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Okla. Gov. Henry:
Redistricting key to creating bipartisanship
by Janice Francis-Smith While lamenting the partisan gamesmanship and chest-pounding that
often takes the place of problem-solving at the state Capitol, Gov. Brad
Henry said he had a brainstorm on Thursday. The partisan culture at the state Capitol is largely the product of
the way the legislative districts are drawn, Henry told reporters at the
Associated Press Legislative Preview. If Oklahomans want more balanced
governance, the key is to create more balanced legislative districts. "Frankly, legislators are not going to like this suggestion at
all," Henry said. "And it's not necessarily part of my agenda -
this is more of a brainstorm right now by me. But I'm really coming more and
more to believe that until we revamp our redistricting process, it will be
difficult to take the politics out of the business here at the Capitol." In recent weeks, the governor has unveiled proposals to invest more state funds in education, bioenergy research and other initiatives. In their responses to Henry's proposals, Republican leaders have questioned Henry's commitment to fiscal responsibility and his ability to make accurate revenue estimates. "I understand how the game is played," said Henry.
"When a proposal is made by someone from a particular party, the leaders
in the other party feel obligated to come out and criticize that
proposal." The state will move forward when both Democrat and Republican
lawmakers focus on building the state, not building their political party,
Henry said. An examination of the state's districts indicates that partisan
posturing is the product of drawing unbalanced districts. Many of the state's
legislative districts have been drawn to create a clear majority of
registered voters. Some districts are extremely weighted to one party or the
other, with as much as 80 percent of the district's registered voters
belonging to one political party. "What that means is at election time there are really only a
handful of seats that are up for grabs," said Henry. "Everybody
else knows which seats are safe-. So legislators in
those safe seats don't tend to be more balanced in their approach. They don't
worry about a challenge in the general election from someone from the other
party. What they worry about is a challenge from within their party, so what
that does is it moves them further to the right or to the left and further
toward polarization." If the districts were drawn in a more balanced fashion, including a
more even distribution of Democrats and Republicans, lawmakers would be more
likely to take a centrist approach to governance. However, drawing balanced
districts may be easier said than done, since the lawmakers draw the district
boundaries. "You would probably have to have some independent commission
rather than legislators drawing the districts, and I think there would lie the rub," said Henry. But some legislators, like state Sen. Owen Laughlin, R-Woodward, would
like to see districts drawn in a more reasonable manner. Democrats held
control of the Legislature - and the ability to draw the districts - for
nearly a hundred years, he said, and Republicans are looking forward to
having some input in the process next time around. "I agree with the governor," said Laughlin. "Districts
need to have some sort of rational reason why they are drawn the way they are
other than politics, and I think in the past that has been the primary
reason. I think Republicans would love to have some more even-sized, or
square, or at least rectangular districts." The last time districts were redrawn, Laughlin's Senate District 27
grew in length from about 250 miles to 310 miles, he said. "My district starts about 33 miles from The drive to The Democrat leader in the state House of Representatives, Rep. Danny
Morgan, D-Prague, agreed that the matter is worth looking into. Other states
have done well by creating a bipartisan commission to handle redistricting.
In addition to geographic boundaries, traditional and cultural boundaries
should also be taken into account, to ensure that many different voices are
represented in the Legislature, he said. "The beauty of it is, we have a couple of years in which to do
some discovery on how those systems work," said Morgan. After the next census in 2010, the state will again look at
legislative districts in anticipation of the 2012 election cycle. "So we do have a little bit of time," said Morgan. By then, the entire political landscape in http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20070202/ai_n1720592 |
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