Liberals have been screaming their heads off about Tom DeLay manipulating voting district maps in Texas. This is nothing new. A former campaign warhorse already sounded the alarm in 2003. He was actually an invaluable tool for getting Clinton into office and for dealing with the troubles of his first term. If you hadn’t figured it out yet, I’m talking about Dick Morris. Dick is best described as an issue-centric moderate, but liberals love calling him a White House mouthpiece because he is a FOX News consultant. Anyone that has bothered to read his books knows he holds no punches against either party, which brings us back to redistricting.
In his book “Off With Their Heads” he discusses the political manipulation of voting districts. It’s a great read. It outlines a few examples of how powerful incumbent representatives, Democrats and Republicans alike have manipulated the redistricting process to eliminate competition for their seats. Iowa is the exception. In 1981 they enacted rules to prevent such abuses, which is why House seats are competitive in Iowa. Dick outlines rule changes, similar to Iowa’s process that would bring competition back to the House of Representatives.
Undo the reapportionment of congressional districts in your state and require a new set of lines by the election of 2006
Require that the reapportionment be handled by a nonpartisan bureau, as in Iowa, and that the politicians have no say in the outcome
Forbid the bureau from considering incumbency, party, or voting patterns in the districting
Require that the districts be compact and contiguous
It’s probably too late to change the district maps before the 2006 election, but it’s still possible to get a redistricting referendum on the 2006 ballot. If that referendum should pass, we would see competitive races for the House in 2008. The only way this can happen however is if the voters put their partisan differences aside and unite on the issue. It’s in their best interests. The House is supposed to be the most representative branch of our government. It should reflect mood swings in society. It can’t do that however if the district lines are manipulated.