Area lawmakers vote with House majority to roll back redistricting process

Area Republican lawmakers joined the majority of Missouri House members this week in voting to roll back changes to the legislative redistricting process overwhelmingly approved by votes in November.

Barry Hovis

Missourians approved the “Clean Missouri” constitutional amendment by a 62% to 38% margin in last year’s general election.

Rick Francis

Under the constitutional provision, the state auditor would choose a demographer to draw up state House and Senate district boundaries rather than bipartisan commissions as was done in the past.

But many lawmakers in the GOP-led House, including area legislators, voiced displeasure with the new redistricting process.

On Tuesday, the House passed three companion resolutions on a vote of 104 to 49. If approved by the Senate, a constitutional amendment would be put before voters in November 2020 to scrap the “Clean Missouri” changes in favor of bipartisan, redistricting committees.

It also would completely ban lobbyist gifts to lawmakers.

It would reduce the individual contribution limit to state Senate candidates from $2,500 per election cycle to $2,000 to match the lower limit now mandated for House candidates.

The House move, however, does not address Clean Missouri’s requirement legislative records be open to the public.

The House earlier this session approved legislation that would allow public officials to close records including “advice, opinions or recommendations.” Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate.

The House bill approved early in the session would keep most of their records, including constituent emails, beyond public view and extend those restrictions to city halls and schools boards across the state.

Paul DeGregorio, former chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, told the Southeast Missourian last year other elected officials are covered by the state’s open records law. State lawmakers should be, too, he said.

Without access to lawmakers’ emails, no one knows whether they are “cutting deals,” he said.

Clean Missouri supporters said the use of a demographer would allow the redrawing of legislative districts to provide more competitive elections.

Too often, legislative districts have been drawn to protect politicians of both parties, supporters said.

But area lawmakers said Tuesday the House favors a redistricting method focused on establishing legislative boundaries based on equality of population, and with a view toward making the districts as contiguous and compact as possible.

The House-backed mapping process also would seek to fit legislative districts wholly within counties where possible, according to lawmakers.

State Reps. Kathy Swan, Barry Hovis and Rick Francis said Tuesday they prefer to put the redistricting process in the hands of bipartisan committees. Voice messages left for state Rep. Holly Rehder, a Scott County Republican, were not returned as of late Tuesday afternoon.

Francis, R-Perryville, said it would be a “much fairer” system.

“We think we have a better amendment for voters,” he said.

Democratic lawmakers largely opposed the idea.

Both sides have accused the other of trying to gerrymander districts to their legislative advantage.

Lauren Gepford, Missouri Democratic Party executive director, criticized the House action in an email to reporters.

“Missouri Republicans obviously fear the redistricting reforms voters approved by a wide margin last year. They suspect they can’t maintain the size of their majority without gerrymandering. This is yet another example of the Republican majority in the legislature asserting that they know better than the people of Missouri.”

Gepford added, “Members of the Missouri Senate, where the proposal now heads, should tread carefully, because Clean Missouri passed in every single Senate district last November, including receiving more than 70% of the vote in the Republican floor leader’s Senate district.”

A majority of those who voted in the November election in Cape Girardeau and Perry counties backed the Clean Missouri measure. Voters in Scott and Bollinger counties rejected it.

Hovis, R-Gordonville, said he believes many voters were not aware of how redistricting worked in the past and it involved bipartisan commissions.

“I don’t think the process was flawed,” he said of how Missouri has previously drawn district lines.

In addition to the redistricting process in Amendment 1, the Clean Missouri measure also called for various ethics reforms. But Hovis said it was “fish bait” to convince voters to back the redistricting change last year.

Under the GOP plan, two, six-member bipartisan committees would be appointed by the governor from names submitted by the Republican and Democratic parties.

The measure would require the bipartisan committees to draw up district boundaries within five months of appointment. Final boundaries for the House and Senate would require seven-tenths approval by the committees.

No one would be allowed to serve on both committees.

If the committees cannot agree on redistricting, the task would be assigned to a panel of appellate judges.

Swan, R-Cape Girardeau, said the current Clean Missouri provision does not offer “as transparent a process” as the one favored by the House.

She and other area lawmakers said it would put the decision making in the hands of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats.

Swan and other area lawmakers said they are not usurping the will of the voters but simply looking to provide voters another choice in redrawing legislative boundaries.

“We are still allowing people to vote on it,” she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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