Short notice. check. Limited public input. check. Public likely to be ignored. check. Angry and pissed off Wisconsinite. check. This will affect Wisconsin for the next 10 years . . . let’s at least keep them listening to the public for 10 days! Ok, at least 10 hours!
It has been announced that the Assembly and Senate will be holding a dual public hearing Wednesday to discuss both the proposed Congressional and Legislative Redistricting maps as well as legislation that, when passed, will radically change how redistricting is completed in Wisconsin.
This will be the ONE AND ONLY hearing offered to the public, and we urge each of you to attend. The hearing will take place as follows:
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: Room 412 East , State Capitol BuildingCurrently, Wisconsin law dictates that county and aldermanic districts and wards be drawn before legislative lines are allowed to be considered. This is done to ensure that communities of interest — groups of citizens with a shared needs and identities — are respected and accounted for. Under proposed legislation, the state will now draw legislative district lines first and municipalities will then draw their lines to accommodate state legislative boundaries. Our respect for representative democracy is only further eroded when the tradition of starting new district mapping at the municipal and ward level is turned on its head. The motivation for these changes are purely political and will not benefit the voting public in any way. Again, we hope you are able to attend the public input session this Wednesday.
Please correct me if I am wrong. One of the main arguments for opposing this (other than obvious gerrymandering) is that local redistricting should preceed state redistricting so that local governments can better redistrict.
Absolutely right! For starters . . . there is so much wrong about this, yet again.
I guess if I were to testify I talk about the effect this will have on local government redistricting. Any advice on what to say or where to look for what to say would be appreciated.