Lawmakers seek extension in redistricting fight

Redistricting revisited

May 3, 2006

Rocky Mountain News

The scent of lilacs is in the air and state lawmakers are packing up to go home next Wednesday, maybe even earlier.

What better time to introduce a simple, uncontroversial constitutional amendment that would overhaul the way the state draws congressional districts every 10 years?

The itch to pitch changes in redistricting is getting to be a rite of spring. In 2003 the Republican legislature rammed through a surprise bill in the last three days of the session that redrew earlier judge-set boundaries. It was meant to give the GOP a better chance to win the 7th District. But the plan was thrown out by the courts.

Last year, two weeks before the end, Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon and then-Minority Leader Mark Hillman joined in an effort that would have turned congressional redistricting and legislative reapportionment over to an independent 11-member commission. It got nowhere.

This year the masochistic Gordon is back, this time without a Republican co-sponsor. His referendum, Senate Concurrent Resolution 8, would turn redistricting and reapportionment over to the nonpartisan legislative council staff.

It would base the districts on communities of interest and political boundaries but also urge competitiveness. The legislature would have to vote the plan up or down without amendments. It's based on a plan used in Iowa .

The referendum requires a two-thirds majority on final passage, which it won't get.

Pete Maysmith of Common Cause admitted one important factor had been omitted from the version that passed committee Monday. He hopes it would be added by floor amendment. It would disallow incumbent residency to be a factor. In other words, if the perfect district forces you to include the homes of both Tom Tancredo and Diana DeGette, well, that's too bad.

As it happens, DeGette doesn't like it and called several Denver Democrats urging them to vote no. Legislative council staffers can't vote but it's fair to assume most of them would rather walk barefoot over burning coals than be forced into making "nonpartisan" political decisions like this.

They were expendable: Arriving at the Capitol just in time to be of little use to the lawmakers who depart next week are 400 new gas masks - oops, make that "response escape hoods."

They were ordered last summer and paid for with $41,600 in Homeland Security money.

About 75 of them are for senators and Senate staffers. Tuesday they were outside the chamber, still safely sealed in their boxes which in turn were sealed inside large cardboard cartons. If there's a gas attack soon, better bring your box cutters.

The masks are described as "translucent, lightweight protective hoods, with an integral nosecup and elastomeric neck seal."

The State Patrol said there are enough for legislators, full-time staffers and executive- branch types on the first floor.

Some session-only staffers grumped that they must be expendable. But so are schoolchildren and other tourists who happen to be in the Capitol when terrorists strike.

Romer's indirect campaign: Chris Romer is one of three Democrats running for the state Senate in Denver 's District 32. But the son of the former governor seems even more interested in a pending statewide ballot issue.

He recently sent out a mailer promoting a 1 percent increase in the severance tax on Colorado oil and gas to pay for repairs to public school buildings. Several initiatives are pending on this.

The same mailer includes criticism of President Bush's proposal to sell off public lands to pay for rural schools.

But Romer has not set up a separate initiative committee free from contribution limits to pay for this campaign. It's coming out of his regular campaign funds, where gifts are limited to $400 per person. Last year gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman used a no-limit issue committee to build name identification by attacking Referendum C.

Denver cleans up: Street sweeping is a wonderfully lucrative endeavor for the city of Denver from the spring through the fall.

Not the sweeping itself, of course, but the $20 tickets issued to those who've forgotten they can't park on streets east of the Capitol on the first Tuesday of the month - even if they're feeding the meter.

At 10 a.m. there were three meter maids and men who'd double-parked their vehicles in a single block of Pennsylvania Street south of Colfax Avenue . They were writing tickets so fast you'd think Mayor John Hickenlooper had put them on commission.

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Author: Peter Blake, Rocky Mountain News

Section: Commentary/Editorial

Page: 39A