April 29, 2011 02:08 AM UTC

Heath Introduces "City Integrity" Map

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• by: Colorado Pols

FOX 31’s Eli Stokols reports, as originally announced by Sen. Rollie Heath last week:

Senate Democrats Thursday afternoon introduced a proposal to re-draw Colorado’s seven congressional districts in a way that makes them more competitive.

This comes after the 10-member bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Redistricting broke down last week, after Democrats and Republicans couldn’t negotiate a compromise between their very different proposed maps…

“Today we introduced a map that honors our charge to create districts that give Coloradans the best congressional representation possible,” said Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, who co-chaired the committee and is the sponsor of S.B. 268.

“That committee traveled the state listening to folks who said they want fair and competitive districts–districts that don’t create congressmen or congresswomen for life. The map introduced today creates fair, competitive districts that will allow voters to hold their representatives accountable.”

Statement from the Senate Majority Press Office after the jump: it’s our understanding that the map as introduced in bill form is equivalent to the City Integrity 4 map released by Democrats on the Joint Select Committee two weeks ago. (metro area detail–large)

Conveniently, that’s the map we made our splash graphic for our original maps post with (after the jump). We want to assure Sen. Greg Brophy that this is just a coincidence, and ask him to please not go all tinfoil hat on us again. Also, we know that many of you have had the time already to form, you know, robust opinions about the Democratic map proposals. Perhaps a good idea would be to think of some improvements to this map, since that’s what the General Assembly, starting with the Senate State Affairs Committee, will get to do very soon.

We’re watching for developments from the GOP, who has also promised a map(s).

Democrats introduce map to create fair and competitive Colorado congressional districts

“Competitive districts will prevent ‘Congressmen for life’ in Colorado”

DENVER- Today, Senator Rollie Heath (D-Boulder) introduced the first official redistricting map to create fair, competitive congressional districts and protect communities of interest in Colorado. The map was introduced as legislators take on the constitutionally mandated task of redrawing Colorado’s congressional lines every 10 years following the decennial census.

Senator Heath offered the following comment on the map introduced today:

“Today we introduced a map that honors our charge to create districts that give Coloradans the best congressional representation possible. I co-chaired the historic joint select redistricting committee. That committee traveled the state listening to folks who said they want fair and competitive districts–districts that don’t create congressmen or congresswomen for life. The map introduced today creates fair, competitive districts that will allow voters to hold their representatives accountable.”

Competitive districts are good public policy. A district is competitive when there are a balanced number of Republicans, Independents and Democrats. In a balanced district, a candidate from either party can be elected. Competitive districts allow voters to better hold elected officials accountable. Voter registration in the state shows that Colorado’s electorate does not overwhelmingly favor one party over the other, and nearly one-third of the population isn’t registered with either party at all. That is the reason competitive districts make sense for Colorado.

The map introduced by Democrats today demonstrates their commitment to drawing competitive districts. This commitment comes from the work of the historic redistricting committee that was formed to guide the redistricting process. Coloradans told legislators that they want competitive congressional districts so they can hold their representatives accountable and prevent the creation of congressmen for life.

The map proposed by Democrats today reflects the following principles:

1. Provides for equal populations among districts

2. Follows the federal and state law

3. Maintains communities of interest

4. Preserves political subdivisions

5. Assures Competitiveness