Posted on 05/06/2003 11:12:50 PM PDT by LdSentinal
3:45 p.m. - A plan to redraw congressional districts advanced in a House committee today after Republicans refused to allow Democrats to amend it.
Two Senate staffers quit in protest Tuesday after Republicans refused to allow Democrats to record votes and explain their votes.
A House staffer was left in tears as she took the votes in committee after Republicans refused to allow amendments.
"She was very upset. Politics is politics, but this is unfair. It is really an abuse of the process," said Rep. Frank Weddig, D-Aurora.
Senate Bill 352 was approved by the House State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee 7-2, with two Democrats refusing to vote. It now goes to the full House for debate.
Weddig and Rep. Paul Weissman, D-Louisville, both tried to amend the bill. Republicans refused on grounds the amendments were not in the right format. Democrats said they could not amend the Republican bill because they were not given copies until today.
Rep. Rob Fairbank, R-Littleton, blamed Democrats for leaving redistricting in the hands of a judge and said it is the Legislature's duty to draw the lines.
"They stonewalled. This is one case where one party thumbed their noses at the Constitution. There was no public debate on the map," Fairbank told the committee.
Hours before, the bill passed the Senate on an 18-12 vote, with five Democrats voting present.
The Republican plan would give the GOP a 27,000-vote margin in the new 7th Congressional District north and east of Denver. The district had been about evenly divided among Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters.
It also would increase the margin of Republican voters in the Western Slope's 3rd District.
Democrats called the bill unconstitutional and said they would fight it.
Sen. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, said lawmakers heard weeks of debate over the past two years on drawing congressional districts and said the Legislature shirked its duty to draw the lines, leaving the decisions to a Denver District Court judge.
"We had many more times to debate than the judge who voted on that plan. That's where we had no public input," Lamborn told the Senate.
Democratic Attorney General Ken Salazar said the redistricting effort is unconstitutional and said he would fight it.
Senate Minority Leader Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, said today if the Republican plan passes, people would be served by representatives in new districts that they never had a chance to elect.
She said new congressional elections may be required in Colorado within 90 days if the bill becomes law.
The 7th District was created after the state gained a congressional seat in the 2000 Census.
The Senate bill would establish new boundaries for the seven congressional districts and would solidify support for GOP Rep. Bob Beauprez, who won the 7th Congressional District seat in November by 121 votes out of more than 163,000 cast.
They promptly collected unemployment benefits, welfare checks, and donated $2000 to John Edwards' campaign.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.