What to tell your reps …. He said, She said
An exchange of emails shows the talking points of the party in power … and how to counter them. He said …. Then she said….
He said (Assembly Representative Dan Knodl March 2021):
There is no evidence that nonpartisan redistricting committees eliminate partisanship or political gerrymandering, increase the number of “competitive” districts or even lessen the number of lawsuits.
The redrawing of legislative districts is often complicated and contentious. The standards for fair redistricting mandate contiguous and compact districts, ensuring equal representation (one person, one vote), preserving communities of interest, and following federal civil rights laws. The 2011 maps followed these criteria and have survived repeated challenges in the courts.
Please know that Rep.Knodl is opposed to proposed legislation to turn redistricting over to an independent commission. The system in place has remained intact throughout our state’s history and has served the state well. There is another principle at stake, and that is that the accusations of gerrymandering in the 2011 maps do not withstand scrutiny. It is indeed true that Democrat candidates for the Assembly won ~200,000 more votes statewide than Republican candidates in November 2018. It is also true that Republicans won 63 out of 99 seats. However, the prevailing analysis omits the fact that Republicans were not on the ballot in 30 races, preferring rather to defend their incumbent members, while only 8 races did not have Democrat candidates. It follows that Republicans would have a lower statewide vote share.
What she said (constituent reply):
Dear Representative Knodl,
While I very much appreciated the response from your office to my comment on gerrymandering, I believe that certain facts must be added to the dialogue.
First, while a nonpartisan commission drawing fair maps would be new to Wisconsin, there is nothing in the state constitution that prohibits it or mandates that legislators do it—just that they vote on the result. In fact, in 2011 legislators hired a computer programming firm in Oklahoma to perform the task.
The 2011 maps do not maintain standards of continuous and compact districts, which they are supposed to do. Nor do they recognize communities of interest. Those communities help bind citizens to their representatives. The current 23rd and 24th Assembly districts demonstrate this with parts of four large counties included in AD24 with no geographic rationale: Mequon divided, the North Shore suburbs that support joint fire and police operations broken up, and far north Grafton encompassed.
Finally, evidence supporting the benefits of nonpartisan commissions drawing maps lies in the fact that legislators doing this work intentionally design the maps in an effort to guarantee they cannot be accountable for the resulting consequences. Why? They want to insure their own continued election or that of successors in their own party.
Again, thank you for your previous response.
What we can add about the current maps “surviving” court challenges:
We recently heard a WI Legislator (Rep Dan Knodl) brag that WI’s current Legislative Maps have “survived” repeated challenges in the courts. Here’s what really happened:
A WI Federal District Court (Whitford) said those Maps should NOT survive. The Maps were gerrymandered so badly that no matter what voters wanted, the Maps “secured for Republicans a lasting Assembly majority.” The Court threw the Maps out.
While that decision was being appealed, the US Supreme Court (Rucho) said the Court “does not condone excessive partisan gerrymandering.” The Court said it was “incompatible with democratic principles.” But then the Court said federal courts had no jurisdiction over partisan gerrymandering.
That’s how the Maps survived. That’s worth bragging about?
NO COURT HAS SAID WISCONSIN’S GERRYMANDERED MAPS SHOULD SURVIVE. In fact, past cases suggest courts may say democratic principles cannot survive maps that survive the way Wisconsin’s Maps survived.
For sources supporting the discussion about the courts click HERE. Want something to send to your legislator if he/she claims Wisconsin’s gerrymandered maps have been approved by the courts? Find a mailer HERE (JPEG) or HERE (PDF).
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FACT V FICTION CLICK HERE.