[LWVNM Action] ABQ Journal - Editorial: Governor should veto lawmakers’ partisan, divisive congressional map

Thu Dec 16 16:26:00 MST 2021

It seems to me that bring critical is really being against the outcome 
of the process, and thus against SB1.

George Richmond

On 12/16/2021 3:54 PM, Richard Mason via Action wrote:
> The League as convener of Fair Districts for NM that has 39 partners 
> is the supporting the position of Fair Districts. We don't take a 
> position on any of the maps, but have been very vocal and critical of 
> the process including the one that produced SB1 - the Congressional map.
>
> Dick Mason
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: West Laura via Action <action at mailman.swcp.com>
> To: Richard Mason via Action <action at mailman.swcp.com>
> Cc: West Laura <laura_western at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Thu, Dec 16, 2021 2:30 pm
> Subject: Re: [LWVNM Action] ABQ Journal - Editorial: Governor should 
> veto lawmakers’ partisan, divisive congressional map
>
> Dick:
>
> How could the LWVNM *not *have a position on this editorial.  The 
> League should come out in full support of it.  What the Legislature 
> has done with redistricting is shameful and clearly doesn't support 
> the Citizens Redistricting Act.  Could you please explain to me *why* 
> the LWVNM doesn't support the editorial?
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Laura Riedel
> Santa Fe
> On Thursday, December 16, 2021, 12:02:15 PM MST, Richard Mason via 
> Action <action at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:
>
>
>   The LWVNM does not have a position on this - For info only
>
>
>   Editorial: Governor should veto lawmakers’ partisan, divisive
>   congressional map
>
> BY ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD 
> <https://www.abqjournal.com/author/editorial>
> WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15TH, 2021 AT 5:02AM
> <https://www.abqjournal.com/2454381/governor-should-veto-lawmakers-partisan-divisive-congressional-map.html#>
> Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Chavez and retired Court of 
> Appeals Chief Judge Roderick Kennedy “enthusiastically” accepted the 
> invitation to co-chair a redistricting task force “to bring justice, 
> fairness and transparency” to the contentious decennial process.
> And yet, the far-flung congressional map before Gov. Michelle Lujan 
> Grisham would carve the oil patch into three districts; split the 
> population centers of Hobbs, Roswell and Albuquerque; and dilute the 
> rural vote and shift even more political power to central New Mexico.
> In addition, it wasn’t even among the maps endorsed by the Citizen 
> Redistricting Committee, created to follow through on the task force’s 
> work.
> The time has come for the governor to honor the fact that her 
> constituents should get to pick their representatives in government — 
> rather than representatives in government picking their constituents. 
> She should veto the map.
> Chavez and Kennedy said in a Journal guest column in January that the 
> 25-member Redistricting Task Force worked for 12 weeks studying state 
> and federal requirements, best practices from other states and 
> concerns from specific communities before developing 18 consensus 
> recommendations — all in a report available at NMFirst.org 
> <http://nmfirst.org/>.
> The 22-page report says the guiding values should entail keeping 
> like-minded communities together, prioritizing communities of 
> interest, protecting marginalized groups, avoiding court intervention, 
> and not favoring anyone, specifically political parties or incumbents.
> State lawmakers then created a seven-member Citizen Redistricting 
> Committee, whose stated aim was to propose sets of maps honoring the 
> redistricting principles. It’s hard to square those principles with 
> state lawmakers’ approved congressional map, which would dramatically 
> and unnecessarily reshape the state’s political landscape.
> The Citizen Redistricting Committee proposed three maps, and the 
> Journal Editorial Board preferred the option that unified the 
> Albuquerque metro area. We could live with the one that kept the 
> status quo. The third, so-called “People’s Map,” was a gerrymandered 
> abomination. The map on the governor’s desk takes that one even 
> further and is even more painfully partisan. It can be viewed at 
> https://www.nmlegis.gov/Redistricting2021/Maps_And_Data?ID202=221711.1
> If approved, the northern-based 3rd Congressional District of 
> incumbent Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-Santa Fe, would stretch from 
> Farmington down to north Hobbs and also pick up most of Roswell. It 
> would still lean heavily Democratic, but would bring in a large area 
> of constituents at odds with Leger Fernandez’s platforms.
> The central 1st Congressional District of incumbent Melanie Stansbury, 
> D-Albuquerque, which contains most of metro Albuquerque, would shed 
> much of the West Side, add Rio Rancho and run down to northwest 
> Roswell to include a host of rural counties with very different 
> constituent concerns from the urban core. It would also continue to 
> lean Democratic.
> And the southern New Mexico-based 2nd Congressional District of Yvette 
> Herrell, R-Alamogordo, would recoup its population losses by picking 
> up much of Albuquerque’s West Side, including parts of Taylor Ranch 
> and Ventana Ranch, the Barelas neighborhood and the South Valley. This 
> would turn the traditionally Republican-leaning district into another 
> one leaning Democrat, while carving up neighborhoods throughout the 
> Albuquerque area. One example of the incongruity — the Rio Grande Zoo 
> would shift to CD2, while Tingley Beach and the Albuquerque Country 
> Club would remain in CD1.
> So much for preserving communities of interest. Strike one.
> Court battles over redistricting cost the state more than $6 million 
> in 2011 and $3.7 million in 2001 in legal costs. House Republican 
> leaders are already talking about challenging the map in court.
> So much for avoiding court. Strike two.
> Insiders say none of our three congresswomen likes the proposed map. 
> Little wonder.
> It shifts much of the metro area’s population into southern CD2, which 
> not only increases the chances of all three congressional seats being 
> held by Democrats, but also being held by someone from Albuquerque or 
> Santa Fe. That’s unfair to residents outside the Santa Fe-Albuquerque 
> corridor.
> And it’s unfair to members of our congressional delegation, who 
> already cover large swathes of New Mexico. This map increases the 
> geographic and political stretch each must cover.
> The rural-urban divide has been an issue in New Mexico for decades. 
> Southern New Mexico produces much of the state’s revenue via oil and 
> gas, yet its conservative voting base feels little love from Santa Fe. 
> And this map takes a chainsaw to that base.
> So much for not favoring a specific group or party. Strike three.
> Lujan Grisham should not allow herself to be swayed by her party’s 
> antics — she should take this opportunity to be a true leader and 
> represent the whole state when it comes to redistricting. Vetoing the 
> congressional map and sending lawmakers back to the drawing board with 
> instructions to honor the task force’s principles will do just that.
> /This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was 
> written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it 
> represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers./
>
>
>
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-- 
George M. Richmond
152 Juniper Hill Road, NE
Albuquerque, NM 87122-1913

C: 505-280-2105
E:geomrich1 at comcast.net

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