Commission wants input on redistricting

The Daily Inter Lake

A commission that will draw political boundaries used to determine representation in the state Legislature for the next decade will hold a meeting in Missoula at 6:30 p.m. April 12 to get public input.

Flathead-area residents will have a chance to participate through simultaneous videoconferencing of the meeting in Room 120 at the Learning and Resource Center at Flathead Valley Community College.

The Districting and Apportionment Commission is responsible for mapping new legislative district boundaries to reflect population changes identified by the 2010 Census. The statewide hearings will not involve maps but will focus on the criteria the commission uses to redraw those boundaries.

"Redrawing the lines of political districts cuts right to the heart of democracy," said Jim Regnier, chair of the five-member commission. "That's why the commissioners want to hear from the public early in the process, even before we start drawing those lines."

Regnier is a former Supreme Court justice and resident of Lakeside.

Due to the constitutionally mandated process for selecting members of the redistricting commission, Regnier was named chairman of the panel by the state Supreme Court when the four other commissioners - two Democrats and two Republicans, appointed by legislative leaders - couldn't agree on anyone for the post.

Although his role on the court was nonpartisan, Regnier has also been a contributor to Democratic candidates such as John Morrison and Jon Tester in previous elections, and he endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 election. Since leaving the court in 2004, Regnier has worked as a mediator and as an adjunct law professor at the University of Montana.

Other members of the redistricting commission are Linda Vaughey of Helena and Jon Bennion of Clancy, selected by Republican legislative leaders, and Joe Lamson of Helena and Pat Smith of Missoula, selected by the Democrats

The commission is required to use a set of mandatory districting criteria established in the U.S. and Montana constitutions, as well as case law established through court rulings. Under these mandatory criteria, legislative districts must be, among other things, compact and contiguous and as close to equal in population as is practicable.

But the commission has the discretion to choose other criteria as well, such as following the lines of existing political units or geographic boundaries, or keeping intact communities of interest, such as Indian reservations or urban neighborhoods

The redistricting process following the 2000 Census was highly contentious, with allegations that Chairwoman Janine Pease Pretty on Top had a partisan agenda and always agreed with the two Democratic appointees.

The commission will adopt districting criteria at a meeting April 27 at the State Capitol in Helena. It will use these criteria to map the legislative districts that will be used beginning in 2014.

For more information about the commission, visit leg.mt.gov/districting or contact Rachel Weiss, 406-444-5367 or rweiss@mt.gov.