Regerrymandering Part VII: What do Bear Lake, Jeremy Ranch, and Flaming George have in Common?

What do Bear Lake, Jeremy Ranch, and Flaming George have in Common?

A member of the State Legislature, that's what.

Regerrymandering Part VI: What do Grantsville, Tremonton, and Southern Cache Valley have in common?

What do Grantsville, Tremonton, and Hyrum up in Cache County all have in common?

I'm stumped to find an answer.

Well, other than sharing the same State Senator for the next 10 years, that is.

There's a lot of commonality there, my friends. I'm just waiting for the GOP spin to find it.

Regerrymandering Part V: Senate District 12 -- Straddling the Oquirrhs

Senate District 12 is an interesting shape. In addition to having an interesting shape, it is naturally separated by the Oquirrh Mountains.

Yep, the Senator representing this district will have to drive outside his district to visit his constituents on the other side.

Another winning map brought to you by the Utah Legislature.

Regerrymandering Part IV: Equal Population at what cost? Oquirrh Edition

If you live in the Salt Lake Valley, and you are West of I-15 and South of about 4300 South, you live in the Purple district.

Well, unless you live in the Oquirrh neighborhood of West Jordan. Then you might be in the Yellow district.

Yep, if you live in this part of the subdivision, your congressman won't live in areas that share similar characteristics to yours. Your Congressman will live in Downtown Salt Lake. Or Bountiful. Or Tooele. Or St George. Or Blanding.

One thing's for sure: you probably won't ever see him campaigning in Oquirrh. Because you are separated from the rest of his district.

And that just isn't right. Surely, the Legislature could have found a neighborhood elsewhere along the border to draw into the neighborhood. I wonder who lives there that just got drawn into a different district.

Regerrymandering Part III: Equal Population at what cost? Holladay Edition

So, you think the Congressional Lines drawn by the Utah Legislature took some interesting turns around the Columbus Library, take a look at Highland Downs Ln in Holladay:

The dividing line between the purple and green districts from 4800 South to I-215 is Highland Drive.

Well, except for Highland Down Lane. Highland Downs Lane is a Private Lane that curves east from Highland Drive south to 5165 South. Compacted in the small space of this complex are 7 nearly identical duplexes. This small private lane (skinny enough that on-street parking is not allowed) is a dividing line between Congressional Districts. 3 duplexes are in the purple districts, and the other 4 are in the green.

Does this make sense to anyone?

Regerrymandering Part II: Equal Population at what cost?: Columbus Library Edition

There are some really interesting lines drawn in the Utah Legislature's 2011 Regerrymandering maps. They've got equal population in their Congressional districts, but at what cost?

Take, for example, the lines drawn around Salt Lake City's Columbus Library:

This is an area between roughly i-80 and 3000 South and 300 and 900 East. There are a few interesting lines here (like the fact that putting the golf course in the purple district make the lines look less puzzle like). Let's zoom in on the really interesting line:

The boundary here runs down 500 East. If you live on the east side of 500 East along here, you are in the yellow district and your Congressman will live somewhere between Bountiful and Blanding. If you live on the west side of the street, it gets a little more complex.

The first 5 houses south of the freeway are in the yellow district. Then we have 3 houses, the library, and two more houses in the purple district. Then there are six houses in the yellow district, and then purple again the rest of the way to 2700 South.

Why did they do this? It's simple: Even though there is some wiggle room (the districts don't have to be exactly the same), they wanted to make the districts exactly the same. They did this so that when the citizens of Utah pointed out that their maps were crazy puzzle pieces, they could say "well, they are equal."

Regerrymadering Part I -- Holladay City: 1 City, 3 Congressional Districts

Back in May, I tried my hand at redrawing Utah's Congressional map. I managed to do it without splitting any county into more than 2 (and only 3 Counties got split). In fact, I did it without splitting a city into more than 2 (and only 3 cities got split, and 3 of the 5 were split along an Interstate).

So, it can be done.

Because it can be done doesn't mean it will be done.

Take the latest version of the Congressional map that came out of the Utah Redistricting Committee today. There was point of interest to me. 3 districts join at an intersection that, while it has undergone significant changes over the past five years, is very familiar to me.

The intersection of Highland Drive and Murray-Holladay Road is the only Urban spot where 3 Congressional Districts come together. Let's take a look at the districts:

The north side of this intersection falls in the "yellow" district. Other locations in the district include Salt Lake City, Woods Cross, East Bountiful, Magna, Tooele, St George, Nephi, Green River, Blanding.

The Southeast corner of the intersection (former home of the Cottonwood Mall -- Now largely a weed pile surrounding a Macy's) is located in the "Green" district. Other locations in this district are Cottonwood Heights, Sandy, Draper, Eastern Utah County, Vernal, Price, Moab.

The Southwest corner of the intersection is in the "Purple" district. Other locations in the district include Murray, Midvale, Salt Lake County west of I-15, Utah County west of Utah Lake, and areas around the southern end of Utah Lake.

I realize that these districts have to come together somewhere. However, as I will post later, this is the most normal division of Holladay's 3 Congressional districts.

Republicans Scared of New Sheriff in Town

Last Week, I was talking to a new friend. He had run for office as an independent candidate. While he doesn't like the two-party system (which is something he &I agree on), he also recognizes that it's hard to fight the system from within.

That being said, he was asked at a Meet the Candidates Night why he was running as an Independent. His reply boiled down to the fact that the Utah Democratic Party wasn't so much an opposition party as it was a bunch of wimps.

I told him to give the Democrats another chance, because there's a new sheriff in town.

New Democratic Party chairman Jim Dabakis, fresh off a Democratic Party Bus tour down to the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City, has embarked on a 1,147 mile tour of Southern Utah to talk about redistricting, among other things.

And this has the Utah Republican Party all up in arms.

Utah Senate President Michael Waddoups said he has no problem with Dabakis crossing the state to talk about redistricting — as long as that’s the only subject on the agenda.

“I hope he is going after it as a redistricting meeting,” the Taylorsville Republican said, “rather than Republicans versus Democrats.”

After all, you can talk about anything you want to, as long as you only talk about one thing, because heaven forbid any other issue comes up.

And, I really hate to point this out, but the Utah Legislature has 80 Republicans to 24 Democrats. It's hard for a Democrat to talk about the Legislature without it being a Republic vs Democrat thing.

Besides, it's been Republicans vs the People of Utah for a long time. It's nice to see the Democrats standing up to the Republican bully.

And, in a separate article, we learn that the Republicans have hired someone to follow Dabakis on his tour of Southern Utah with a video camera.

GOP Chairman Thomas Wright accused Dabakis of being “on the offensive playing ‘gotcha’ politics and taking personal comments out of context.” How dare Democrats play Offense! Don't they know that the best offense is a good defense? It's worked so well for the over the past decade! (OK, what the Democrats have been playing is more like special teams, but I digress.)

Wright also accuses Dabakis of trying to split the GOP in two. In reality, the GOP has been splitting itself in two for a long time. One only needs read the Utah Republican Party - Official Group on Facebook for proof.

Dabakis is simply pointing out that the "fringe elements" of the party are now part of Elected Leadership.

But, of course, Wright isn't trying to catch Dabakis saying something stupid. "We are just trying to hear what he is saying. We refuse to give him a pass, or simply accept what the media reports or what is posted on Twitter or Facebook."

I hope they are nice enough to post it on YouTube for other Republicans to see. And, well everyone else.

Now, Dabakis is more than willing to allow the camera, because he is not afraid of what he is saying, unlike Mike Lee last year.

“He’s a very genial and nice chap, and he has been at every public appearance,” Dabakis said. “I couldn’t be more thrilled that Republicans think that it’s worth videotaping everything I say.”

Awesome.

My Redistricting Attempts, Part 1 -- Congressional Districts

The Utah Legislature's planned online redistricting program isn't up and running yet, so I used a tool I found last year called Dave's Redistricting Tool to create a congressional map. This is a first draft, and there are some limitations with the program (mainly, you have to use existing precinct lines).

So, here are the districts:

District A (blue):

Box Elder, Cache, Rich, Weber, Morgan Counties, plus Davis County except North Salt Lake City and Woods Cross west of 800 West and South of 1500 South.
Population: 690,868 (-102); 466,695 adults; 83.6% White, 11.3% Hispanic.

District B (red):

All of Tooele County; in Davis County: North Salt Lake City, Woods Cross west of 800 West and South of 1500 South.; in Salt Lake County: Magna, Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake, Millcreek Township, Holladay, Cottonwood Heights; plus the areas east of I-15 in Sandy, Midvale, and Murray (The area west of I15 and north of 4800 South in Murray is also in District B).
Population: 691,013 (+43); 505,242 adults; 73.6& White, 17.2% Hispanic.

District C (Orange):

Salt Lake County not in District B; Utah County: Cedar Fort, Eagle Mountain, Lehi, Saratoga Springs, Alpine, Highland, Cedar Hills, American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Lindon, Orem north of University Parkway.
Population: 690,879 (-91); 441,822 adults; 80.3% White, 13.2% Hispanic

District D (Green):

All areas not included in the other districts.
Population: 691,118 (+148); 479,096 Adults; 84.0% White, 10.2% Hispanic

Under my proposal, 3 counties (Salt Lake, Utah, Davis) are divided into more than one district (and it's impossible to not split Salt Lake County into more than one district).

In addition, only 5 cities (Woods Cross, Sandy, Midvale, Murray, and Orem) are split into two districts. The dividing line in Sandy, Midvale and part of Murray in the Interstate. The dividing line in Orem is a major thoroughfare.

So,what do you think?

Calling BS on Sen. Waddoups

The first segment on KSL's Sunday Edition with Bruce Lindsay dealt with redistricting in Utah. In the early part of the program, Senate President Michael Waddoups was asked in Congressional District 2 (held by Jim Matheson) was gerrymandered. His answer:

"This district was drawn, along with the other two districts, specifically to have an equal number of constituents through the district," he says. "All three districts have exactly the same number. All three have rural parts of the state in them. All three have parts of Salt Lake County. The intention in drawing this, was to have equality of rural and urban and equality of numbers."

In the 1990's, District 2 was contained entirely within Salt Lake County. Now, it contains portions of Salt Lake and Utah Counties, as well as all of Wasatch, Duchesne, Daggett, Uintah, Carbon, Uintah, Emery, Grand, San Juan, Wayne, Piute, Garfield, Kane, Iron, and Washington Counties.

Now, all three districts radiate from where UT-201 ("The 21st South Freeway") crosses the Jordan River.

Also, do these boundaries make sense to anyone?



The white areas above belong to Rob Bishop. The grey areas belong to Jim Matheson. There's no secret that this is one of the most Liberal neighborhoods in Utah, and has been for a long time. It's just a coincidence that this is where they chose to get their equal population numbers, right?

-Bob

Redistricting: So easy a Caveman can do it

And,in this case, I'm the caveman.

Some months ago, I got introduced to an online app that allows you to practice your skills with redistricting. I gave it a try, and was impressed. I made my own 4-district map, which took a couple of hours. Using current population estimates, and only being able to draw lines along current voting precincts (something the actual line drawers don't have to do), here is my vision for the four districts:



District 1 (blue): 684,557 residents. Box Elder, Cache, Rich, Weber, and Morgan Counties, plus all of Davis County except North Salt Lake.

District 2 (green): 684,358 residents. All of Southern and Eastern Utah (including Wasatch County), Summit County except Park City/Kimball Junction, and Utah County from Provo South



District 3 (purple): 683,873 residents. Tooele County; Utah County from Orem North (including cities west of Utah Lake); and Salt Lake County cities Draper, Bluffdale, Herriman, Riverton, South Jordan, West Jordan, Sandy, Midvale, Cottonwood Heights, Alta, and surrounding unincorporated ares.



District 4 (red): Salt Lake County cities of Holladay, Murray, Taylorsville, West Valley, and Salt Lake City, with surrounding unincorporated ares; North Salt Lake in Davis County; Park City in Summit County.

VIDEO: SUtah Blowhard Blows Hard About Redistricting

Too, too, easy....



I'd love too see the full thing. Actually, I'd have loved to have been there. I think I'd die of boredom if I had to sit through the whole video. However, I think Rep Clark didn't exactly win himself many votes that day....

-Bob

(Thanks to The SideTrack for posting the video)

Sign Fair Boundaries Petition Online!

From an email making the rounds:

Dear Friends,

Utah needs you to sign the Fair Boundaries Initiative petition now. Your vote is your voice. With only days until the start of the legislative session, you can send a clear message to our representatives and the power brokers demanding to have your voice heard by signing the Fair Boundaries petition…ONLINE!
Yes, we said online. No hassle. You don’t have to hunt down a petition, simply click on http://fairboundaries.utahpetitions.org/ and follow the steps. Even if you think you’ve already signed a paper copy, check the site to make sure we have your name.
We want Fair Boundaries to hit its target of 95,000 signatures during this legislative session, and with your help, we can!

This year the Utah State Legislature will begin the statewide process of redrawing congressional and legislative district boundaries. Without your signature, politicians will continue to meet behind closed doors and protect their own political agendas without having to worry about repercussions, challenges from other candidates or the will of the people. If we don’t get the Fair Boundaries Initiative on the ballot, it’s quite possible that your vote WON’T COUNT for future state and local issues that matter to you most. We have an opportunity to change this process. Don’t be fooled by the detractors, this is an issue of fairness that crosses all party lines and affects everyone. Your signature will help us tell our state officials that we, the people, want a more open and honest government.

Do you think your vote should count? Do you think politicians should NOT select their voters? Help us send a clear message to the Utah State Legislature that we need a change in our current redistricting process.

After signing we hope you send this on to family and friends throughout the state.
If you have questions, please visit www.fairboundaries.org.

I just signed. Will you?

Senator Dayton and Rep Daw Push-Polling

Rolly:

Two Utah County legislators have collaborated on a survey sent to their constituents that raises the concept of push-polling to new heights.
The survey -- at least on a couple of questions -- is worded to get the response obviously favored by lawmakers sending the questionnaire.

Sen. Margaret Dayton and Rep. Brad Daw, both Orem Republicans, sent the 13-question survey to get constituents' views on issues facing the Legislature. Each question is followed by a list of responses constituents can choose from that best fits their views.

But the 13th question, which focuses on the ethics reform petition most legislators hate, does not include a response that allows constituents to say they favor it.
Respondents can check a box if they prefer to have laws made through the legislative process rather than by initiative; if they are aware that the Ethics Commission has no accountability to anyone and has lifetime appointments; if they are dumb enough to sign the 21-page petition without reading it; and if they would prefer laws that create more transparency in lobbyist activities and that would cap campaign contributions. Constituents are reminded such a law would prevent lower income candidates from running for office.

Question 12 is about the initiative to create an independent commission to make recommendations on redistricting. It asks, "As a taxpayer would you prefer to see redistricting done by recommendations by an unelected redistricting commission (most expensive), regional public meetings (fairly expensive) or by legislators who communicate with their local constituents (least expensive)?"

It seems they have already answered that one for you, doesn't it?

Fair Boundary Friday I: Drawn by whiskey-liver gentlemen

Back in 1999 (could have been early 2000), Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura got in trouble for telling David Letterman that the roads in St Paul were laid out by drunken Irishmen.

Some of the boundaries drawn during the 2001 redistricting process would fit the same description.

Take this map of congressional boundaries in Salt Lake City's Avenues Neighborhood. The gray is Congressional District 1 (Rob Bishop), while the white is District 2 (Jim Matheson):



So, Speaker Clark, how do these lines make any sense?

-Bob

P.S. Given that Drunk Irishmen is not PC, I solicited more PC termsfrom my twitter followers. The one in the title comes from MteeJ

Game this Poll

JM Bell points out that Speaker Dave Clark pulled his poll from his blog:

I wrote earlier about a poll that Dave Clark had on his “blog” about redistricting. He obviously expected to be visited by sycophants and instead heard from real Utahns, so, like any Utah Republican’t – he removed the poll because his point of view was getting waffle stomped.

Way to keep the “run and hide” traditions of the Utah Republican’t Party alive and kicking, Dave.

Now, it's obvious that those of us on the correct side of the issue encouraged all of our friends to vote. However, given that there is no evidence of multiple votes from the same people, it's as legit as a web poll can get.

Web polls are about the worst way to gauge public opinion for this very reason.

However, Speaker Clark's poll is not dead. It's been resurrected on my blog, over on the right hand side. Please only vote once, but encourage your friends to vote.

I'm asking people on both sides of the issue to vote and encourage others to vote.

-Bob

Gerrymandering

In Sunday's Tribune, Paul Rolly wrote a column on how the gerrymandering efforts have helped the Republicans on the Hill do whatever they darn well please.

The result was that despite Democratic legislative candidates getting 43 percent of the vote in the elections since redistricting, they hold just over 25 percent of the seats.
Here are some residual effects of the partisan boundary alignments. Because most of the rewritten districts are noncompetitive now, the legislative outcomes are decided in the Republican primaries. Because party activists tend to be more conservative than the casual Republican, the more right wing the candidate is in the convention, the better chance he or she has.
Because Republicans in Utah have a super majority thanks to redistricting, and because they tend to be more right wing, the Beehive State has become a laboratory in the United States for privatization fanatics - the followers of Milton Friedman. Hence, the voucher movement in Utah that has been heavily funded over the years by national foundations fed financially by rich Friedmanites.
Talk over the past few months behind the scenes in political circles was that if vouchers succeeded in Utah, the next step would be efforts to privatize transportation, water districts, even police and fire services.
So now that these conservatives have bitten from the privatization apple, then had it taken away, watch for a push to make it more difficult to get signatures on petitions for referendums. After all, they already did that with initiatives. And they still have that super majority, thanks to gerrymandering.

(HT: Jeremy's Jeremiad)

Wayne Holland Calls Out Bob Bennett

Perhaps Senator Bennett will respond personally to this post and explain how a bi-partisan commission required to give the public the opportunity to review and comment upon any proposal they make somehow gives Democratic voters greater influence in an election than Republican voters. Perhaps he can also explain how dividing up communities like Tooele, Helper, Price, Moab and Ogden to maximize the likelihood of Republican success is a better way to handle redistricting than attempting to keep communities intact without regard to the party affiliation of incumbent legislators eager to hold on to power.

(Utah State Democratic Party Blog, Utah Amicus)