Why is GOP so nice about redistricting?
Bob Bernick Jr.
The majority Republicans and the minority Democrats worked together on, what has become, one of the most partisan of political activities: redistricting of U.S. House seats.
The Republicans on a special 11-member committee even let the Democrats redraw lines in Summit County that would, should Congress this month vote Utah a fourth U.S. House seat, give Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson a heavily urban, Democratic-leaning district.
Why such congenial work?
GOP state leaders may say it is just an example of good public service. That this is how Republicans and Democrats work together for the welfare of Utahns most all the time.
There may have been some of that.
But I've reported on two every-decade redistrictings in Utah and watched a third close up.
And I think the main reason Republicans were so kind to Democrats in this hurry-up four-seat work comes for two reasons:
• First, GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. told Republican legislative leaders to go easy on Democrats, no use getting real political now.
• Second (and probably the overriding factor), no reason to beat up on Utah Democrats (again), for there's really little chance that Congress will give Utah a fourth seat anyway.
Monday's special session will tell the tale. Will some hard-core Republicans stand up to deny Matheson an easy district?
In light of the public whipping Republicans took across the nation in the 2006 elections, are Washington, D.C., Republicans telling Utah to go easy on partisanship — no point in giving the media and Democrats another chance to say arrogant Republicans care only about winning at any cost.
In watching Wednesday's final meeting of the redistricting committee, I got a kick out of watching some GOP legislators bending over backward in explaining how a newly revealed Plan L made sense.
As a critic of Plan L, Rep. Ben Ferry, R-Corinne, said: The proposed 2nd Congressional District has no real rural areas. "There may be a few cows" in the open spaces of western Summit County, but there aren't any rural voters out there, said Ferry, a Box Elder County farmer and rancher.
As Democrats and others screamed about the carving up of Matheson's all-Salt Lake County district in 2001, Republicans said it's critical that every U.S. House seat in Utah have urban and rural components, so Utah congressmen more or less speak with a unified voice in Washington.
Matheson is a pretty conservative Democrat. And he won re-election in November with nearly 60 percent of the vote in a 2nd District that now runs from eastern Salt Lake County, east and south, to include rural bastions like Daggett and Kane counties.
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