Redistricting panel chosen

Mike Dennison
April 17, 2009

Top leaders at the Legislature Friday unveiled their picks for a little-known panel that will influence political control of Montana for the next decade: The commission that redraws legislative district boundaries after the 2010 Census.

And among the picks for the 2010 Districting and Apportionment Commission is Joe Lamson, a Democratic member of the 2000 commission and chief architect of the plan that set the current state Senate and House district borders.

Republicans have long felt that Lamson's plan, approved by a Democratic majority of the 2000 commission, gave Democrats an unfair advantage toward winning control of the Legislature when the new districts became effective in 2004.

Lamson, of Helena, and attorney Pat Smith of Arlee were the two Democratic picks for the five-member commission.

Republican leaders chose Linda Vaughey of Helena, a former state commissioner of political practices, and Jon Bennion, an attorney from Clancy and director of government relations for the Montana Chamber of Commerce.

The four appointees have 20 days to agree on a fifth member, who chairs the five-person commission. The panel won't start actually drawing the districts until 2011 and will complete its work in 2013. The new districts take effect in the 2014 election and stand through 2022.

If the four appointed members can't agree on a fifth member, the Montana Supreme Court will choose the commission chair.

A Montana Republican Party news release Friday opened with criticism of the 2000 commission, and both Vaughey and Bennion said they'd like to apply different standards to the process this time around.

"I'd like to throw out all of the old districts and start from scratch," Vaughey said. "Districts should be crafted so they most accurately reflect the one-person, one-vote tenet."

Bennion said the 2000 commission created districts that had too much variation in population, and that didn't always respect "traditional neighborhood" boundaries in cities.

"I still look forward to working with the Democrats, and hope they are coming to the table in the same spirit of bipartisanship," he added.

Lamson, who is deputy director of the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, is a longtime Democratic operative, having worked for former U.S. Rep. Pat Williams and former state superintendent of public instruction Nancy Keenan and on numerous campaigns.

Lamson on Friday shrugged off the Republican criticism of the 2000 commission's work, noting that the panel held two dozen public hearings, posted its plans on the Web, and worked with many local groups on the final plan.

He also pointed to electoral results as evidence that the districts accurately represent Montana, which he says is closely divided between Republicans and Democrats: Since 2004, control of the House has been tied twice, Democrats have won the Senate twice, and Republicans have won the Senate and the House once each.

The plan also followed established law and withstood court challenges, he said.

"The goal is to put forth a plan that, as accurately as possible, represents the various political views in Montana," he said.

Smith, who practices law in Missoula, is a member of the Assiniboine Tribe on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. He was an attorney in the landmark 1980s voting-rights case, Windy Boy vs. Big Horn County, which resulted in Montana's Big Horn County adopting districts for electing school board members and county commissioners.

Before the decision, the county held "at-large" election for the posts, effectively preventing the county's substantial Crow Indian minority from electing anyone to the posts.

Smith said Friday that he's "very honored" to be chosen for the commission, and that he looks forward to having a "fair and open process."