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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2011 > June > 01 > Entry
Martin Gottlieb: Parties let go of their inhibitions in this season
If this decade or so is the era of berserk partisanship, then this season — right now, today — is the season. All across the country, levels of partisan fervor that are normal for our abnormal times are being topped, left in the dust.
That’s because now comes redistricting, the drawing of legislative districts for the next decade.
Take Illinois.
A summary from Politico, a publication that follows these things:
“The Democratic-controlled Illinois state legislature is on the verge of passing a radically redrawn congressional map that has the national party basking in the prospect of ousting as many as six GOP House members — likely to be the Democrats’ biggest redistricting gain nationwide.”
It’s a partisan bacchanalia, a celebration of release from inhibition. The drawing of the maps is, by common consent among politicians, an all-out embrace of partisanship. Pretense largely disappears.
You do what you have to do. Then you defend it, and if you can’t, well, nobody has ever lost an election for that reason. This isn’t Medicare, and it isn’t the economy. It’s the politicians’ own domain.
Illinois, which is acting early, is worth looking at. In 2011, it’s a political mirror image of Ohio. Both houses of the state legislature are controlled by Democrats, as is the governorship.
In Ohio, of course, the Republicans have everything. But there’s one other difference: The situation in Illinois is new. This is the first time in four decades the Ds have had everything. That means, it’s the first time in the computer age, when high technology has come to the aid of the partisan partiers, those who want to make the maps come out to the advantage of their own party. Now it’s so easy.
Going into the 2010 election, Democrats controlled the Illinois congressional delegation 13-6. But Republicans gained five seats, giving them an 11-8 majority. Now the Illinois Democrats want to overturn the election.
This would be accomplished by, as summarized by the Chicago Tribune, pitting “Republican incumbents against each other, (moving) them into largely unfamiliar territory or (forcing) them to face Democratic colleagues in districts drawn to favor Democrats.”
Worth noting about what the Democrats are doing: The map that prevailed in 2010 wasn’t drawn by Republicans, but through a process not fully controlled by either party. So the Democratic partisans can’t say they are just undoing the work of Republican partisans.
However, the old map was, according to the nonpartisan “Almanac of American Politics,” “a nightmare for those who believe redistricting plans should have compact and competitive districts.”
The map was what usually results when the parties compromise: an incumbent protection plan, “and the resulting district lines are grotesque,” said the Almanac.
The Democrats might make this point in their favor: At least Illinois really is a Democratic-leaning state. In a close presidential election, Illinois will go Democratic; Ohio will be up for grabs.
What the Democrats are trying to do to Illinois’ remaining 18 congressional seats is leave only two that are solidly Republican and only eight or nine that the Republicans have shots at.
Nationally, the Democrats won’t have many chances to play such games, because the Republicans took so much power in 2010. Moreover, the Democrats’ beloved California has been taken from them. Former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger led a long and admirable fight to get voters to adopt a nonpartisan system, and he finally won.
But Republicans who draw Ohio’s maps are likely to be more influenced by Illinois than California.
What they come up with may not make the kinds of headlines that Illinois has made, because Ohio already has
Republican-drawn maps. There simply aren’t that many Democrats to unseat. But the Republicans will be trying to lock in what they’ve got. They now have 13 of the state’s 18 congressional seats. They want to limit Democrats to only a few districts in the future, swing state or no swing state.
And if they want to, they can. Redistricting is the party without any hangovers.
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