Listening to the House Redistricting Committee meeting yesterday, a couple of things got my attention.
First off, while they voted to approve the latest iteration of the “Grouse” map.. it’s actually still not done, because they’re noted they are going to meet again on Friday. (which isn’t on the calendar). They noted that it’s their intent to meet, and carve up at least two legislative districts into single member districts, 26 and 28, as they are that way now.
So, technically the map is mostly approved. Mostly.
Secondly, and more notably, the House Committee discussed that it might be a good thing to put together an informational column to explain how they reached some of their decisions on redistricting.
This revelation that they want to explain what they’re doing is coming months after their counterparts in the Senate were proposing and releasing maps all throughout the process, and lamenting that the House was holding their maps alternately secret, or incomplete, and many House members had no idea what the redistricting committee was doing. I haven’t spoken with any rank & file House members this week about the topic, so I’m not sure that they know yet.
And while they are thinking about what to write in their first disclosure about their process & deliberations, Senate Redistricting chair Mary Duvall fired off a third or fourth column from the Senate Committee about where they ended up on the Senate side.
We’ll watch and see what’s out there when the House finishes up their tweaks of the map, and when they finally get around to disclosing what they are proposing and why.
There’s a quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck that notes “If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.” I would say that along those lines, when I compare how the House went about the redistricting process versus how the Senate went about it, I have a better feeling about knowing what went into the Senate’s version.