{"id":179882,"date":"2021-09-22T15:23:06","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T23:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eugeneweekly.wpengine.com\/?p=183731"},"modified":"2021-09-22T15:23:06","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T23:23:06","slug":"oregon-redistricting-draws-concern-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/22\/oregon-redistricting-draws-concern-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Oregon Redistricting Draws Concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

The way the Oregon Legislature is redrawing the maps that determine the districts of elected state officials is problematic, alleges State Rep. Marty Wilde.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a population count that leads to a reassignment of the number of congressional members in each state as well as the Electoral College. The Oregon Legislature uses that data to redraw its political districts, which includes 30 state senators, 60 state representatives and (now) six U.S. congressional seats as Oregon has gained a seat due to population growth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilde, a Democrat whose district includes the University of Oregon neighborhood and rural parts of Lane and Linn counties, alleges that the Senate Redistricting Committee is backscratching and punishing those who call it out. The result, he says, will be gerrymandered legislative maps that could result in court challenges.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing districts to favor a political party or racial group. The practice often skews elections, makes races less competitive and hurts communities of color.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Oregon Constitution, if the state Supreme Court rules that the district redrawings don\u2019t follow the law, it\u2019ll send the maps to the secretary of state along with a written opinion that specifies how the redistricting fails the law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been clear since I took office that my district was inappropriate and that it didn\u2019t follow the criteria particularly to not divide communities of interest but also the requirements that follow geographic and political boundaries,\u201d Wilde says of his current district, which was drawn in 2011. \u201cThe Republicans agreed with me and that was something that was going to be fixed.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilde adds that he experienced pushback from the Senate members, who told him that he shouldn\u2019t say that about his district. And in an email he sent to Oregon House Democrats, obtained by <\/span>EW<\/span><\/i>, he says after speaking out about the Senate Redistricting Committee’s earlier proposed map, the adopted map made his district unwinnable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilde writes in the email that he\u2019s going to oppose the Legislature\u2019s maps. The Legislature adopted maps proposed by the Senate Redistricting Committee \u201cdon\u2019t have a guiding principle,\u201d other than the desires of the Senate, he writes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilde tells <\/span>EW<\/span><\/i> that Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis (who in 2020 recruited her sister to run against Wilde) also spoke out about the Senate committee\u2019s redistricting, and she called for a nonpartisan approach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at Rep. Boshart Davis\u2019s residence in the A Map, she would basically walk into a safe R Senate seat. But she spoke up as well,\u201d Wilde writes in the email. \u201cAnd for it, she was also punished. The new district boundary literally runs down the wrong side of her property.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Aug. 12, the Legislature received population data from the U.S. Census Bureau. An initial map was released on Sept. 3, and the deadline for the public to submit maps was Sept. 8, which included the A Map that Wilde refers to. The Senate Redistricting Committee released the maps the Legislature will discuss \u2014 and that Wilde says he opposes \u2014 on Sept. 20.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Senate-proposed map places Wilde in a redistricted House District 12. Describing his new district, Wilde says as proposed by the Senate Redistricting Committee, it stretches from his university neighborhood, goes south to Cottage Grove, east to Oakridge, then Blue River, around Marcola, west to Coburg, then Junction City, and finally and lastly to Cheshire. \u201cIt is a classic gerrymander,\u201d he adds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Screenshot of Oregon House redistricting proposed by Senate Committee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clearly a map to punish me by putting me in a district that I can\u2019t win and to benefit sitting politicians,\u201d he says. He adds that the redistricting process isn\u2019t about accounting for his political career, but the Senate didn\u2019t have a reason for the drawing. \u201cTo punish me and my entire neighborhood with a map that is gerrymandered is offensive.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilde says his district that\u2019s been proposed by the Senate committee could likely be the whitest district in the entire state, a departure from the constituents he represents today. The current house district that he represents includes diversity in the Glenwood area, Moon Mountain and the university area. But he says his new proposed district isn\u2019t diverse at all except for a sliver of the university area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilde says he\u2019s been on duty with the Air National Guard during the redistricting special session.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the Oregon Legislature doesn\u2019t approve the redrawn maps by Sept. 29, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan would take over the task. Fagan would redraw the Oregon Legislature districts \u2014 House and Senate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And if the Legislature is unable to pass redistricting the federal congressional seats (which involves adding a new congressional district to the state), Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters would form a judicial panel to reapportion the districts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese maps prove that the Legislature can\u2019t be trusted to follow the law,\u201d Wilde says. \u201cI can\u2019t promise that Secretary Fagan will follow the law either, but we\u2019ve clearly failed, so I think she deserves a chance to do better.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Fagan ran for the secretary of state seat in 2020, she told <\/a><\/span>EW <\/span><\/i>that she would bring together a committee of underrepresented voices to redraw the Legislature districts. <\/span>On Aug. 5<\/span><\/a>, Fagan announced in a press release that she was inviting residents to apply to serve on the Oregon People\u2019s Commission on Redistricting should the Legislature miss its Sept. 27 deadline. If that happens, she said, the commission would meet on Sept. 29.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gov. Kate Brown can also veto the Legislature\u2019s redistricting bills. If she signs the redistricting bills into law, individuals or groups can challenge the law in the Oregon Supreme Court.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wilde says as the maps are drawn right now wouldn\u2019t pass a court review. Oregon statute sets several rules for redistricting. Among other expectations, the districts must be connected by transportation links and not drawn to benefit incumbents or favorable to any political party.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this practice has taught me is that nonpartisan advocates are correct: the Legislature can\u2019t be trusted to ignore politics,\u201d Wilde says. \u201cThere\u2019s been too much back-scratching going on, and that\u2019s disturbing. I had wished for better from my colleagues. I wished we had followed the law. We make the law so it\u2019s the least we can do.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The way the Oregon Legislature is redrawing the maps that determine the districts of elected state officials is problematic, alleges State Rep. Marty Wilde. Every \u2026 Continue reading\u00a0\u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,101,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-ew-extra","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extra.eugeneweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}