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Apparently the Denver Post is a little squeamish over what Colorado House Democrats are trying to accomplish with their simple “house cleaning” bill that will impact the Congressional redistricting process in Colorado.

Here we are, in the waning weeks of the state legislative session, and Democratic leadership has introduced a bill that would whack a big part of congressional redistricting law from the books.

Just house cleaning, the Democrats say, not to worry.

Color us skeptical.

Nothing is more political than the re-drawing of congressional boundaries, and both political parties have engaged in their share of strategy (and shenanigans) over the years to better position themselves to capture or retain seats in Congress. (Remember the Republicans’ “midnight gerrymander” of 2003?)

House Bill 1408, introduced late last week, has not been heard in committee, so there is little in the way of public record, or clues as to what it portends.

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Last Updated on Thursday, 22 April 2010 06:44

From the Denver Post:

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams said the legislation, House Bill 1408, would “change the rules so rural Colorado will essentially be disenfranchised from electing members of Congress.”

Senate Majority Leader John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and House Majority Leader Paul Weissman, D-Louisville, introduced the bill last week, and Wadhams zeroed in on a provision he said would remove a requirement that the eastern plains and western slope be seen as “communities of interest” and not be split into multiple congressional districts.

But Wadhams also turned his fire on Democratic Secretary of State Bernie Buescher, referring to the redistricting bill as the “Morse-Weissmann-Buescher” bill.

“This is a very disturbing pattern of behavior by Buescher and Democratic legislators who are desperate to rig Colorado elections,” Wadhams said in a statement.

But Rich Coolidge, a spokesman for Buescher, said his boss had not even seen a copy of the bill until this morning.

“We had nothing to do with that,” Coolidge said.

Wadhams scoffed at that.

“That’s funny,” Wadhams said. “He claimed he had nothing to do with the Carroll Acorn Empowerment Act either a couple of weeks ago. Does he support this bill that guts rural Colorado or not?”

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Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 April 2010 08:10

From the News Gazette:

Using their supermajority, Senate Democrats pushed their own legislative redistricting plan to victory in the Senate on Wednesday.

But the proposal may have more trouble in the House.

The Democrats needed the vote of virtually every one of their 37 members to approve the constitutional amendment in the Senate.

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Last Updated on Thursday, 15 April 2010 08:14

From the AP:

Pennsylvania has added about 324,000 people since the 2000 census, ranking it a very average 21st among states, according to preliminary figures. The 2.6 percent growth rate, however, is among the weakest in the nation.

The commonwealth’s newcomers are concentrated in the Pocono mountains region that straddles Interstate 80 near New Jersey; the suburbs of Philadelphia, particularly booming Chester County; and the south-central Pennsylvania region along the Mason-Dixon Line that runs through Gettysburg, York and Lancaster.

According to the census estimates, Philadelphia has grown by about 2 percent, while Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, has shrunk by nearly 5 percent. Population decline is concentrated in the western counties.

Intriguingly, about half of Pennsylvania’s total estimated growth over the past decade, or some 176,000 people, consists of people who have moved to the state from foreign countries. In terms of state-to-state migration, Pennsylvania has had a net loss of about 40,000 people.

Redistricting goes on in two tracks — one for Congress, the other for the state Legislature.

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Last Updated on Monday, 12 April 2010 08:58

From Illinois State House News via Fox 55:

The state is scheduled to redraw its legislative districts in 2011. The process – known as redistricting – occurs every ten years and relies on data collected through the federal census the year before.

But the current redistricting procedure has been encumbered by drawn-out partisan battles, legal challenges, and arbitrary draws from a hat.

This session, Democratic and Republican lawmakers have introduced five proposed Constitutional Amendments that would change the redistricting process.

Proposals from both parties share a number of planned changes, such as the de-coupling of Senate and House districts and the establishment of public hearings on redistricting.

But lawmakers are locked in a partisan conflict over who ultimately decides how the state’s legislative map is drawn.

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Last Updated on Monday, 12 April 2010 08:26