|
||||
|
Jan. 26, 2002 The General Assembly has failed in its responsibility to give Colorado the congressional redistricting plan it deserves. That Denver District Judge John Coughlin has come up with as good a plan as any is beside the point. Judges aren’t elected to do what the legislature can’t manage. They aren’t elected to represent their constituents’ best interests in matters where a consensus must be reached. They aren’t elected at all, which makes them a very different sort of official than a state representative or senator. Not being legislators, judges also aren’t arrayed in a legislative body that gives each of them equal weight when a matter comes to a vote. They’re supposed to hand down unilateral decisions rather than achieving consensus. That’s the reason they’re called judges instead of representatives. Coloradoans have always displayed a wide streak of western independence. We prefer to do things our way, rather than letting Washington interfere, and we often would prefer Denver to mind its own business too. The theory is that we can do it better when we’re left to our own devices. For complicated issues, and those too ponderous for a democratic vote, we elect representatives to act on our behalf. That’s not the political equivalent of throwing up our hands and hoping someone somewhere else will sort it all out. It’s supposed to be a thoughtful, well-designed system for governing the state. Endless bickering doesn’t represent us well. Neither do stalemates, especially when the legislators all knew that if they didn’t make a decision, someone else would. A judge is expected to weigh all sides when making a decision, but expecting him to consider all the details available to all the members of the General Assembly is unrealistic. The forces buffeting the legislature were obvious. Colorado’s population growth during the 1990s earned the state a seventh congressional district. Four of the existing seats are held by Republicans and two by Democrats. Republicans want the new seventh district centered in Denver’s southern suburbs. They believe they should have five districts with residents likely to vote for a GOP candidate. Democrats want the district centered in Pueblo to represent rapid growth among Hispanics. They want at least two districts where voters are likely to vote for a Democratic candidate and a third that is competitive. With a very few third-party candidates in Colorado, legislators find themselves very much beholden to the GOP and the Democratic Party. That sometimes brings loyalty into conflict with logic. Judges are not — and should not be — susceptible to those forces, precisely because their role is not to be responsive to public concerns. To keep his job, Coughlin must only worry about retention based on his record, not re-election with opponents running against him. Perhaps that’s a good argument that the judicial branch of the state government should be responsible for redistricting. But adopting that option as the standard plan (rather than an emergency measure after the legislature has failed to fulfill its obligations) would require an amendment to the state constitution, and that’s not easily accomplished. This is the second time in 20 years that redistricting has fallen to the courts, so maybe it’s time to look at that. Meanwhile, though, Colorado citizens depended on their state legislators to devise a redistricting plan that was the result of their best efforts. Having legislative leaders shrug and abdicate that responsibility to the courts is disappointment, especially after failing to provide meaningful legislation on other topics of vital interest, including growth. It must be tremendously frustrating to those who really tried to find a solution. |
||||
|
Copyright © 2002 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
