Jack Ferma missed an overarching guide when districting lines are drawn by
courts. Typically, lawsuits driving redistricting end up being courts of
equity and rely heavily on past practice and recent elections. In this
scenario, I draw your attention to the current sixth district. Four federal
office/gubernatorial elections over the last eight years have resulted in
over 15% voting for a third party, or less than a 2% margin for DFL or REP.
That Bush won the 6th, while Luther hung on to his seat, is a case in point.
Barkley ran with better than 15% twice, and Ventura won the 6th in '98.
Since Barkley & Governor control the planning process that defines the
state's case for "equitable" redistricting, the burden will be essentially
on the DFL to show how they can justify keeping the 6th from encroaching
upon the 4th from the north.
St. Paul is much more likely to be pushed into a district that is east and
south of its boundaries, for the same reasons DFL'ers have pushed
Minneapolis into Richfield & Robbinsdale for the 5th. They could have just
as easily pushed Edina into Minneapolis, creating a moderate Republican or
independent opportunity, but DFL & REP agreed that both 5th & 3rd would be
"safe" districts respectively.
A third party perspective in this process means that new linkages, such as
inner ring suburbs that have more in common with core cities, (and I believe
more independent opportunities for elections) would be a equitable model.
REP's would be smarter to link Edina with Minneapolis in the 5th. They
still wouldn't lose much from the third, but would severely weaken the DFL
stranglehold on the Sabo seat.
Steve Minn
Minneapolis
> Message: 6
> Subject: Re: [Mpls] Mpls and redistricting
> Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 17:21:51 -0600
> From: ferma001 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "David Brauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> "Mpls list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> I suspect the redistricting fight will end up in the courts, as happened
> in 1981 and 1991. A review of the court records will disclose what sort
> of guides the court would approve in redistricting. Guide No. 1 -
> natural geographic delineations - Minnesota has two: the Mississippi and
> Minnesota Rivers. Guide No. 2 - first level governmental boundaries -
> these would be County and city of the first class boundaries. Guide No.
> 3 - lesser governmental boundaries - that is, towns (a suburb is a town)
> and townships. The operating rule is that a district boundary may not
> cross any of the guidelines without compelling reason. The later three
> words would, of course, define the court fights. One can get a head
> start of what the districts must resemble. We have 8 US House seats and
> the state has 4 geographic corners. Thus, starting from each corner one
> would append counties until the requisite
> 1/8th of the population is accounted for. The rules do not require an
> exact 1/8, however. It will be fun to watch the feather fly on this one.
>
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