Idaho's new redistricting panel begins work
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 14 years, 6 months AGO
BOISE (AP) - The six-member panel charged with redrawing Idaho's 35 legislative districts was sworn in Tuesday and started the clock on its 90-day deadline for reshaping the state's legislative landscape.
The Idaho Citizen Commission on Reapportionment then got down to business, electing two former Pocatello lawmakers as co-chairmen and getting advice from academics and those who redrew Idaho's legislative boundaries a decade ago.
"What's going to happen is you're going to eventually come out with a plan and a lot of people aren't going to like it," Gary Moncrief, Boise State University political science professor, told the commissioners during a presentation Tuesday. "And it doesn't matter what the plan is, a lot of people aren't going to like it."
Over the next three months, the panel will hold a series of public hearings and work sessions to carve out new legislative districts and redraw the line separating Idaho's 1st and 2nd congressional districts to better reflect changes in the population in the past 10 years.
The commission's first public meeting is Tuesday in the state Capitol, with another scheduled for Wednesday in Caldwell.
On Tuesday, the panel of three Republicans and three Democrats elected former GOP Sen. Evan Frasure and former Democratic Rep. Allen Anderson, both of Pocatello, to serve as co-chairmen.
Democratic commissioner George Moses of Boise said picking two leaders seemed like a good idea after reviewing the minutes from the last commission.
The panel faces a difficult challenge in retooling the state's political map, especially with the shifts in population in the past 10 years that led to growth in some of the current districts and shrinkage in others. Over the past decade, the state has grown to nearly 1.6 million people from 1.3 million, with the most dramatic increases in the suburbs of Boise, Nampa and Coeur d'Alene, as well as Idaho Falls and Rexburg. Each new district will jump to around 44,800 people, up from 37,000 in 2002, if the panel elects to stay with 35 separate districts.
The commission has some basic rules to follow, including making sure the biggest and smallest districts' populations don't differ by more than 10 percent. Also, commissioners should avoid splitting up counties and look to pair communities that share similar interests.
Each of Idaho's 35 districts includes one senator and two representatives. But Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane briefed the panel Tuesday on flexibility spelled out in the state Constitution that would allow for fewer lawmakers per district.
Commissioners have until Sept. 4 to complete their work. Besides Frasure, Andersen and Moses, members include: Democrat Julie Kane of Lapwai, a lawyer for the Nez Perce Tribe; and Republicans Lorna Finman of Rathdrum, who owns a manufacturing business, and Lou Esposito of Boise, a political consultant.