JACKSON ATTORNEY TO COMMITTEE; LICHTENEGGER TO AID IN DRAWING DISTRICTS

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Jackson attorney John Lichtenegger has been chosen by Gov. John Ashcroft to represent the 8th Congressional District Republicans on the Missouri House Redistricting Commission.

Lichtenegger was one of two Republicans recommended to Ashcroft by the 8th District Republican Committee to serve on the panel.

Mel Weems of Bonne Terre was appointed by the governor to represent the Democratic Party on the panel from the 8th District.

In all, 18 people were named to the commission by Ashcroft, one from each congressional district. According to the state constitution, in the year following the census, each party congressional district committee is to meet and select two people to serve on the commission. The governor must pick one.

The commission must decide how to re-draw boundary lines for Missouri's 163 state representative districts.

Ashcroft has also appointed five Democrats and five Republicans to the Senate redistricting commission, including two Republicans from the 8th District.

According to the state constitution, the state committee of the two parties recommend 10 names to the governor and he chooses five from each list to re-draw the 34 senatorial districts.

Appointed from Southeast Missouri were Mark Pelts, a Kennett attorney, and John Powell, former Republican state chairman and a Rolla businessman.

Both commissions will hold an organizational meeting in Jefferson City on April 8. They have six months to complete their work and must hold public hearings around the state before taking action on a final plan.

If for some reason either commission cannot agree upon a plan, then the Missouri Supreme Court will appoint a panel of appeals court judges to complete the task. Districts must be re-drawn before filing begins for 1992 elections early next year.

Both Lichtenegger and Weems said this weekend they are looking forward to serving on the House commission and realize a lot of work is ahead of them.

"I'm looking forward to getting it done and getting a plan submitted, but I'm not looking forward to all the long meetings and the hassle," said Lichtenegger. "I know it will be an interesting experience. People who have served on the commission before have said it is educational and enlightening, and an opportunity to learn a lot about the state and other representative districts."

Weems said: "I'm very happy to be appointed. I enjoy working with people and am looking forward to it. I will do my best to look out for the best interests of the party and do the best job that I can. Any time you affect a representative's district there will be some controversy, but I think we can get an agreement."

Lichtenegger said he hopes the commission will be able to limit each district to as few a number of counties as possible, while Weems said he hopes to keep the geographic size as small as possible.

"There are a lot of districts out here that have parts of three or four counties, and where possible we should try to condense so there are as few a number of counties in a district as possible," said Lichtenegger.

"I have a problem with large geographic districts," said Weems. "We want representatives to be able to get around their districts and stay in touch with their people."

Both men agree there probably will not be any major battles in the 8th District, except possibly in the Bootheel where a loss of population could result in the loss of a seat.

"I think in the 8th District we can work out any problems," said Lichtenegger.

Weems said, "I don't think there will be any major changes in the 8th Congressional District."

Lichtengegger pointed out that computer technology gives the commissions a lot of information to start with, so it won't be a matter of working from scratch.

"I don't think there will be a lot of shifting in outstate Missouri, but the real battles will be in Kansas City and St. Louis where central cities have lost population and the suburbs have grown," he said.

Lichtenegger predicted the final plan will enable Republicans to increase the number of seats they have in the General Assembly because of the large number of votes Republican candidates have been receiving in recent years.

Lichtenegger also stressed he is opposed to gerrymandering a district just to take care of an incumbent legislator.

Other Republicans on the House commission are Ernestine Beckman, Albert Rotskoff, and Gerald Schmidt, all of St. Louis; Stanley Cox of Sedalia; Gary Martinette of Grandview; Woody Cozad of Platte City; Mickey Brown of Springfield; and C. Andy Runge of Mexico.

Other Democrats on the commission are Dr. Charlene Jones and Sharon Carpenter of St. Louis; Ronald Gladney of Brentwood; Myron Paris of Blue Springs; David Childers of Ozark; Jack Holland of Kansas City; John Lodwick, Jr. of Excelsior Springs; and Richard DeCoster of Monticello.

Democratic members of the senatorial commission are Mary Rhodes of Hannibal; Harry Spring and William Worley of Kansas City; William James of Harisonville; and Iris Ferguson of St. Louis.

Other Republicans on the Senate panel are Rebecca Roberts of Forsyth; Vernon Schmidt of St. Louis; and Barry Seward of Raytown.