Consensus on maps elusive: Reapportionment may end up in court

Erin Neff

Thursday, May 31, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Amid threats of lawsuits, reports of secret maps and revised proposals, reapportionment appears to have no endgame in sight.

With the Monday deadline for the Legislature to adjourn rapidly approaching and Republicans and Democrats so far apart, some have begun whispering about a special session.

But Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley on Wednesday night said the two sides will have a workable compromise by Saturday.

"I believe in the end that the Assembly leadership and the Senate leadership are just going to have to hammer it out," Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said. "The option is to go to court."

Neither side wants a court to take away the Legislature's right to draw the state's political boundaries, she said. And Republicans who want to expand the size of the Legislature would lose that option in court because judges can only consider the current size of the body.

Leadership of both houses -- Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats -- are supposed to meet privately today for a second round of talks.

But publicly the atmosphere is anything but cordial.

On Wednesday, during testimony before the Senate Government Affairs Committee, both parties claimed the other side's plan was susceptible to lawsuits.

Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, chairwoman of the committee, asked the panel to agree that the original Senate proposal should be amended to duplicate recommendations made by a coalition of Hispanics.

Mike Slanker, who is leading the Republican efforts, showed the committee new maps to address concerns raised by Latinos for Fair Representation.

The new proposal creates a Senate district in Clark County with a 60 percent Hispanic population. Under the old plan that district was 56 percent Hispanic. Additionally Sen. Bob Coffin's district was reduced from 55 percent Hispanic to 51 percent Hispanic.

"The representative of that group said they wanted a 60 percent seat," Slanker said.

Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, argued that tweaking those percentages would dilute the black population's power in his district to accomplish the goal for the Hispanics.

Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, took one look at the map and called it a "classic case of cracking" that would cause an immediate lawsuit.

"You've cracked an Hispanic community of interest into two districts," Titus said.

Republicans countered with a national reapportionment expert who argued the Assembly Democrats' plan -- embodied in Assembly Bill 665 -- would lead to suits.

"These are two lawsuits waiting to happen," said Mark Braden, an attorney with the Washington firm of Baker and Hostetler, as he pointed to maps of both the Assembly and Senate plans.

On one map, red blotches were superimposed over the districts to represent the Hispanic population. He said AB665 splits Hispanics into 22 districts.

"We're all political people here," said Braden, hired by the Nevada Republican Party to assist in the reapportionment process. "We know it was done to preserve incumbency."

Braden said Hispanics "will be the plaintiffs if you adopt that plan."

Slanker said the amended Senate plan -- while exactly what the Hispanics requested -- has not been endorsed by that coalition.

"To get that group to concur to exactly one thing was not the simplest process," Slanker said.

Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, said the only way to accomplish the Hispanics' goals is by expanding the Legislature.

But Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said creating a set number of Hispanic districts creates the risk of diluting their political voice.

"If we create seats with less than 65 percent (Hispanic population) that is a dilution, and we'll be in court," Giunchigliani said.

The three Democrats on the Senate committee abstained on the motion to amend the Hispanics' goals into whatever bill advances from that panel. All three said they wanted to see demographic information to accompany the maps shown Wednesday before agreeing to the amendment.

Meanwhile those maps are just the latest in the public airing of reapportionment. Privately, Democrats have different maps for their own proposal.

And on Wednesday, Republicans first mentioned a plan to redraw the Board of Regents based on 13 districts and not the 11 proposed by the Assembly.

But none of the plans, covering state Assembly and Senate, Congress, Regents and state Board of Education, has gained a consensus.

Not all Republicans favor expanding the Legislature from 63 to 69 seats and not all Democrats want to keep the body at its current size.

Thus the "private" maps are being carved out this week behind closed doors as both negotiating chips and possible ways to bring consensus within each party's caucus.