Senate committee for redistricting finally throws in the towel

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Amid accusations of gerrymandering and unwillingness to compromise, the 10-member bipartisan commission appointed to redraw the state's senatorial districts reached an impasse Tuesday.

Responsibility for redrawing Missouri's 34 senate districts now goes to an appellate court panel.

The commission, made up of five non-office holders from each party, met for several months but failed to reach a consensus on the matter. Much of the conflict was centered on the St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield areas, which saw the most significant population changes since the last map was drawn by the courts in 2001.

Doug Harpool, the Democratic chairman of the commission, accused Republican commissioners of trying to protect Republican incumbents by preserving the current map. The GOP currently holds a two-thirds super majority in the Senate.

"Our number one goal was to look at the changes in population and to make new districts that make sense under the new population," Harpool said. "And I didn't think our job was to appease incumbents or to write districts that help incumbents."

An Office of Administration analysis of statewide elections during the past 10 years found that Democrats and Republicans were about even in vote totals, with Democrats having a slight edge. Using it as evidence of the current map's flaws, Harpool said there is no reason for a 50-50 swing state to have a legislature that is dominated by one party. Noting that the Democratic commissioners' proposed map would have only created 13 districts with majority Democratic voter populations, the Democratic commissioner accused Republicans of trying to create a "Republican supermajority guarantee map."

Republicans saw the issue in a much different light. John Maupin, the commission's Republican chairman, said that Democrats seized upon the redistricting process as a chance for gerrymandering -- awkwardly redrawing district lines through towns and counties to ensure candidates from their own party are elected. Maupin said that his party's proposed map actually preserved several Democratic districts in St. Louis and Kansas City, despite population losses, and created a broad spectrum of competitive districts.

"If you want to look through purely partisan analysis, 22 seats under my map are well within reach of Democrats to win given the proper candidate, the proper issues, the proper campaign and the proper funding," he said.

Another issue raised during the final meeting of the commission on Tuesday was protection of minority voting blocks. Legal precedent and civil rights legislation has long maintained that redistricting cannot go out of its way to divide racial groups to dilute their electoral influence. But Democratic commissioner Terry Riley accused Republicans of doing just that by "slicing and dicing" one district to a minority population of 44 percent.

Maupin defended his map, pointing out that it maintains four majority-minority districts in the state. Still, he went on to argue that majority-minority districts less essential than they were 10 years ago. He said the shifting political landscape no longer necessitates a minority populated district to produce a minority representative.

"Certainly given the political history of the United States and the election of Barack Obama as president, I'm beyond the idea that you have to have some super huge majority in these districts in order for these districts to elect a minority to the Missouri Senate," Maupin said.

The stalemate comes just several days after a separate redistricting commission also failed to come to an agreement on a new map for the state House of Representatives. The house districts will also be determined by the courts.

The state of Missouri is obligated to redraw the general assembly districts every ten years in order to keep up with changing demographics as determined by the U.S. Census. Missouri's population grew by about 7 percent during the last ten years, but the growth was uneven.