Redistricting Has Local Democrats Running Scared

Local Democrats are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Republican Party for their attempt to clean up the gerrymandered district maps the Democrats drew up when they were in control of the Commissioners office in 2001. It doesn’t take anyone very long to grasp the term of gerrymandering when they look at the present district maps. As an example take District 4, it was created by taking a little wedge from the center of the county north from Bloomington all the way out to take in the far reaches of the northwest corner of the county which includes Stinesville. The county was sliced and diced into districts that would give Democrats a distinct advantage in three of the four district races. The Democrats consolidated the areas they were weak in and gave up District 3 where Marty Hawk has had a cake walk during past elections.

Democrat Party Chairman Dan Combs was at the Commissioners meeting last Friday to stir the pot by claiming that not enough public input or notice was given along with taking the opportunity to take a variety of partisan shots at Commissioners Poling and Kilmer as well as the rest of the Republican Party. Unfortunately no one from the Republican Party was there to provide a balanced viewpoint on why this action is necessary. Without even being given the opportunity to present its case the Republican’s plan to redistrict was shot down by County Clerk Jim Fielder and Councilwoman Marty Hawk. I’m sure Fielder’s concerns center around the work that redistricting will cause his office to develop voting boundaries, records and voting locations in the upcoming elections. Marty Hawk’s opposition to redistricting is understandable and rather self-serving; she is in a district that is heavily Republican, possibly as much as 65%, and who wouldn’t want to run under those conditions? The idea of her being pitted against Mark Stoops, if they were both to seek re-election, would be very interesting. If the newly redrawn lines of District 3 included parts of both of they’re districts, which would include the northern part of the county, it would appear the district would still remain safely in favor of a good GOP challenger.

Obviously the purpose in redistricting is to balance out Districts 1, 3 and 4 and clean up the boundary lines in the process. Spending any time on District 2, which includes all of downtown Bloomington, a heavily Democrat district, would be a waste of time. Many questions should be brought up like, why does District 3 extend from Richland Township on the northwest corner of the county to Polk Township on the southeast corner of the county? Another question that plagues the old maps is what do the residents from the north side of Bloomington have to do with residents of Stinesville, they are not even in the same school district?

When the Democrats oppose something this much you can bet the Republicans have struck a very sensitive nerve, something that is certainly worth exploring further. Its also interesting that when the Republicans start using the same tactics the Democrats have used for years the Democrat Party leaders cry foul. Finally it would seem the GOP has learned that you can’t play fair with the opposition and the only way to beat them is to beat them at their own game. The GOP might get their knuckles bloody in the process but the end result will be for the better. Hopefully our Commissioners will stay the course and not submit to pressure from the left.