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Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 | 2 a.m.
The release’s headline was unambiguous: “Hutchison and GOP Back Special Masters.”
The quote from Mark Hutchison, the lead attorney for the Republican Party in redistricting, was equally clear. “(I)t
is apparent that both the special masters and Nevada citizens desire maps that fairly establish the boundaries for legislative districts. The Republicans are confident that the special masters will do just that.”
That was Oct. 13.
The next day, the three men charged with drawing the maps that could determine who will hold office in Nevada for the next decade released their work product. The voluble, solicitous Hutchison was … silent.
My guess is the masters were not so special for him anymore. Why?
No congressional district with a majority of Hispanics, as Hutchison and his client wanted. Districts that all but assured a Democratic majority in the Assembly. Lines that made the Senate easier for the Democrats to hold, despite only a one-vote advantage.
Hutchison apparently has been incommunicado for the past few days, perhaps trying to figure out a way to write a “what I meant to say” release to react to the maps.
This is a real problem for Nevada Republicans as they wonder how to best attack maps they surely thought would be drawn in their favor — ironically, it has been Democratic strategists who fretted for months that the special masters would be a disaster. Be careful what you don’t wish for — now you may have to defend it.
But the Democrats’ task is minuscule compared with the Republicans, who now must knock from Olympian heights these masters they have elevated to godlike status. Their real conundrum is this: The masters did their jobs. You can argue exactly how they drew the lines, but Tom Sheets, Bob Erickson and Alan Glover tried to be fair.
But fairness, as ever in politics, is in the eye of the beholder. And for the GOP, their eyes are full of tears; they’ve lost that lovin’ feeling.
And yet, I really don’t see how the Republicans have much to quibble about with the congressional maps. You could argue that the new congressional district, which has rural components, was not outlined the way the Democrats would have preferred, forcing their candidates to go into sometimes-unfriendly cow-county environs. But the district is still safely Democratic (by 13 percentage points), so the nominee (likely state Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford) can suffer through some lazy days in Esmeralda and White Pine counties.
Even Rep. Joe Heck’s district, drawn with a 3 percent Democratic edge, is not so unfavorable to the incumbent. Republicans can negate that with a robust turnout and Heck had twice that disadvantage in the district when he defeated Dina Titus in 2010. It’s impossible to aver that the masters were not fair in the congressional maps.
The map men exhibited similar adherence to procedures and guidelines in drawing 42 Assembly and 21 legislative districts, but this is where subjectivity really takes hold. Partisan cartographers would try to draw districts in certain ways while unbiased mapmakers would take a more neutral approach.
Democrats have a 65,000-voter edge over Republicans in the state, so the districts again will slant in their favor. But it is the specific way they are slanted — absent any takeover considerations the GOP may have — that will cause Hutchison not to be so generous in his eventual comments, I’d guess.
Here’s why: Democrats Shirley Breeden and Allison Copening — one of whom or both of whom may not run again — were elected not on their merits but because the Democratic buzz saw destroyed incumbents (Joe Heck and Bob Beers) in 2008. Both saw their districts strengthened in the maps.
And in the Assembly, the Democrats, according to an analysis by the Sun’s David McGrath Schwartz, have 22 safe seats. That’s a majority. And that, I would guess, will infuriate Republicans, even though the registration advantage makes such a number perfectly plausible.
But, ultimately, this is not about plausibility — the maps meet that test — but partisanship, even if the partisans didn’t draw the new lines. District Judge Todd Russell still has a say and the high court will weigh in next week and already has expressed concern about a process whereby the Gang of 63 abdicated its constitutional duty.
These maps are far from final, so it would still be best if lawmakers could reach an accommodation, one that could be ratified and signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval in a quick special session. That seems unlikely now, as the Democrats look like Cheshire cats.
The high court is likely to decide this. So I have some advice for Hutchison: When you do speak about what’s to come, don’t give any a priori praise to the justices. That didn’t work out too well for you the last time.
Enjoyed the article, Jon.
It seems like whatever goes around comes around.
The Republican Party loves to demonize people. They showed this trend during the Sharron Angle debacle last year where they threw out campaign ads that tried to stereotype Latinos in Nevada as all bandana wearing tough guy thugs who just ran across the border intent only on dealing drugs, getting into gang bangs and stealing jobs from Caucasians.
The Republicans here in Nevada are guilty of what they do nationwide.
Rather than campaign for votes, they would rather suppress the vote and deny people the opportunity to vote and stack the odds in their favor.
I'm just glad to see all this negative effort they expend is coming back to bite them in the....
You ask me, a whole battalion of lawyers is not going to help them in re-districting maps.
I can see how this will end though. Governor Dracula won't sign the drawn final maps into law. It's all boiling down to that. And that's fine. It'll clearly demonstrate the voting fraud and gerrymanderer that he is. Showdown time. Hardball politics and smack him square in the kisser with his hypocrisy of serving only Republican interests...and not the people.
maybe the reason Hitchinson doesn't have anything to say is because he is stunned that he actually had faith the maps would be drawn in a fair manner. Silly him. The maps were drawn to favor democrats, and whether you are Republican or Democrat, these 'masters' proved that they are no less partisan that any other 3 schmucks out there willing to take this feat. The fair thing to do would have been to keep D1 Democrat, D2 Republican, D3 neutral and D4 swing with a Hispanic or Democrat +2-3. Instead, D1 remains Democrat, D3 was made Democrat (D+3 is not 'swing, as they would like to profess)and D4 Democrat. In any other world, how is this fair? So there are 65,000 more D's than R's? You split it up so both parties get the fair opportunity to have representation. It isn't rocket science, there are numbers to work with, aka a guide, but to the 'masters', apparently it was some form of science, and their little brains just couldn't figure it out. Way to let both sides down as well as the voters who had faith you could do something fair with this.
And to ColinfFromLasVegas...seriously, YOU'RE talking about people demonizing another? Is it just impossible for you to say anything remotely intelligent and factual? I have never seen anyone comment so much in so many places with so much hate,immaturity and misinformation. I'm venturing to say you're about 10, right? You make yourself look like a radical idiot. Has anyone told you that you say just the weirdest and most stupid stuff? Your rants are always the same; nonsensical at best...and I'm being nice.
Voter fraud is the trademark of Obama and Democrats, as was very well proven in previous years, most notably after the 2008 elections. Forgetting ACORN, little one??? Can't deny that one, can ya?
I dream of the day when Americans will KNOW that the Democrats and Republicans are simply a Good Cop / Bad Cop racket. This Uniparty of Evil, which supports Endless War and Big Brother control, is the killer of our Republic. YUCK!
All these pols are in it for themselves - or nearly all. The "business of government'" If they didn't have a public trough to feed off, they could never make it. They would be completely dumbfounded in private industry. What a bunch of dopes.