Here's the back story:
Many of you already are aware of the confusion of the re-districting process since the first maps were vetoed by the governor and then sent to the state supreme court. Most maps have now been resolved except for the state Senatorial boundaries which I am contacting you about. A new commission (of 4 Dems. & 4 Repubs) was appointed by the governor. That commission drew yet another map that moved Sen. Cunningham's 7th district to the Kansas City area where she could not move to and is a majority Democrat Party locale. The four Republican members of the Commission caved like marshmallows to the four Democrat members and gave them whatever they wanted in other areas as well. Was this an act of vengeance within their own party for the St.Louis area China hub, or resistance to Obamacare from Prop. C sponsored by Sen.Cunningham? Or was it just poor leadership?
Whatever the motivation, please contact these commission members and let them know that they can do better and say no their map and yes to the previous judicial map.
Jean Paul Bradshaw II jpbradshaw@lathropage.com
Steve Ehlmann sehlmann@att.blackberry.net
Marc Ellinger mellinger@blitzbardgett.com
Nick Myers myerscpa@swbell.net
Lowell Pearson lowell.pearson@huschblackwell.
Lloyd Smith lloyd@mogop.org
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The senate redistricting commission recently drew a map that many believe is unconstitutional for reasons listed below. It also totally eliminates a district for Senator Jane Cunningham to run in. Not only is the Republican Party hurt by the map, but conservatives are especially targeted.
Seven concerned plaintiffs around the state have filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the egregious map. Many have been asking what they can do.
The only avenue for you
Seven concerned plaintiffs around the state have filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the egregious map. Many have been asking what they can do.
The only avenue for you
to stop the damage is to send an email no later than 4:30pm on Friday, March 9th to the bipartisan Senate Apportionment Commission at matt.hesser@oa.mo.gov. Below are some problems with the map that you may want to pick and choose to include in your comments as well as your own thoughts. It is important to comment in your own words even if you use the ideas below. It is also important to comment because the more comments there are the better chance there is of either convincing the commissioners to drop the unconstitutional map or for the federal lawsuit to win. We don't want to get to court and the Commissioners say no one cared enough to comment.
The commissioners have a final vote on this bad map after the public comment deadline of May 9th. Urge them to vote "no" and to go back and adopt the second Judicial Commission map that was constitutional, fairer and only thrown out on a technicality. This is what everyone expected in both parties. Everyone was shocked.
**The map is unconstitutional because it advantages urban regions over rural regions in the state. Since the map contains much lower populations in the urban districts, it produces more senators from the urban areas. This regional advantage is discriminatory and not permissible under the U.S. Constitution.
**Since the rural senate districts are more populated on the redrawn map, that means there are more constituents for a senator to service and therefore less attention to his/her constituents.
**The populations are moving out of the urban areas to the suburban and rural areas, so to overpopulate those rural districts will only exacerbate the population differences in a short number of years. The map redrawing happens once every ten years after the census and seeks to make all the districts as equally populated as possible.
**The senate map the judicial commission drew is fair in this regard and has only a deviation of 7.79% between the highest and lowest populated districts while the Democrat and Republican Commission has a larger deviation of 9.6%. The judges did a far better job than the Ds and Rs.
**Senate District 7 (Cunningham-Republican, Chesterfield) in St. Louis County which is up for election this year was arbitrarily moved across the state to a very urban, Democrat district in Kansas City that previously had an even number and was therefore not up for election. This appears purposeful to increase the Democrat vote in a very liberal area for the upcoming critical national and state elections not to mention provide an extra Democrat senator for the next two legislative sessions.
**That urban Kansas City Senator's District (#10-Jolie Justice) was flip flopped the opposite direction to a very rural area in the central eastern part of the state. These constituents of the new 10th will have no say in whom their senator is for two more legislative sessions and Sen. Justice will certainly not move to that area.
YOU SHOULD ALSO CALL OR EMAIL YOUR CONCERNS TO THE REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION LISTED BELOW. IN ADDITION TO THE POINTS ABOVE, YOU MAY WANT TO POINT OUT MORE SPECIFIC PARTY INTERESTS.
**The population numbers in St. Louis City and County were changed enough to yield only one Republican Senator from the area in the near future rather than the present four. Without having vigorous Republican senate campaigns in St. Louis County, the needed 150,000 votes needed to win statewide elections for Republicans is lost. This map is clearly a Democrat's and a liberal's dream map and unfortunately the Republicans on the Commission gave away the store.
**St. Louis, the economic engine of the state loses it's influence in the senate with this most recent map. Not only did St. Louis City and County lose an entire senate district when they lost less than 1/4 of a senate district in population, they increased the likelihood of the representation soon being six Democrats to one Republican senator rather than the present four and four. Because the Republicans are in the majority and therefore set the agenda and direction of the legislature, St. Louis has even less influence having to depend on the minority party to represent them. The population decrease of 40,000 (less than 1/4 of a senate seat) did not necessitate the loss of a senate district. All the Republican and Democrat senators in the St. Louis region submitted a map they had agreed to. It was not even considered by this second bipartisan commission.
**The clear advantage given away to the Democrats for the national and statewide campaigns (Obama, McCaskill, Nixon) by transferring District 7 into downtown Kansas City to energize that liberal population not only for the Democrat primary but the general election. It is hard to imagine Republicans would vote to so benefit the Democrats in such a critical election year.
The Republican Commissioners are:Jean Paul Bradshaw II jpbradshaw@lathropgage.com 816-460-5507. Lathrop & Gage in KC
Steve Ehlmann sehlmann@att.blackberry.net 636-949-7520. The only Republican "no" vote but that needs to be shored up so he doesn't flip to a yes.
The commissioners have a final vote on this bad map after the public comment deadline of May 9th. Urge them to vote "no" and to go back and adopt the second Judicial Commission map that was constitutional, fairer and only thrown out on a technicality. This is what everyone expected in both parties. Everyone was shocked.
**The map is unconstitutional because it advantages urban regions over rural regions in the state. Since the map contains much lower populations in the urban districts, it produces more senators from the urban areas. This regional advantage is discriminatory and not permissible under the U.S. Constitution.
**Since the rural senate districts are more populated on the redrawn map, that means there are more constituents for a senator to service and therefore less attention to his/her constituents.
**The populations are moving out of the urban areas to the suburban and rural areas, so to overpopulate those rural districts will only exacerbate the population differences in a short number of years. The map redrawing happens once every ten years after the census and seeks to make all the districts as equally populated as possible.
**The senate map the judicial commission drew is fair in this regard and has only a deviation of 7.79% between the highest and lowest populated districts while the Democrat and Republican Commission has a larger deviation of 9.6%. The judges did a far better job than the Ds and Rs.
**Senate District 7 (Cunningham-Republican, Chesterfield) in St. Louis County which is up for election this year was arbitrarily moved across the state to a very urban, Democrat district in Kansas City that previously had an even number and was therefore not up for election. This appears purposeful to increase the Democrat vote in a very liberal area for the upcoming critical national and state elections not to mention provide an extra Democrat senator for the next two legislative sessions.
**That urban Kansas City Senator's District (#10-Jolie Justice) was flip flopped the opposite direction to a very rural area in the central eastern part of the state. These constituents of the new 10th will have no say in whom their senator is for two more legislative sessions and Sen. Justice will certainly not move to that area.
YOU SHOULD ALSO CALL OR EMAIL YOUR CONCERNS TO THE REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION LISTED BELOW. IN ADDITION TO THE POINTS ABOVE, YOU MAY WANT TO POINT OUT MORE SPECIFIC PARTY INTERESTS.
**The population numbers in St. Louis City and County were changed enough to yield only one Republican Senator from the area in the near future rather than the present four. Without having vigorous Republican senate campaigns in St. Louis County, the needed 150,000 votes needed to win statewide elections for Republicans is lost. This map is clearly a Democrat's and a liberal's dream map and unfortunately the Republicans on the Commission gave away the store.
**St. Louis, the economic engine of the state loses it's influence in the senate with this most recent map. Not only did St. Louis City and County lose an entire senate district when they lost less than 1/4 of a senate district in population, they increased the likelihood of the representation soon being six Democrats to one Republican senator rather than the present four and four. Because the Republicans are in the majority and therefore set the agenda and direction of the legislature, St. Louis has even less influence having to depend on the minority party to represent them. The population decrease of 40,000 (less than 1/4 of a senate seat) did not necessitate the loss of a senate district. All the Republican and Democrat senators in the St. Louis region submitted a map they had agreed to. It was not even considered by this second bipartisan commission.
**The clear advantage given away to the Democrats for the national and statewide campaigns (Obama, McCaskill, Nixon) by transferring District 7 into downtown Kansas City to energize that liberal population not only for the Democrat primary but the general election. It is hard to imagine Republicans would vote to so benefit the Democrats in such a critical election year.
The Republican Commissioners are:Jean Paul Bradshaw II jpbradshaw@lathropgage.com 816-460-5507. Lathrop & Gage in KC
Steve Ehlmann sehlmann@att.blackberry.net 636-949-7520. The only Republican "no" vote but that needs to be shored up so he doesn't flip to a yes.
Marc Ellinger mellinger@blitzbardgett.com 573-230-1192, Vice Chair of the Commission and head of Republican delegation. No one knows why GOP Chair Lloyd Smith put him on a list from which the Governor chose since Ellinger testified for the plaintiffs against the Republican Congressional maps.
Nick Myers myerscpa@swbell.net 417-623-2214, SW part of state.
Lowell Pearson lowell.pearson@huschblackwell.
Lloyd Smith lloyd@mogop.org, 573-636-3146, Executive Director, MO Republican Party. This is where the buck stops since he is well payed to lead the Republican Party in our state. If any of the commissioners did not understand the repercussions of their decision, it is Lloyd's job to strongly inform them or not put their name on a list of potential commissioners to begin with.
Nick Myers myerscpa@swbell.net 417-623-2214, SW part of state.
Lowell Pearson lowell.pearson@huschblackwell.
Lloyd Smith lloyd@mogop.org, 573-636-3146, Executive Director, MO Republican Party. This is where the buck stops since he is well payed to lead the Republican Party in our state. If any of the commissioners did not understand the repercussions of their decision, it is Lloyd's job to strongly inform them or not put their name on a list of potential commissioners to begin with.
2 comments:
All insurance industries are in bed with the government, this must cease--in order to remedy the actual problem.
The newest map is criminal.
How in the hell can our votes actually count for anything?
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