The number of lawmakers representing Fort Collins in the state House would double under a proposal that passed Monday, despite criticism that the boundaries were “insane.”
The Colorado Reapportionment Commission voted 6-5 for the plan, which divides Fort Collins into four districts and nearby Windsor into three districts.
All five Democrats on the commission voted for the proposal, while all five Republicans voted against it. The swing vote came from Mario Carrera, an unaffiliated voter and the commission chairman.
Afterward, GOP commission members expressed concern that the map unnecessarily divides county and city borders.
“It’s insane,” said commissioner Steve Tool, a former Fort Collins lawmaker who now lives in Windsor.
But former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, the commission’s vice chairman and a Democrat, said there’s nothing unconstitutional about the map.
“I just think the Republicans didn’t like it,” he said.
Another Democratic commission member, Rep. Matt Jones of Louisville, pointed out that the same map makes it extremely difficult for a Democrat to get elected from Weld County starting next year. Currently, a Democrat represents Greeley, the county seat.
The commission is charged with redrawing the boundaries of Colorado’s 35 Senate seats and 65 House seats to reflect population shifts recorded in the 2010 U.S. census. Each district must contain roughly the same number of people.
During the past decade, growth in Weld and Douglas counties, for example, swelled, while other places lost population.
The commission has been taking testimony from residents statewide and then drawing and voting on tentative maps for those regions. On Monday, commissioners voted on maps for Weld, Larimer and several Eastern Plains counties, and then heard testimony from citizens in the metro area.
Peg Cage, president of Longmont Republican Women, said she doesn’t want to be in a district with heavily Democratic Boulder County, which currently is the case.
“Our cars don’t even fit in their parking lots,” she said.
But Boulder County got plenty of love from Dottie Rawsky of Broomfield, who said she wouldn’t mind being in a district that included that county. She said a number of Broomfield students attend schools in Boulder, so there is a clear connection to that county.
“Boulder County is my home away from home,” she said.
The commission next Monday will vote on maps for the metro area. The preliminary maps for all House and Senate seats are due in August. The commission is scheduled to adopt a final map in September and present it to the Colorado Supreme Court in October.
The map that is adopted will go into effect for the 2012 election.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327 or lbartels@denverpost.com
