Heath Haussamen
Redistricting was destined to end up in court, so maybe the Legislature should adjourn sine die today and stop spending taxpayer money to try to complete this futile exercise
In these uber-partisan times, was there ever much doubt that most or all pieces of the redistricting task currently before the New Mexico Legislature would end up being decided in court?
Those who hoped for compromise between Democrats and Republicans have seen their hopes dashed in the last couple of days as negotiations have failed (some would say they didn’t really exist to begin with) and Democratic bills have passed on largely party-line votes.
Both sides are accusing the other of partisan gerrymandering. Both say their plans protect redistricting values such as one person, one vote.
“It was painfully obvious today that Susana Martinez and her cronies in the Republican caucus aren’t interested in protecting every New Mexican’s vote or respecting minority voting rights,” Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Javier Gonzales said Wednesday. “They are playing partisan politics and creating as many safe Republican seats as possible.”
“Our maps were drawn with sound constitutional principles and the best interests of New Mexico at heart,” Gonzales said.
On the other hand, House Minority Leader Tom Taylor, R-Farmington, said on the floor Wednesday evening that the Democrats’ bill for redistricting the House amounted to gerrymandering. His primary problem was that, of the areas that lost the most people in the last decade, only a Republican-majority area lost a House seat.
Taylor complained that a legal battle would cost millions.
“It’s a lot of money for state government to spend on a bunch of arguments that we have the ability to solve in this room,” he said. “But instead we seem to think that we have to gerrymander this thing around.”
Taylor wasn’t the only one complaining about the cost of the coming court fight.
“A veto will throw us into court, costing the citizens of New Mexico millions of dollars in the process,” Gonzales said. “What’s it going to be, governor?”
No compromise
Rep. Conrad James, R-Albuquerque, complained to Capitol Report New Mexico that Democrats were playing politics. He pointed out that his district, which has been Republican leaning for 30 years, would be 50-50 in the Democrats’ plan.
“But don’t Republicans have bills just as gerrymandered to their advantage and to Democrats disadvantage?” Capitol Report asked. “There’s a Republican bill, for example, that would send Democrat stalwart Brian Egolf’s district all the way from Santa Fe into Mountainair.”
“We’ve been able to put together about four plans,” Capitol Report quoted James as saying. “That particular plan was our most aggressive plan. We also have a compromise plan, a ‘least-change’ plan…”
Taylor introduced a last-minute bill Wednesday that he said was “a good-faith effort to work across the aisle and send a plan to the governor which a significant majority can support.”
The compromise legislation was doomed even before Taylor introduced it, in part because it came after the Republicans’ more partisan proposals (and the Democrats’).
A stalemate
I’m not this pessimistic most of the time. But in the case of redistricting, I’ve seen no reason to be optimistic that enough members of both parties would do the hard work it would take to find compromise. That would require putting other considerations above protecting their own power and their incumbents.
It’s the nature of partisan politics. Elected officials generally seek to preserve their own seats, even when it no longer makes sense. Groups with power seek to protect it. To top it all off, we’re living in one of the more partisan times in American history. This fight was destined to end in a stalemate.
And that’s exactly where we are.
So maybe, since the Legislature doesn’t seem willing to consider much else that the governor put on the call for this session, the House and Senate should adjourn sine die today and stop spending taxpayer money to try to complete this futile exercise.
We’re already going to spend millions in legal fees. Let’s get on with it.