Panel votes Tuesday on redistricting plan

By Rebecca Cook

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Sixteen days after the official deadline, the state’s redistricting commissioners finally have a plan for new congressional districts, one that would give some Snohomish County residents new representatives in Congress.

The four voting commissioners — two Democrats and two Republicans — will vote on the plan today. The new districts reflect population shifts and growth since 1990.

In the plan, most of Everett remains in the 2nd District, while Mukilteo and Monroe are split between the 1st and 2nd districts.

The commissioners were supposed to redraw legislative and congressional redistricting maps by midnight Dec. 15. They approved a legislative map at about 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 16, but agreement on the congressional districts eluded them until now.

"Everyone had a chance to take a deep, long breath," said Republican commissioner Richard Derham, who worked on the map over the holidays with Democratic commissioner Dean Foster. Both said Monday they strongly hope the two other commissioners, who have been out of the country until recently, will approve the new map on Tuesday.

Foster said the new map "looks remarkably like the districts that exist today."

Although the deadline has passed, the vote is still significant. The matter will go to the state Supreme Court, and conventional wisdom is the court, reluctant to meddle in politics, will approve the maps created by the commission — even if they did come in late.

"Better late than never," said U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., who along with U.S. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., encouraged the commissioners to keep working.

Dicks said he’s optimistic the other commissioners will approve the plan created by Derham and Foster.

"It’s very good," Dicks said. "It minimizes change. Most citizens of the state will have the same congressman as they had before. I think this is great, and I hope it will be honored by the court."

Some changes were needed to accommodate the growing areas of the state.

The fate of Olympia and Everett was a sticking point in the negotiations. Democrats wanted to keep Olympia in the 3rd District, represented by Democrat Brian Baird, and Everett in the 2nd District, represented by Democrat Rick Larsen. They got what they wanted, with some compromise. Most of Everett remains in the 2nd District under the current plan, Derham said, while Mukilteo and Monroe are split between the 1st and 2nd Districts.

To the south, most of Olympia remains in the 3rd District, with Yelm and most of Lacey going to the 9th District, Derham said. Thurston County is split between the 3rd and the 9th Districts.

Gray’s Harbor County, which has been divided between the 3rd and the 6th Districts, is fully in the 6th District under the new plan. Derham said commissioners tried to unify the county after residents told them that’s what they wanted. Bremerton, which also used to be split, is wholly placed in the 6th District, represented by Dicks.

The Microsoft campus is split between two districts in the new plan. Historically, it has been in the 1st District, represented by Democrat Jay Inslee. The new plan puts half of Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters in the 8th District, represented by Dunn.

Derham said a purely data-based redrawing of the map lines would have put all of Microsoft in Dunn’s district, but he and Foster agreed that because the 1st District has always represented Microsoft’s home, it would be good to keep some continuity.

The commissioners agreed on maps for Eastern Washington early on, so there weren’t many changes there. The 4th District, represented by Republican Doc Hastings, will expand to include all of Klickitat County, while the 5th District, represented by Republican George Nethercutt, gets all of Okanogan County.

Redistricting happens every 10 years to redraw the legislative and congressional boundaries according to Census data. According to the Census, Washington grew by about 1 million people from 1990 to 2000. Commissioners were directed to draw nine congressional districts of about 650,000 people each and 49 legislative districts with about 120,000 people apiece.

The deadline set by the state constitution for redistricting is today. The Legislature set its own deadline a little earlier, Dec. 15. There’s a chance the Legislature could retroactively push back its deadline to today. In that case, the new boundaries would become legal if the commissioners approve them. However, legislative leaders indicated reluctance to do that. The matter will likely go to the Supreme Court, which is expected to approve any plans upon which the commission can agree.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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