Commission to decide on new county boundaries

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, June 14, 2001 | 11:18 a.m.

After spending months marking their territory during a lengthy and politically charged redistricting process, Clark County commissioners will decide Tuesday whether they are satisfied with the latest map.

Clark County planners' goal in redrawing the boundaries was to balance populations in each commission district after a growth explosion in the 1990s threw the number of residents that each elected official represents off kilter.

Commissioners who met periodically with the planning division had different goals than staff members. They wanted demographics to remain similar, and they didn't want their political party's representation diluted.

In some cases, potential political competitors were drawn out of their districts.

The redistricting ordinance is scheduled to be introduced Tuesday, but the process is expected to be challenged during a July 3 public hearing.

County sources said the process should have been controlled by the planning staff, but instead it was driven by commissioners.

Esther Quisenberry, director of public relations at DRGM Communications who has talked about running against Commissioner Erin Kenny, was drawn out of Kenny's District F at the last minute and slipped into Chip Maxfield's District C. Kenny's seat is up in 2002; Maxfield began his four-year term in 2000.

Quisenberry said her intention of running against Kenny is well known. Her exploratory committee has raised $80,000, and she has pledges for more. The last district map Quisenberry saw was in May, and her home between Durango Drive and Twain Avenue was still in Kenny's district.

"It's out there that I'm running and suddenly I'm cut out of the district at the last minute? Wow, that's odd," Quisenberry said. "I'm surprised, to put it mildly."

Commissioners Dario Herrera and Bruce Woodbury are battling over a precinct in which Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson lives, county sources said. If the predominantly Republican precinct is shifted into Herrera's District G, Woodbury's friend Gibson could eventually pose a threat to Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, who sources say is Herrera's handpicked successor.

Herrera declined to comment on the redrawing of boundary lines. Woodbury said there are "a lot of unanswered questions."

"I don't know if it's an issue or not, it's something I need to get to the bottom of," Woodbury said.

Clark County Planning Director John Schlegel dismissed the perception that some boundary lines zig-zagged to eliminate competition. He said that some of the more rural districts had to dip into more heavily populated precincts to even out the numbers.

Schlegel said his department paid close attention to commissioners' requests, but they were all legitimate and in accordance with federal redistricting laws.

For example, the majority of Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates' district is composed of minorities. Atkinson Gates wanted to continue to represent a minority community.

And a long, narrow peninsula of Mary Kincaid-Chauncey's District A infringes almost to the center of Atkinson Gates' territory. Schlegel said the awkward boundary was drawn to keep Kincaid-Chauncey's home in her district.

"We went around (to commissioners) and tried to balance out the different interests and objectives," Schlegel said. "We had to make sure they all lived in their district."

The redistricting process was based on Census 2000, which showed a growing number of Hispanics moving into the Las Vegas Valley. Schlegel's division tried to create a district that lassoed most of the Hispanic community.

Planners' target population for each district was 196,538 residents. If a Hispanic district was created, it would have far exceeded that figure, Schlegel said.

"If you're going to create a minority district it has to be a substantial number," Schlegel said. "The question was, have we reached a point where we promote having a district where minorities have a really good chance of having representation from that group elected?

"It's not really an issue here, it's an issue where minorities have historically had a hard time being elected."

Schlegel said the seven-member board is fairly diversified; it includes a Hispanic and a black member.

In reaching the target population figures, some districts changed drastically. Woodbury lost 103,478 residents in whittling his district from 297,147 to 193,669. Commissioner Myrna Williams, who had the smallest district, would gain 62,959 if the plan is approved.

"The whole process you go through doing this is try one thing and you find out who likes it and who doesn't like it," Schlegel said. "I don't know if everybody's happy, but we have a viable proposal on the table."