Redrawn districts speeding to passage/ Democrats protest legislative

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), May 7, 2003 | by KYLE HENLEY

DENVER - It was politics for sure, but anything but politics as usual under the Gold Dome in the closing days of the 2003 General Assembly session.

The fallout from the bareknuckle fight - the worst in decades, many observers say - could be lasting bitterness between Democrats and Republicans that does away with any pretense of partisan cooperation in the Statehouse.

The prize is control of the state's congressional districts.

In the waning days of the legislative session, which ends today, Republicans introduced a measure to redraw Colorado's seven congressional districts to give GOP candidates an advantage at the polls.

Senate Bill 352, introduced Monday by Sen. Doug Lamborn, R- Colorado Springs, signaled the beginning of a battle planned for months by state and national GOP leaders.

The bill won final approval Tuesday in the Senate on an 18-12 vote.

All Republicans were in favor ofSB352, and five Democrats refused to vote.

That sent the measure to the House, where it was rushed through a committee Tuesday before gaining preliminary approval by the full body during a floor debate that ran into the evening.

Democrats were caught flatfooted by SB352, assuming Re- publicans wouldn't dare try to overturn a redistricting plan approved by a Denver judge in January 2002. The judge approved the map after lawmakers couldn't agree on a map after the 2000 U.S. Census.

"I never thought they would be audacious enough to do such a thing," said Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder.

Republicans say the current congressional district boundaries are unconstitutional because they were drawn by a judge and not the General Assembly. The state constitution requires lawmakers to come up with a plan.

"Not a single legislator voted on that plan," Lamborn said. "The judge made that decision all by himself. We are following the constitution."

State Attorney General Ken Salazar, a Democrat, has said he believes a second redistricting is unconstitutional, and has vowed to fight SB352 in court if it passes the House and Senate and is signed into law by the governor.

Republican Gov. Bill Owens has supported redrawing the congressional districts, telling a radio talkshow host Monday, "Redistricting is a legitimate subject for the Legislature to consider. It is the Legislature's duty to redraw congressional district lines."

Last-minute shenanigans in the Statehouse are not new. They happen almost every year during the closing days of a session as lawmakers scramble to tie up loose ends.

In pushing SB352, Republican senators steamrolled Democratic opposition with a variety of tactics: ignoring opposition senators and representatives who try to offer amendments or debate, changing legislative rules to squelch debate and even removing Democrats from the floor.

Monday, angry Senate Democrats walked out of the chamber before the final vote on SB352.

"The rules were suspended so fast and so furious that I couldn't keep up," said Senate Minority Leader Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden. "The only rule that matters is that all rules can be suspended and there are no rules."

The treatment of the minority party even got to some nonpartisan legislative staff members.

Senate Reading Clerk Alfredo Kemm quit his job Monday night in protest, and one member of the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committees was in tears after Rep. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, yelled at witnesses and Democratic members during a hearing on SB352 and ignored minority members seeking to amend and debate the measure.

When Senate Majority Leader Norma Anderson, R-Lakewood, was asked about the tactics, she shrugged and said, "Politics is politics."

Lamborn said Republicans are doing what they have to do.

"We have the majority and we have used the majority to accomplish our goal," he said. "There may have been a lot of hurt feelings, but I hope we can come back from that."

Some Republicans said Democrats blocked previous attempts at reaching a compromise on redistricting when they controlled the Senate from 2000-02.

"This is a case where one party decided . . . to force a judge to decide," said Rep. Rob Fairbank, R-Littleton, House sponsor of SB352. "There was zero public debate on the map we have right now. My feeling is that it is like a payback."

REDISTRICTING 101

CIVICS LESSON

Every 10 years after the U.S. Census, the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are shuffled based on population. Based on that, Colorado gets seven seats in the House. Each district has about 614,000 residents. It is the Legislature's responsibility to draw boundary lines for the congressional districts.

THE POLITICS

Whichever party is in the majority tries to control redistricting so it benefits most from how the new district boundaries are drawn. It is a highly charged political process. A special session was held in September 2001 to deal with redistricting. It concluded without an agreement, because Democrats controlled the Senate and Republicans controlled the House. Lawmakers tried again in January 2002 but failed to put something together. Finally, Jan. 25, 2002, a Denver judge produced the final map.