One town, one district

The Lowell Sun
April 18, 2009

The argument that Chelmsford has four votes in the House of Representatives lacks merit, and those who make the claim know it. What Chelmsford actually suffers from is virtually no representation.

If an issue pits suburbs against cities, which group are the Lowell-based representatives likely to support? Most of their constituents reside in the city. And if Rep. Cory Atkins has to decide between an issue that divides Concord and the small Chelmsford precinct that sits in her district, isn't she more likely to lean toward Concord, where her strongest support lies?

A vicious redistricting battle waged in 2001 resulted in Chelmsford's being carved up into four House districts from a single district. The largest portions of those four districts rest in other communities, with Chelmsford residents being the minority in each.

Rather than remaining its own district, then represented by Republican Rep. Carol Cleven, Chelmsford was torn apart and attached to Lowell's Centralville and Pawtucketville neighborhoods, Westford, Littleton, Concord, and Lowell's Belvidere and South Lowell sections.

It is unheard of in Massachusetts for a town of Chelmsford's size to be quartered and attached to four other districts. The towns of Acton and Wilmington are divided between two representatives each, but those situations don't compare with what happened to Chelmsford.

We find it profoundly troubling that a proposal to form an independent commission to study redistricting was overwhelmingly rejected by the Legislature, including by three of Chelmsford's four representatives. Only Rep. Jim Arciero, a Westford Democrat, showed his support of Chelmsford by backing the proposal.

"I thought it was the right thing to do," Arciero said after the vote. "The dividing of the district was wrong..."

The Sun couldn't agree more. It was heartening to see a representative show the courage of his convictions, instead of worrying about losing a bit of political power on Beacon Hill.

After the 2001 redistricting, Cleven didn't seek re-election because she would have been forced to run from a district where 70 percent of the constituents lived in Lowell and were represented by a popular incumbent. There was no way she could have won. She knew it, and so did the people -- including former House Speaker Thomas Finneran -- who drew up the redistricting plan.

It is disappointing that Atkins, and Reps. Thomas Golden and David Nangle failed to support the formation of an independent commission to study redistricting. They did a disservice to their Chelmsford constituents.