OLYMPIA — The four members of the state redistricting commission are just days from revealing their ideas for carrying out the once-a-decade makeover of Washington’s political map.
On Sept. 13, the panel’s two Republicans and two Democrats will each release proposals for redrawing lines of 4
9 legislative districts and reapportioning 10 congressional districts, including a brand new one.
Then they’ll start negotiating final boundaries, a process they hope to finish by Nov. 1.
“It’s getting to the interesting time,” said commission member Slade Gorton, a former U.S. senator
and appointee of the Senate Republican caucus. “We’ve not talked across party lines yet, so these will be our opening positions.”
This is the stage when politics become thickest. Sitting lawmakers want to ensure the new lines do not increase their vulnerability in future elections. Those pondering a run for state or federal office are hoping the boundaries will help rather than harm their chances.
Commissioners are drafting their proposals with the aid of politically savvy staff assembled by their respective caucuses and paid for by taxpayers.
For Gorton, some of the input is coming from the chief campaign operative for the caucus which appointed him.
Republican state senators in June signed a $60,000 contract with Brent Ludeman of Olympia for “district analysis and general strategy.”
Ludeman is the same guy these senators pay to help them win elections and increase their ranks in the Legislature. He earns roughly $72,000 a year as executive director of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee.
State law prohibits spending public money on individual campaigns or direct political activities.
Redistricting fogs the lines because it is an inherently political activity — commission decisions will affect all campaigns statewide for the next decade — and an activity financed with public money.
Ludeman said the redistricting work he does through his firm, Innovate Media & Strategy, is completely separate from his campaign-oriented chores with the caucus.
“A lot of the (redistricting) functions we’re performing are not inherently political,” he said.
Jim Troyer, the caucus chief of staff, said Ludeman was chosen for his knowledge of Washington communities gained through his labors with the campaign operation.
“The important thing for the caucus in redistricting is to have someone who can provide the best information to draw the best possible maps,” Troyer said. “He has the best expertise on the subject.
“It is completely separate from the campaign function,” he said. “What he does for the campaign committee is their responsibility.”
No one on the commission or in the administration of the state Senate or the Senate Democratic Caucus is questioning his role.
Nothing in the rules governing redistricting bars anyone from doing both jobs.
“I’d love to say it’s a bright line but nothing in this process is bright,” said Bonnie Bunning, the commission’s executive director.
It has not bothered Gorton, a veteran of several cycles of redistricting over a long political career.
“This is a political exercise,” Gorton said. “The whole genius of it is that it is a partisan exercise but one where each party has the exact same strength and influence. It was set up with an even number so neither side could gerrymander it.”
Tim Ceis, appointee of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said it didn’t seem like a problem to him “if he’s a partisan staffer working on behalf of Senate Republicans.”
The current state budget allots $1.7 million for redistricting. Of that, $443,000 is divided equally among the four party legislative caucuses to spend as they wish in support of their commission appointee. Caucuses also received a similar amount in the last state budget.
Basically, each caucus is combining existing staff with mapping experts and policy analysts for the work. Analysts serve as conduits between lawmakers and commissioners and try to determine political implications of potential boundaries.
Ludeman is not the only person involved in redistricting who comes from the world of electoral politics, though he is the only one toiling in both worlds right now.
Senate Democrats employ Emily Walters as an analyst for Ceis. Walters’ career includes working 2008 through 2010 with the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee.
House Republicans, who named Tom Huff to the commission, hired Don Skillman in the same role. Skillman served as the state director for Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008. He is a former partner in AnchorPoint Communications, which advised several candidates in 2010.
House Democrats, whose commission appointee is Dean Foster, hired Adam Bartz as an analyst. He’s worked for U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., the Progressive Majority and, in 2002, managed then- state Rep. John Lovick’s reelection campaign. (Lovick is now Snohomish County sheriff.)
House and Senate Democrats also teamed up to bring on Steve Garrett as a geographic information system analyst.
His selection didn’t roil waters in Olympia. But he did land in the center of a controversy when he was hired as the districting master for the Pierce County redistricting commission.
The Washington State Republican Party, which opposes initial maps he prepared for the county commission, tried unsuccessfully to get him fired. They contended Garrett could not be impartial, given he was working at the same time for the Democratic caucuses.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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