they could have fine tuned their map. They could have had time to review cuts through neighborhoods and houses. But when you surprise your audience with a brand new map at the last minute, sloppy is what happens; and sloppy could rule for the next ten years.

The new map cuts West Valley City in half, which in reality happens when you attempt to divide the most populous county in the state. The city’s Republican Mayor Mike Winder says it’s okay. He finds it beneficial to have two U.S. Congress people to go to with concerns.

I have news for Mayor Winder: his city is urban and therefore will be on the back burner. If a Republican candidate acquires either or both of the Congressional districts West Valley City resides in, his or her directive will be to focus on acquiring federal land in rural areas. Urban cities get the backside of the deal here, even though ironically I guess a congressman or woman will be from an urban area; unfortunate for rural residents.

Good congressional maps are out there. If Governor Herbert vetoes this messy map, and goes back and selects the Fred Cox/Ben McAdams map, or the King/Garber Modified map, I cannot tell you how much goodwill he would be offering to the citizens of our state. He would be choosing either a bipartisan compromise map or a citizen’s map if he selects the King/Garber map. This alone would be a magnificent move to satisfy the public.

The King/Garber map is a compromise map, not what the citizens really asked for. But I strongly believe citizens are willing to compromise. Our Republican Legislature was not.

If Governor Herbert is as smart as I think he is, he would leverage a veto and a substitute citizen map for the messy map passed by the House and Senate. This goodwill act could help regain trust by the citizenry. This goodwill could last for a very long time. I’m predicting ten years.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Flies, not Clowns

By Kelli Lundgren

It interests me that people are still accusing, or trying to find slip-ups in conversation and quotes to confirm Utah’s Republican legislators are diluting unwanted votes in this intense redistricting process. So and so said “Republicans want 62% Republicans in every Congressional District.” So and so said, “that.”

Then, the Legislative Redistricting Committee meets once again in front of the public, and every Republican presenting a map explains that it is imperative to have an urban/rural mix; or, we must have federal land in each district; or, we are dividing Salt Lake County in four to make “competitive districts.” All sound bites.

How silly is this? The elephant in the room is obvious, besides the Republican trademark. No matter how the Republicans want to spin facts, or the press accuse motive, redistricting’s big underlying principles by a supermajority party are simply to split up unwanted votes and to protect favored incumbents. So everybody, here is the elephant in the room. Now let’s move on.

Currently, Utah’s redistricting process is a boxing match. We’re in round 10, bloodied and battered on both sides. But the boxers aren’t the usual suspects. The opponents are Republicans. Each boxer has too many trainers in each respective corner; the (Republican) governor, other Republican legislators, Carl Wimmer, and anyone Republicans owe a favor. Each and every trainer is giving each boxer inconsistent advice, thus repeated rounds.

The Democrats? They are the spectators, but with front row seats. They are now finally on their feet cautiously yelling for democracy, but still on the sidelines.

And RepresentMeUtah? We’re the fly incessantly bugging the boxers. It’s hard for the boxers to swat at us because of their gloves, and because they have to focus their swollen eyes on their Republican opponent at all times.

RepresentMeUtah! is a small fly. The much bigger fly is the public. And we’re buzzing around the Republican boxing ring. What a nuisance.

This week, RepresentMeUtah walked into the redistricting committee meeting, all six members for the first time together and asked for compromise. You cannot believe the heart wrenching workings that went on behind our scenes when we asked ourselves if we and the public could support a modified pizza slice plan, a compromise presented by Senator Ben McAdams.

In the end, this week, we did not get much public interest behind the map because there is a better, more favorable map still out there; the King01/Garber, I’ll call “excellent map.” It’s compact and doesn’t use voter data to dilute Democratic votes. I personally believe, and am sick with this knowledge, that a map that does not dilute Democratic votes will be rejected by Republicans.

So, with pain, I endorse a map, the McAdams Compromise Map, that at least shows some compromise. Acceptance of such a map, I think at least, would thwart a Democratic lawsuit. But this is just my opinion. I do not know what the Democrats will accept. And too, a compromise would call off RepMeU and coalition groups from rallying again, and instead we could offer a “thank you for compromising” to our legislature.

RepresentMeUtah members have been called many names in this process by legislative members, and by conservatives, and that is expected. We’re simply not going to give up. The press started out calling us a good government group, then called us a “supposed good government group,” and settled last month on calling us a reform group. It will be interesting to see what they will be calling us next month.

RepresentMeUtah!’s journey is much greater than redistricting. We don’t know if we will have any impact on the redistricting process, but we’re trying. The reality that we are very aware of is: the Republican Legislature is holding most of the cards.

I used to sit comfortably on my couch and accept the fact that I live in a conservative state. I vote Republican and Democratic in this state, for candidates and not for political parties. I vote for candidates seemingly practical, tolerant, and progressive. I would love to see more moderate Republicans backing fair representation in the redistricting process because I believe fair districts will benefit them too.

I would love to see the two in three registered Utah voters that don’t vote, get out to vote next year, instead of rolling their eyeballs. Their massive voting power could make a huge difference.

I would love to see our state heading more toward moderation and reason, versus toward fear and a distaste for Democrats.

So I am willing to look like a clown and be called names when fighting for a return to compromise and reason.