First salvos prepared for statehouse redistricting battles

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://www.stateline.org/live/printable/story?contentId=136505

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Thursday, August 24, 2006
First salvos prepared for statehouse redistricting battles
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff writer

Behind the scenes of this year’s legislative elections, both parties are quietly laying the groundwork for the next round of fierce redistricting battles that will decide who controls future statehouses and the U.S. Congress.

Democrats are first off the starting line with plans to create a new political organization, with a war chest of $17 million over the next five years, to give their party an upper hand in redrawing political maps. Legislatures are key to any strategy because in 44 states, legislators are in charge of drawing new congressional districts and can use their numerical power to help their political party. The long-term goal of the new organization is to switch at least a dozen U.S. congressional seats to Democratic control in future elections.

“The Republicans have done a very good job spending time and resources on redistricting for the last 15 years. We are playing catch-up,” said Bill Burke, executive director of the newly formed nonprofit “Foundation for the Future” that he said aims to get Democrats a seat at the table when district lines are redrawn. “Our goal is to get fair lines in each of the 50 states.”

Democrats are wasting no time taking advantage of a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives states the green light to redraw political maps whenever they wish, rather than every 10 years when new Census Bureau data are released. The high court upheld the Texas Legislature’s controversial 2003 redistricting plan, which later helped five congressional seats in Texas change from Democratic to Republican control in 2004. Today, Republicans hold a 231-201 majority in the U.S. House and have a 55-44 lead in the U.S. Senate.


Snip: The DLCC is one of three groups spearheading the creation of the new 527. The other two founding members are the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the largest labor union in the AFL-CIO representing some 500,000 state workers, and the National Committee for an Effective Congress, which was established by Eleanor Roosevelt and others in 1948 to support progressive candidates.

Mike Anton, a spokesman for the Republican State Leadership Committee, said his organization has been looking at redistricting for some time and plans to create a separate 527 or another group within the RSLC to specifically tackle it. “527s are in the perfect position to address and take on this issue,” he said. But Republicans will wait until after the Nov. 7 election for a final decision on how to proceed, he said.