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A bipartisan assemblage of Minnesota’s political hall of fame is supporting a bill that would create an independent commission to handle the next round of redistricting.
Two former governors, a former U.S. vice president and a former state Senate majority leader endorsed redistricting reform legislation in a letter sent today to state Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope.
The signatories are former Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale, former Republican governors Al Quie and Arne Carlson and former DFL Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe.
The letter was written on Mondale’s letterhead.
The four political leaders support legislation that would create a nonpartisan commission of five former judges to redraw the state’s political boundaries after the 2010 U.S. Census. The redistricting process has been handled by state legislators in the past. The commission’s redistricting plan would ultimately need to be introduced in the Legislature and passed by state lawmakers in an unmodified form.
“This legislation will fix a system that has failed to work for decades,” according the four leaders.
Rest is chairwoman of the Senate State and Local Government Operations and Oversight Committee. Her committee will hold a hearing at 3 p.m. today on the redistricting legislation Senate File 182 sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis.
Mondale, Quie, Carlson and Moe said the redistricting process in the Legislature in 2001 broke down. The Minnesota Supreme Court drew the legislative maps instead.
“It is unfortunate, but undeniable that our existing redistricting process fosters an environment of mistrust, jealousy, and hunger for power, thus, distracting elected officials from the issues that their constituents truly care about,” according to the letter.
Pogemiller’s independent commission proposal would charge the minority and majority leaders in the House and Senate each with picking a retired appellate or district judge who has never served in a political office like state legislator. The four judges would choose the fifth judge to serve on the commission.
The commission would submit the redistricting plan to the Legislature by May 15, 2011. State lawmakers could accept or reject the map for state legislative and congressional boundaries. State lawmakers wouldn’t be able to modify the plan.
Minnesota politicians are nervously awaiting the Census and redistricting because Minnesota could lose one of its eight congressional seats due to current population trends in the U.S.
“The need for reform now is further magnified by the fact that population shifts are threatening the loss of one of Minnesota’s congressional seats. With so much at stake, we urge the Committee on State and Local Government Operations to pass S.F. 182, setting the stage for a fair, open and independent redistricting process,” they wrote.
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