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House redistricting chair Sarah Anderson rips citizens’ plan for new boundaries

By dou | 10/21/11

Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, is not impressed with the map-drawing of the Citizens’ Redistricting Commission.

Among other things, Anderson, who headed the House redistricting committee, says the nonpartisan commission was filled with liberal activists.

“It should be cause for great concern that Draw the Line is bringing politics into a process which should be about people,” Anderson said in a statement today. “Their process has been run by David Wheeler, who was endorsed for public office by several Democrats including Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and State Senator Scott Dibble, and their map was drawn by Linden Weiswerda, a former Obama for America staffer. This flies in the face of any sort of commission involvement and ultimately decisions were made by liberal staff members, not citizens or commission members.”

It should be noted that the map proposed by Anderson was shot down immediately by House DFLers. There was no support among DFLers for the Republican legislative map in the Senate, either.

Given no DFL support, Gov. Mark Dayton promptly vetoed the effort.

Anderson criticized the commission’s process, which she called “a shroud of secrecy.”

The 15 commissioners, however, represented a cross section of Minnesota, politically and geographically, according to commission members.

As for secrecy, the commission noted input received from citizens across the state in 18 public hearings.

Anderson, however, apparently is not impressed. She even attacks what the commission considers a point of pride, the bringing together of several tribes in creating a House district that would improve opportunities for an American Indian to win a House seat.

“As best we can tell,” Anderson said, “Draw the Line [the commission] has ripped apart at least three tribal communities and is carving up almost four times the number of cities they are reporting.  Draw the Line’s top principle was to preserve communities of interest, yet they completely disregard city and county boundaries, ignored the Voting Rights Act altogether and disenfranchise thousands of Minnesotans of their equal representation rights.”

The commission presented its effort to the judicial panel today, hoping it will serve as a benchmark for the five-judge panel that almost certainly will be left with the task of creating the map that will guide Minnesota politics for the next 10 years.

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Comments (7)

Submitted by James Hamilton on October 22, 2011 - 10:47am.

This is no more about one person one vote than is my favorite flavor of ice cream. Power: we gots it and we wants to keep it.

Submitted by Tony Angelo on October 22, 2011 - 10:53am.

It's comical that someone who proposed a radical reconfiguration of the two northern Minnesota congressional districts would have the nerve to criticize Draw the Line for not protecting communities of interest.

Submitted by Andrew Kearney on October 22, 2011 - 11:16am.

Sarah Anderson is a nasty piece of goods and represents what's wrong with politics today-especially on the Republican side. Her mistreatment of people who appeared before her committee and her vitriolic, nasty manner are a discredit to her district and to the Legislature. I am surprised people like her get elected and will be surprised if she survives re-election. She belongs here in the rough and tumble blogs of sheer democracy not the corridors of republican representative democracy.

Submitted by Hiram Foster on October 22, 2011 - 12:42pm.

“It should be cause for great concern that Draw the Line is bringing politics into a process which should be about people,"

When people make the choice to address issues, is never something politicians like Sarah should concern themselves with. The First Amendment is operative 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As for bringing politics to the issue, Sarah need not worry, the politics of redistricting was there long before this group chose to weigh in.

Submitted by Hiram Foster on October 24, 2011 - 7:43am.

Sarah can be a bit mean, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. There is the famous video of her taking off on the poor guy from Mankato to had the temerity to use the word "gerrymander" in the august presence of herself.

I haven't looked at Draw the Line's map and have no opinion about it one way or another. Republicans have been whining that this map from a private group, not comprised of elected officials, wasn't prepared with sufficient transparency. That may be true, but how it was prepared isn't a determinative issue with regard to it's merits, and that would be especially true as long as it's prepares were willing to answer questions about it. Whatever the merits of the map, the people who put time and effort into it's preparation are entitled to a certain amount of respect. If a candidate I advised, treated people the way Sarah does, such a candidate would come in for some constructive criticism.

Submitted by Annie Grandy on October 24, 2011 - 3:27pm.

Sarah, your vitriol is so true to form. Remember the old saw, you can recognize a person's faults by those they point out in others. I think you've done a great job describing your map, your process and your leadership. Look to yourself before you criticize others.

Submitted by Ann Richards on October 24, 2011 - 7:31pm.

I had an opportunity to attend one of the public meetings in my area. The meeting was posted in my paper well before the event. Input was solicited from citizens- something my Republican friends didn't do. The people putting on my meeting were not partisan. Had the legislature been more fair in their plan, this would not have gone to a citizen committee.