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With Democrats and Republicans in the fever pitch of a campaign, it would seem an inopportune time to seek more civility in Washington. Even so, a number of groups are hoping to persuade Congress to put aside partisan differences and come up with a way to take the partisanship -- or at least some of the partisanship -- out of the every-10-years redistricting process.
In July, such groups as the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Council for Excellence in Government formed an organization called Americans for Redistricting Reform, to push for legislation that would overhaul the current system.
State legislatures usually decide how to redraw districts when states gain or lose House seats based on census results, a process that "turns democracy on its head," says J. Gerald Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center. It creates a situation, Hebert says, in which House members "are choosing their voters rather than the other way around."
Hebert, who is leading the fight for a new method of redistricting, has a personal stake in the issue: He represented House Democrats from Texas who sued Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry earlier this decade to protest a remapping plan drawn in 2003 by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Texas had gained two seats after the 2000 census, and DeLay's plan, which the Republican-controlled state Legislature passed in 2003, helped the party take over six seats held by Democrats in the 2004 election. In the end, the Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, approved most of what DeLay had done.
If Democrats make headway at the state level this year, they might seek to write their own revenge against Republicans in other states, but Hebert hopes he can interest lawmakers in a system that would redraw district lines based more on regional characteristics than voting patterns -- creating more homogenous districts, not just ones dominated by either party.
Before Congress left town in August, the coalition wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio asking them to hold hearings on legislation sponsored by two Tennesseeans, Democrat John Tanner and Republican Zach Wamp, and a second bill by Democrat Zoe Lofgren of California, which have been before the Judiciary Committee for more than a year. Both would require independent state commissions to oversee redistricting. Six states -- Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Jersey and Washington -- already have such commissions, although Montana only has one House district. In Iowa, a commission proposes plans to the legislature.
The effort faces some serious, if obvious, hurdles: House members want some say in their districts, and civil rights groups like a system that has given black and Hispanic voters majorities in many House districts.
Hebert acknowledges that he hasn't received much positive feedback from Pelosi or Boehner, but he's holding out hope that after the November elections, either President Obama or President McCain will take up the issue: "Both presidential candidates have touted themselves as reformers," he says, hopefully.
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