GOP, Dems make their redistricting pleas

HARTFORD -- Supporters of the Democratic congressional map outnumbered those backing the competing Republican proposal during a hearing Monday before the state Supreme Court's designated special master.

Twenty four speakers appeared before Columbia University professor Nathaniel Persily during the nearly two-hour session, including Democrats from New Britain opposed to the GOP effort to put their city in the Hartford-centric 1st Congressional District.

They supported the Democratic plan to essentially retain the current map that was drawn up after the 2000 U.S. Census, which forced the state to lose a seat in Congress because of a nationwide population shift to western states.

But Republican lawmakers, led by House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero, Jr., R-Norwalk, and Rep. Arthur J. O'Neill, R-Southbury, said the 2001 congressional map was a concession to keep two incumbent members of Congress -- one from New Britain and one from Danbury -- eligible for a new 5th District.

The Republicans said their current proposal is designed to undo the Democrats' "gerrymandering" after the 2000 census. The Democrats, with strong majorities in the General Assembly, contended the 2001 plan was a bipartisan effort and that the current GOP plan would disrupt too many voters.

"I think for the 5th (Congressional) District, we didn't look at them as the way Connecticut would be divided going forward," said O'Neill, the only member of the current Reapportionment Commission who also served on the 2001 panel.

"It looks like someone spilled milk on a coffee table," Cafero said of the current map. "It looks funny. It makes no sense. If we don't correct it fairly, it will perpetuate itself forever."

Andrew J. McDonald, legal counsel for Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said the proposed Democratic plan "upsets" fewer town boundary lines in determining congressional districts: five compared to 14 for the GOP proposal.

"Under the Democratic plan, less than 1 percent of the population would be moved" to other districts, compared to 5 percent under the GOP submission. McDonald charged that the power of minority voters would be undermined in several mid-size cities, including Meriden.

"What the Republican proposal achieves is a wholesale re-engineering of the political landscape in Connecticut," McDonald said.

Persily declined to comment to reporters and had virtually no interaction with the two dozen speakers Monday. "I am here to listen," he said, sitting at a long, otherwise empty legislative committee table before the hearing started. "I will take all the materials under advisement," he said at the end.

Persily has until Jan. 27 to present a proposal to the state Supreme Court, which in turn has until Feb. 15 to adopt the new map. Republicans had originally proposed moving Danbury into the 4th District and Bridgeport into the 3rd District, but recently dropped the idea, instead focusing on moving New Britain to the 1st District.

Three people, including Tiffany Mellers of Bridgeport, an Army reservist whose specialty is civil affairs, spoke against moving Bridgeport from the 4th District.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5724715035

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