Western Slope may be divided under redistricting

Western Slope may be divided under redistricting, McInnis says

June 9, 2001

by Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

With Congressional redistricting on the horizon, U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, who represents the entire Western Slope of Colorado, is staking out his battle lines.

"There is an effort, primarily festering within the Democratic Party, to split the Western Slope, which we are going to aggressively oppose," said McInnis (R-Grand Junction) at an meeting with members of the area press in Durango on Friday.

McInnis said that if the Democrats succeed in their effort to create a seventh congressional district out of the southern half of the state, he’s sure "litigation will be filed."

"If there is any district in Colorado that should be an easy district to draw as a community of interest, it’s the West Slope," McInnis explained.

The Colorado legislature must draw new Congressional lines and add a seventh district to reflect the results of the 2000 census. The third congressional district, represented by McInnis, stands to lose 110,000 people. McInnis is advocating shedding the city of Pueblo from his district, keeping Pueblo County, picking up a small, rural county in the southern part of the state, and losing his share of Jefferson or Douglas County.

McInnis said the Democrats will argue that the Western Slope will be better represented in Congress if it is split, but he thinks the split would polarize two districts whose highest population concentration would be in the eastern part of the district.

On Thursday, Gov. Bill Owens sent a letter to the president of the Colorado Senate, Democrat Stan Matsunaka, and the Speaker of the House, Republican Doug Dean, announcing his intention to call a special session but urging them to work on a compromise before one is called.

"I would ask that you consider meeting ahead of time in order to consider a redistricting proposal or proposals that might have a chance to pass the General Assembly," wrote Owens.

If the legislature refuses to compromise, the courts could take over and do it themselves.

"They will only draw the district if it absolutely is the last option," said McInnis, who was majority leader in the Colorado House during the last redistricting controversy in Colorado.

Either way, McInnis says he has enough of a base that he is not worried about re-election.

McInnis also addressed a variety of other issues:

• For uranium workers who received IOU’s from the federal government last year instead of the $150,000 they were promised as compensation for cancer and related illnesses, McInnis says he will continue to work on getting actual checks signed.

"I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll be able to get payments to these people prior to October. Worst-case scenario is that these people will get payments in October," promised McInnis.

• The Senate’s turn to Democratic control after Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords declared himself an independent will have an effect on the budget process, according to McInnis.

"It’s going to make it a much more contentious budget issue than we had anticipated," said McInnis, who estimated that government spending would increase by 8 or 9 percent this year rather than the 4 to 5 percent advocated in President George Bush’s budget.

• McInnis also said that drilling for oil in the Arctic National Refuge is "not a political reality" but gives credit to Bush for being "very sincere" in his effort.