The overarching lesson from the Colorado legislature’s futile attempt to redraw congressional lines this year was this: When you start with Republican maps and Democratic maps, you end up with no map.
And Colorado loses.
Well, it’s time to draw maps again. This time, it’s the state’s legislative boundaries that need to be recrafted with fresh census information.
Rather than engage in that hyper-partisan back and forth, we were intrigued by an idea that was bandied about in the reapportionment panel’s first meeting last week: Why not ask the state’s legislative legal services department to rechart Colorado’s House and Senate lines?
The department has the expertise and it already drafts lawamkers’ bills with nary a complaint about partisanship. The reapportionment commission could then review the map and send it back with suggestions.
If, after a few tries, the 11-member bipartisan panel is not satisified, it can draw the lines.
The state of Iowa has a similar plan that appears to work smoothly. It’s a good idea, and certainly warrants some discussion among panel members.
The bipartisan reapportionment commission is appointed by the governor, statehouse leaders and the Colorado Supreme Court chief justice. Its structure — this year with five Republicans, five Democrats and one unaffiliated — is meant to avoid the same partisan pitfalls that occur every 10 years when the legislature tries to remap the state’s congressional boundaries.
It’s often worked in the past. But 10 years ago, the reapportionment commission split over a Senate map, and ultimately it was rejected by the state Supreme Court.
The court concluded the commission’s plan split counties in violation of the state constitution and denied Boulder, Douglas, Jefferson and Pueblo counties one Senate seat each. The plan also divided Adams, Arapahoe and Mesa counties and the cities of Boulder and Pueblo without adequate explanation, the court said.
Justice Gregory Hobbs then laid out a plain blueprint for future maps, which we hope this commission follows. It should start with respecting the integrity of county lines. The commission simply can’t draw any boundaries they’d like, as they did in 2001. If Hobbs’ guidelines are followed, there should be little chance for the kind of gerrymandering of districts that not only get states in trouble with the law, but also cause voters to lose faith in the system.
So far, the reapportionment commission is talking the good talk about bipartisanship and keeping politics out of the process.
The state constitution’s language on reapportionment is meant to keep either party from creating districts to its advantage. We hope that’s the end result.
