[LWVNM Action] Journal article on pairing of incumbers

[Jane Asche]

Dick, thanks for the remarkable job that you have done in keeping all of 
us in the League abreast of the redistricting plans.   Jane Asche

On 11/4/2021 10:02 AM, Richard Mason via Action wrote:
>
> *Kudos to Rep. Day Hochman for her perspective on being paired*
>
> *Also attached as a document
>
> Dick Mason*
>
> *
> *
>
> *
> *
>
> *Redrawn maps pit sitting legislators against each other
> /The Legislature is free to reject or adjust the recommended maps/*
>
> Copyright © 2021 - Albuquerque Journal
>
> *BY DAN MCKAY *JOURNAL CAPITOL BUREAU
>
> SANTA FE — Democrat Dayan Hochman-Vigil and Republican Bill Rehm 
> represent adjacent districts in the state House stretching from the 
> foothills of Albuquerque to the North Valley.
>
> But they live just 3 miles apart and would be paired in the same 
> district under every House map recommended by the Citizen 
> Redistricting Committee.
>
> It could force the two incumbents into an unusual decision — move, 
> retire or run against each other next year to keep a seat in the House.
>
> A total of 19 incumbents face similar pairings in at least one plan 
> recommended by the citizen committee, illustrating a key challenge 
> awaiting New Mexico lawmakers set to meet in a special session next month.
>
> The Legislature is free to reject the recommended maps or adjust them 
> to untangle potential pairings. But they are an added complication as 
> lawmakers and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham draft new maps to reflect 
> population changes over the past decade.
>
> The toughest choices may involve Democratic Sens. Katy Duhigg and Bill 
> O’Neill of Albuquerque, Republican Sens. William Burt and Ron Griggs 
> of Alamogordo, and Hochman- Vigil and Rehm — all of whom are paired in 
> every suggested plan. The committee proposed three maps each for the 
> state House of Representatives and state Senate.
>
> Hochman-Vigil, an attorney, said she wasn’t surprised to end up in a 
> proposed district with a fellow legislator. It never made much sense, 
> she said, for District 15 to be rooted in the North Valley, but hook 
> past Interstate 25 to pick up neighborhoods farther east.
>
> “I think the most important thing is making sure the communities of 
> interest are represented in a district that make sense for those 
> communities,” Hochman-Vigil said in an interview.
>
> But Rehm, a retired sheriff’s captain, said the proposals stand to 
> weaken the legislative influence of his constituents in Northeast 
> Albuquerque. As the only Albuquerque Republican left in the state 
> House, he said, he is likely to be targeted by Democrats in the majority.
>
> “To go ahead and do this is just unbelievable,” Rehm said of the 
> potential pairing.
>
> O’Neill, who has represented a North Valley based seat in the Senate 
> since 2013, said he was disappointed to hear that all three plans 
> would put him in the same district as Duhigg. He supports independent 
> redistricting, he said, but pairing the same incumbents in every 
> proposal isn’t helpful.
>
> “The point is to give us a choice,” he said. “That’s not exactly a 
> choice, is it?”
>
> **
>
> **
>
> **
>
> *Redistricting principles*
>
> The proposed maps were adopted by a redistricting committee designed 
> to limit political influence over the new boundaries.
>
> The seven-person panel — led by retired Supreme Court Justice Edward 
> Chávez — was prohibited by law from considering partisan data as it 
> evaluated maps.
>
> Its membership, however, included some politicians. The seven-person 
> panel included two former Democratic legislators, a former chairman of 
> the state Republican Party and a former Republican candidate for the 
> Legislature. The other two members were independents — a high school 
> teacher and a demographer.
>
> Six of the seven members live in Albuquerque.
>
> By law, the committee was instructed to prioritize keeping communities 
> of interest together, drawing compact districts and upholding 
> traditional redistricting principles. Members could consider where 
> incumbents live only in limited circumstances, and it was a lesser 
> priority.
>
> Legislators, however, will face no such limits when they meet in the 
> special session expected to begin Dec. 6.
>
> For the first time in 30 years, Democrats will control both 
> legislative chambers and the Governor’s Office the year after a 
> census. They are set to adopt maps for congressional and legislative 
> seats, in addition to the Public Education Commission.
>
> *Partisan fairness*
>
> The maps that lawmakers will start with appear to match the political 
> makeup of the state as a whole, according to independent analysis.
>
> In a report sent to the Legislature, David Cottrell, a University of 
> Georgia professor hired to evaluate the maps, said he found “little 
> evidence to suggest that the maps are unexpectedly unfair.”
>
> Based on voting patterns in statewide elections from 2012 to 2020, he 
> said, the maps can be expected to produce:
>
> ■ 44 to 47 Democrats in the 70-person state House, compared to 45 now.
>
> ■ 27 or 28 Democrats in the state Senate, compared to 27 now.
>
> ■ Two or three Democrats in the U.S. House, compared to two now.
>
> A separate evaluation by the nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering 
> Project awarded an “A” for partisan fairness to every legislative map 
> adopted by the citizen committee. It didn’t grade the congressional 
> concepts.
>
> *Rural voices*
>
> Republican Sens. Burt and Griggs live about 6 miles apart in 
> Alamogordo and would share a district in all three proposed maps for 
> the Senate.
>
> Burt’s current district stretches north and then east, ending by 
> Roswell. Griggs’ seat goes the opposite direction, toward Doña Ana County.
>
> A few simple adjustments, Griggs said, would make it possible for both 
> senators to maintain their separate districts.
>
> “I think their guidance is fantastic,” Griggs said of the committee 
> recommendations, “but I’d imagine we’ll see some tweaking of the maps.”
>
> Burt said the recommended maps are a disappointment. Forcing him and 
> Griggs into the same district, he said, would muffle the legislative 
> voice of Otero County, an area home to Holloman Air Force Base, White 
> Sands, mountain communities and the Mescalero Apache Reservation.
>
> “Just because we’re not in the upper Rio Grande valley, life out here 
> in rural New Mexico is just as important and has just as many problems 
> as it does in Bernalillo or any other county, quite frankly,” Burt 
> said. “It’s important that we, as rural senators or representatives, 
> don’t lose that kind of representation.”
>
> The challenge will go well beyond Alamogordo and Albuquerque. Among 
> the legislators who are paired in at least two plans are Senate 
> Minority Leader Greg Baca of Belen and Sen. Joshua Sanchez of Bosque; 
> Sens. David Gallegos of Eunice and Gay Kernan of Hobbs; and House 
> Minority Whip Rod Montoya of Farmington and Rep. James Strickler of 
> Farmington — all of whom are Republicans.
>
> Roswell Rep. Phelps Anderson, a former Republican who has no party 
> affiliation, would also be paired in multiple plans. He said Wednesday 
> that growth in southeastern New Mexico will clearly require changes to 
> districts in the region, but that he hasn’t decided yet whether to run 
> again.
>
> In past redistricting rounds, lawmakers have generally sought to avoid 
> pairing incumbents as much as possible. In 2011, incumbent GOP Reps. 
> Dennis Kintigh and Bob Wooley were paired after two Roswell-area 
> districts were consolidated. Wooley went on to win the 2012 primary 
> and that year’s general election.
>
>
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-- 
Jane A. Asche, Ed.D., Email: janeasche at comcast.net, Cell: 575-649-8154
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