Salazar files suit to halt GOP map

Salazar files suit to halt GOP map

May 15, 2003

Rocky Mountain News

Unusual case goes directly to state's highest tribunal

By John J. Sanko

Attorney General Ken Salazar, Colorado 's top elected Democratic state officeholder, filed suit in the Colorado Supreme Court Wednesday to stop a Republican-crafted congressional redistricting map from becoming law.

"My duty to the people of Colorado is to protect their rights under our state constitution and their right to vote," Salazar said after taking an action that he conceded was unlike anything done in almost a century.

Salazar sued a state official whom he normally represents in court - Secretary of State Donetta Davidson.

He asked the state's highest court for a writ of injunction barring Davidson from enforcing the new plan and for an order requiring her to abide by the redistricting map that a Denver district judge approved last year.

Davidson spokeswoman Lisa Doran said the secretary of state was "not upset. He (Salazar) called her ahead of time to let her know. She realizes there's nothing personal."

The surprise move by Salazar - on top of a lawsuit already filed in Denver District Court by Democrats last week - angered Republicans at the Statehouse.

They scoffed at Salazar's claims that he was filing the action as a representative of the people and not as a partisan Democratic officeholder.

The map that Republicans pushed through in the final three days of a chaotic legislative session last week strengthens GOP numbers in two swing districts, the 3rd and the 7th, and would help solidify Republicans' hold on five of Colorado's seven congressional seats.

"It has been characteristic of the Democrats for years now that they seek to get in court what they can't get through voting and the normal process of legislation," said Senate President John Andrews, R-Centennial. "Here we go again. We're prepared to defend as many lawsuits as partisan Democrats bring against this properly enacted statute, and we're confident it will be upheld."

Senate Majority Leader Norma Anderson, R-Lakewood, questioned the attorney general's authority to file such a suit and challenged his use of taxpayer dollars in doing so.

But House Minority Leader Jennifer Veiga praised Salazar "for taking swift action to protect the people of Colorado from unjust and unwarranted gerrymandering."

"It's unfortunate that the Republican Party is costing the state further limited resources for their pure political gain," she said.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., also applauded the action. "I have been inundated by calls from citizens, both Democrats and many Republicans, who are extremely upset by these actions," DeGette said.

Salazar was adamant about his authority to bring suit "to protect the integrity of the election process" and "to protect voters."

Whether the Supreme Court will accept the suit is at the court's discretion. Rarely is the state's highest court the original court of jurisdiction. Rather, it is an appellate court.

Salazar took note of at least one similar case in Colorado history. That occurred in 1905, when the attorney general filed an original proceeding in the Colorado Supreme Court on behalf of the people to uphold the election laws of the state. The court accepted it then.

"The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is invoked rarely - only in what we consider to be the most important and the most solemn of occasions," Salazar said.

"It is a rare action to take, but in my view, it is one that is necessary to take."

Salazar argued in his court filing that the mandatory redistricting of Colorado was completed with the Denver court's decision in 2002. It cannot be done again, he said.

"The Colorado Constitution permits only one redistricting per decade," Salazar said.

Republicans disagreed. They argued that the constitution requires that the legislature, not a judge, do the restricting after every census.

Rep. Rob Fairbank, R-Littleton, the House sponsor of the redistricting bill, and House Majority Leader Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, both rebuked Salazar's action.

They also released copies of a letter by Dick Mutzebaugh, a lawyer and former Republican lawmaker, who claimed Salazar was wrong and that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that a state may redraw its congressional districts more often than every 10 years.

"To be frank, I am concerned that your political alliance trumped your obligation to offer impartial advice to the Colorado General Assembly in this instance," Mutzebaugh said in a letter to Salazar.

They also handed out copies of an opinion by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott that lawmakers there have the constitutional authority to draw new boundaries to replace those approved last year by a three-judge federal panel.

The fight over redistricting in Texas has been far wilder than in Colorado. Senate Democrats in Colorado staged a walkout, but in Texas, 51 Democratic lawmakers not only walked out of the House chambers, they fled to a motel in Oklahoma to prevent a quorum in the House.

Fairbank said he's confident Republicans would win the court battles filed by Democrats, both in Denver District Court and the Supreme Court.

"He (Salazar) is taking a real liberal point of view on the constitution," Fairbank said. "It very clearly mandates that the legislature redraw the line once after every census.

"The legislature has not redrawn the lines until this year. An unelected judge redrew the lines."

King said he believed the attorney general had "overstepped" the reading of the state's constitution in trying to strip the legislature of its authority.

"I think it's important for everybody to understand this duty has been given explicitly to the General Assembly. It has not been given to the courts," King said.