Redistricting panel takes proposals on tour starting Monday

Proposals likely to influence, not dictate, final plan to shift legislative boundaries

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published September 30

OLYMPIA -- Large parts of west Olympia could be linked with the more conservative Shelton and Bremerton areas in a newly formed 35th Legislative District.

Yelm, long a part of the 20th Legislative District in Thurston County, could be sliced off and made a part of the 2nd District in Pierce County.

And the Lacey-Olympia-Tumwater urban area could find itself newly teamed up with Bremerton in a freshly crafted 6th Congressional District.

All are possibilities -- perhaps remote possibilities -- as the Washington State Redistricting Commission goes on the road this week with four draft proposals for reshaping the state's congressional and legislative boundaries. The commission, which includes two voting Republicans and two voting Democrats, is redrawing the political boundaries to accommodate population shifts since 1990.

It faces a Dec. 15 deadline to send a plan to the Legislature, which can make only minor changes to it.

"I think it's unlikely any of the draft plans will resemble the final plan adopted by the commissioners," Ethan Moreno, executive director of the commission, said Friday. "However, this is an important starting point, and it is reasonable to expect that elements of these (maps) will be incorporated into the final plan."

Not taking any chances, politicians and activists on both sides of the fence will speak out Monday night in Centralia. That is where the commission plans the first of three hearings statewide on its draft plans.

A lot is riding on the outcome -- everything from incumbents worried about being moved to new districts to subtle changes that shift the balance of Republican and Democratic support in a district.

But the nuances are difficult to grasp, and the commissioners are struggling to understand what each others' maps really mean.

In one scenario, state Sen. Karen Fraser of Thurston County could lose her 22nd Legislative District seat.

Fraser, a Democrat with a strong base in traditionally liberal Olympia, isn't overly worried that the map will survive into law, but she doesn't like the idea.

It would be inappropriate, Fraser said, to shift Cooper Point and the area around The Evergreen State College out of the 22nd District, putting the area into the 35th, which has a much different, rural character.

"To me that violates one of the principles of redistricting. To the greatest extent you should have a community of (common) interest" in a single district, Fraser said. "The people on the west side of Olympia and on Cooper Point would feel disenfranchised. I'm assuming they would be a (philosophical) minority in the district."

The 22nd District now includes Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater, as well as the Boston Harbor and Cooper Point peninsulas, and it's had a strongly Democratic flavor for years. District incumbents besides Fraser are state Reps. Sandra Romero and Sam Hunt.

Several lawmakers agree with Fraser, including Sen. Tim Sheldon, a Democratic maverick from Mason County who would face Fraser next year for their party's 35th District nomination if the switch were made.

In another closely watched boundary adjustment, state Rep. Gary Alexander, who lives just southeast of Lacey on Long Lake, would keep his 20th District seat, but barely. All four maps show Alexander's home remaining in his district.

"I'm not nervous," Alexander insisted, estimating he would remain in his district by about one mile.

Still, Alexander is watching the process closely and plans to be at the Monday hearing.

Alexander said he is concerned that one redistricting proposal would shift Yelm out of the 20th District and put it with the 2nd District in Pierce County. But he likes the idea of taking Pierce County out of his district, which most of the plans recommend.

And Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, also in the 20th District, is skeptically eyeing a plan that would lump the eastern half of Lewis County with Yakima. Swecker, whose district now includes parts of Pierce, Thurston and Lewis counties, said it would be more logical for the commission to include part of Thurston County and all of conservative Lewis County in his turf.

"There's a lot of work ahead and a lot of compromises," said Dave Kempher, chair of the Thurston County Democratic Party, who plans to speak out against Republican proposals to put part or all of Olympia into the 6th Congressional District, where Democratic U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks now holds office.

Kempher favors keeping Olympia in Democratic U.S. Rep. Brian Baird's 3rd district.

Bob Wright, the county Republican Party chair, said he also isn't keen about moving Olympia into a district with Bremerton either. One plan he likes would split Lacey into the 9th Congressional District, which now includes part of eastern and southern Thurston County, while leaving Olympia and Tumwater in the 3rd. Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Smith now holds the 9th District seat.

Redistricting Commission members say the job of drawing lines is harder than it looks. "I'm still trying to digest all of this stuff," Foster said of his three colleagues' maps.

"We all probably started out more pure than when we ended. The reality is you have to make decisions. ... If you want to go by county lines, city lines ... people don't live in the right places," Foster added. "Everybody else has the luxury of looking at one district or one county. We have the responsibility of looking at 49 districts."

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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