Missouri House Democrats have announced a plan to change the way legislative districts are drawn.
Rep. Rachel Storch of St. Louis will sponsor the legislation and says it will remove partisanship from the process.
“Gerrymandering for partisan advantage has a long history in American politics, but it is a tradition Missouri can do without,” Storch said. “Fair and impartial redistricting is essential in a representative democracy. The partisan gerrymander is a distortion of that principle.”
House Democrats says their plan is patterned after Iowa’s unique system, which is nationally recognized as the model for non-partisan redistricting.
From the Release:
Under Storch’s proposal, Missouri’s congressional districts and state House and Senate districts would be drawn by the state Demographic and Statistical Unit within the Office of Administration. With the aid of computer drafting programs, the state demographers would be required to follow detailed, geographically based criteria, without regard to partisan concerns. As much as possible, districts would have to be geographically compact and not divide cities or counties unless necessary.
There are four criteria that mapmakers are absolutely prohibited from taking in account. These are the very criteria that currently are given substantial weight in the redistricting processes in Missouri and other states. The prohibited information: Incumbents’ addresses, political affiliations of registered voters, previous election results and demographic information other than actual head counts or information required to be considered by federal law.
Such federally required information that would still be considered includes racial demographics necessary to ensure that minority voting strength isn’t diluted either by carving up minority populations to make election of minority candidates unlikely or compacting minority voters into a small number of districts.
The Missouri Constitution currently assigns the duty of drawing congressional districts to the General Assembly. Partisan commissions have first crack at statehouse redistricting. If those commissions -- one responsible for crafting Senate districts, the other for House districts -- fail in their tasks, the job is given to a panel of appellate judges. In 2001, the partisan redistricting commissions deadlocked, forcing a judicial panel to do the job.
Although the next redistricting cycle doesn’t begin until 2011, House Democrats are proposing reform now in order to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2008. Voter ratification of the amendment that year would give the state more time to prepare for the new redistricting process than if it appeared on the 2010 ballot.
“It is time to give Missouri voters the chance to take politicians and political parties out of the redistricting process and create a system that serves Missouri voters,” said House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia.
Another component of House Democrats’ efforts to restore accountability to state government includes the Gubernatorial Appointments Integrity Act. State Rep. Beth Low, D-Kansas City, is again sponsoring the bill, which she filed last year as HB 1486.
The measure would prohibit gubernatorial appointees to state boards and commissions who are subject to Senate confirmation from donating to political candidates or parties during their terms in office. The bill is patterned after restrictions already in place for state judges under the Missouri Constitution and Supreme Court rule.
“Like judges, gubernatorial appointees hold positions of public trust,” Low said. “When appointees turn around and cut big checks to the governor and his party, it looks like a payoff. Members of important state boards and commissions should be chosen on the basis of ability, not the deepness of their pockets.”
House Democrats will also seek to restore limits on campaign contributions first imposed by Missouri voters in 1994 with 73.9 percent support but eliminated by the Republican-controlled General Assembly last year
“Missouri voters overwhelmingly said they wanted limits on campaign donations,” said Assistant House Minority Leader Paul LeVota. “It was wrong for the legislature to thwart voters’ will, and we must correct that mistake.”
Other accountability legislation includes:
· Ending political patronage in the awarding of license fee office contracts by requiring contracts to be granted either to local public school foundations or by competitive bid. The bill will be similar to HB 1336 from 2006.
· Prohibiting employees of the legislature or statewide elected officials from also drawing compensation from a political party or campaign. This provision was included in HB 2149 last year.
· Banning state lawmakers from also working as paid lobbyists.
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