Sheboygan Press | 07/29/2010
Mayor Tom Barrett's plan to take the task of redrawing legislative district boundaries out of the partisan political arena is a true breath of fresh air.
Barrett, the Democrat Party candidate for governor in the November election, wants to have a nonpartisan group of former judges do the work or drawing the boundaries for the state congressional and legislative districts. Six former judges make up the Government Accountability Board, the agency that oversees elections and state ethics laws. Though non-partisan, the members of the board are appointed by the governor.
The board, under Barrett's plan, would accept district maps for lawmakers, political parties and citizens and certify those that meet legal requirements — and include competitive districts. The plans would go to the Legislature. If lawmakers and the government can't agree on a plan, the judges would have the power to implement one of their own.
Now, that job is done by state lawmakers and usually leads to a lot of political wrangling and winds up giving the party in power the upper hand in drawing lines that favor "safe" rather than competitive districts. Recent attempts at redistricting have ended up in court, costing taxpayers millions of dollars for attorney fees — but have not produced truly competitive districts.
What do Barrett's potential challengers have to say?
According to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Republican candidate Mark Neumann is quoted as saying he favors term limits to ensure a changeover in representation.
But Neumann's term limits are meaningless if districts lines can still be drawn so that one party is favored over the other. A Republican would replace a retiring Republican or a Democrat replace a retiring Democrat in these so-called safe districts.
Walker's campaign, according to the Journal Sentinel story, didn't offer an alternative and said only that Barrett lacks credibility on bipartisanship because he voted with the Democratic Party while in Congress.
Pretty lame responses to Barrett's plan, we think.
This is one issue where statesmanship should trump partisan politics — and Barrett's proposal does that.
However, it would take a change in state law for Barrett's plan, or a similar one, to be considered. Given the bitter partisanship we've seen in the most recent legislative sessions, it's unlikely that things will change.
That's unfortunate.
If state lawmakers truly wanted to do something to show they are in tune with their constituents, they would give them true competitive elections by turning over the power to draw district boundaries to an independent body.
