Panel formed to end gerrymandering

By Susanna Ray

Herald Writer

If all went as planned Saturday, this is only the second time a redistricting commission has redrawn Washington’s political boundaries.

Voters created the commission in 1983 by passing a constitutional amendment in an attempt to take politicking and gerrymandering out of the redistricting process. The group was first formed and acted after the 1990 Census, and it was formed again on Jan. 15 of this year to redraw lines in accordance with the 2000 Census.

Each of the state’s nine congressional districts is now supposed to have about 655,000 people, and the 49 legislative districts should be drawn with about 120,000 people apiece.

Before the commission was created, it was up to legislators to draw their own district boundaries every 10 years when the census figures came out. Whichever party had a majority in the Legislature naturally had an advantage.

The independent, bipartisan commission is made up of two Democrats and two Republicans selected by the majority and minority leaders in the Legislature. There is also a nonvoting chairman selected by the four commissioners.

The Democratic appointees are Bobbi Krebs-McMullen, a community activist in Mount Vernon, and Dean Foster, a former chief clerk for the House of Representatives.

The Republican appointees are Richard Derham, a retired Seattle attorney, and John Giese, senior counsel with the public relations firm the Rockey Company.

Those four, in turn, selected Graham Johnson as their chairman. He’s a Spokane native who served as the long-time executive director of the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.

The commission’s guiding principles are to create districts that: are geographically contiguous (share a common land border or transportation route); coincide with local political subdivisions (city and county lines) and communities of interest (agricultural or urban); provide fair and effective representation for constituents and encourage electoral competition; and don’t purposely favor or discriminate against any political party or group.

The commission held public hearings throughout the state this year and then began the nitty-gritty of mapping in the fall. Each commissioner came up with a proposal. The four maps were narrowed down to a Republican and Democrat proposal, and the group has been trying to come up with a compromise map this week.

They had a deadline of midnight Saturday, or it would go to a judge to decide.

Now the Legislature has until Feb. 12 to approve the commission’s map. Lawmakers can make only minor amendments.

The new map will be in effect for the 2002 elections.

You can call Herald Writer Susanna Ray at 425-339-3439 or send e-mail to ray@heraldnet.com.

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