Clark Offers ‘Fair’ Way to Eliminate Utah Democrats
Washington ยป A leading state lawmaker favors splitting Salt Lake County among four congressional districts if the state gains a new House seat in the 2010 Census as expected.
House Speaker Dave Clark said he likes the mix of urban and rural populations now represented by the state’s federal lawmakers and would favor keeping that policy with the addition of a new seat in 2012.
But state Democrats don’t share that opinion, arguing that a four-way split would disenfranchise the state’s most populous county, which has taken a step to the left in recent years.
“That is an intentional political move to deprive Salt Lake County residents of a voice in the process,” argues Todd Taylor, executive director of the Utah Democratic Party. “It dilutes them.”
Rep. David Clark, the Speaker of the House, who prides himself on fairness, just blew his cover with the most partisan redistricting proposal that could be proposed. To him ‘fairness’ is simply eliminating the Democrats. His proposal is blatant political partisanship at the extreme.
Elsewhere on this blog you will find a superb comment on this subject by Andrew Beckett. His letter to the Tribune Forum entitled ‘Undemocratic Idiocy’ is a must read.
The always partisan and often contentious redistricting process remains in the hands of state lawmakers after an initiative to create an independent redistricting commission failed to gather enough signatures by last Thursday’s deadline.
In preparation, Clark has already surveyed the state’s three U.S. House members and examined years of population estimates, developing a “doughnut” and “pie” analogy for what he sees as the Legislature’s main choices.
The doughnut would carve a highly urban “island” out of Salt Lake County, favoring a Democrat. This would leave three Republican-dominated districts surrounding it.
The pie, which Clark favors, would split Salt Lake County four ways, creating urban-rural splits that would likely lean Republican.
He bases his opinion on his observations of the 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses his hometown in the St. George area. It is now represented by Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson and also includes the Navajo Reservation in the state’s far southeast corner, the tourist hotspot of Moab, oil rich Vernal and the east side of Salt Lake City.
“The 2nd District is an urban-rural mix and I think I like how that has played out,” said Clark, a past chairman of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ redistricting committee.
What about the doughnut? “That would be something I am not warmed up to yet,” he said.
Clark’s view conflicts with the map the Legislature approved in 2006 — but never implemented — a fourth district anchored by left-leaning Salt Lake City and Park City. That effort was inspired by federal legislation that sought to give Utah a fourth seat in exchange for Washington, D.C., getting its first full voting member of the House. That bill is still alive, but Utah’s involvement has been diminished.
Prior to the 1991 redistricting most of Salt Lake County was contained within a single congressional district. It was split in two that year, with a tiny piece assigned to a third district. A full three-way split was adopted in 2001.
Taylor has a different way to describe Clark’s doughnut or pie districts. He calls it packing and fracturing.
In his view, the doughnut packs all the Democrats in the same district minimizing their impact elsewhere, while the pie tries to fracture the voice of the minority into all four districts, diluting their chances of success.
He isn’t shocked that Clark, a leading Republican and oft-rumored candidate for the fourth seat, likes that second option.
“If they can draw four seats that lean Republican, and they probably can, they will do that,” he said.
Taylor believes the urban-rural conversation — which he thinks is code for Democrat-Republican — should be dropped.
“It should be drawn fairly along currently existing political boundaries — communities, cities, counties. It shouldn’t be intentionally drawn to fracture our existing political communities,” he said. Taylor said if the districts were drawn fairly, two districts would likely be competitive, while two would likely remain controlled by Republicans.
As an example, he points to the Avenues neighborhood of Salt Lake City, which is split between Matheson’s 2nd District and GOP Rep. Rob Bishop’s 1st District.
“I defy you to walk through the Avenues and know what congressional district you are in,” Taylor said.
Gigi Brandt of the League of Women Voters also expressed skepticism at the Legislature splitting Salt Lake County among four House members, instead of three.
“When you split urban and rural, I don’t think either side will feel they have adequate representation,” she said.
Clark said the Legislature will try to keep communities of interest intact, but boundaries have to be set somewhere.
Matheson doesn’t want any say in the makeup of his district. His office said Clark talked to him about redistricting, but they never got into specifics. Utah’s lone Democrat in Congress believes the process has been too political in the past and he thinks it poses an “inherent conflict of interest” for office holders to help draw their districts, said his spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend.
Bishop said he doesn’t have a strong position on the issue, though he, like Clark, has liked the varied geographic makeup of Utah’s three districts.
“What we have right now is urban and rural in all three districts,” he said. “That has had a tremendously unifying effect on the delegation as we work together.”
Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz also said he didn’t think he should have much of an impact on the boundaries.
“I will deal with the cards that are dealt,” he said. “Personally I would like to retain as much of the current district that I represent, but I recognize that there will be changes.”
One of those changes will likely move his neighborhood into the 3rd District, which he represents. Chaffetz lives in Alpine, which is now in Matheson’s district.
The Census is expected to hand over broad population estimates by year’s end and detailed numbers needed for redistricting by next April. Those figures won’t only impact the U.S. House districts, but also the state House and Senate makeup.
With major population gains in the suburbs around Salt Lake City and in southern Utah, Clark argues that it is inevitable that districts now held by Democrats will be merged and new districts in conservative areas created. He called it “simple math,” based on well-observed demographic shifts.
Seven state House members represent at least a part of Salt Lake City. After redistricting Clark said that number will likely drop to five. He expects Democrats to decide which districts to combine.
Taylor doesn’t deny that the population growth has hit largely Republican areas, but he says that does not automatically transfer to districts that are overwhelmingly conservative.
“If there is a political shift based on line redrawing, it is an intentional move, it is not based merely on demographics,” Taylor said, arguing that past redistricting has show that Republicans want power over stability.
Clark fires back: “His opinion might be one thing but the facts are the complete opposite.”
With more than a year of wrangling to go, the partisan tensions will only rise.
Clark calls redistricting the second most politically charged activity the Legislature undertakes, falling only behind the picking of their own leaders.
Taylor said people will start the process with the best of intentions, but that will evaporate before the map is finalized. State lawmakers will look out for their own interests even if it means hurting a friend’s political chances.
“It is so mean-spirited and nasty even within political parties,” said Taylor, “that hard feelings linger for decades.”