Tuesday Open Thread

9 thoughts on “Tuesday Open Thread”

1. Good morning …

   Lots of coverage of Colorado "winning" in the census.  WAPO says

   COLORADO — Population growth around Denver helped Colorado gain an extra seat, its first new House seat in 20 years. The mostly college-educated transplants have helped Colorado go from being a solidly Republican state to a competitive swing state to, now, a solidly Democratic one — though the state’s districts will be drawn by a nonpartisan commission.

   No mention of some downsides of the growth.  Little mention of the problems of the timing of the release of data for reapportionment.  No mention of economic effects of the growth of federal funding tied to the census, either.

   Anyone know if the Census numbers can be challenged in court?

   Log in to Reply

   1. Not until 2022. The Census challenge program is slated to resume then. To have standing, the challenger has to be some kind of governmental unit. Not a rando rightie looking for a cause de grift. 

      Log in to Reply

   2. Break up CD1. 
       

      Log in to Reply

      1. At a population of 5,773,714, 8 seats equally divided comes to ~722,000 each.  Denver County, Colorado's estimated population is 749,103  —  which is a pretty neat match.  I'm not sure which corner I'd trim off to augment another district.

         Any word on how the state will be finessing the specified deadlines?  "Colorado’s state constitution requires new congressional maps to be drawn by Sept. 1.  Census Bureau is still saying "states are expected to receive redistricting data by August 16, and the full redistricting data with toolkits for ease of use will be delivered by September 30." 

         Last I heard "Jessika Shipley, the staff director of the Colorado's state redistricting commission. “We don’t have the option of just waiting and doing this for the 2024 cycle.”  Shipley said her staff is considering its options, including proposing legislation or turning to the state judiciary for a delay. “The other option is, I guess, to wait and get sued because we don’t meet our deadlines, and see what court weighs in at that point,” she said."

         Log in to Reply

         1. I think, for a CD, you should make Glendale and the unincorporated Arapahoe County pieces parts inside Denver be part of CD-1.

            Log in to Reply

            1. Actually since CD1 is SMALLER than the population of Denver, it makes more sense to cut the portion of Denver that surrounds the ArapCo islands into a a predominantly ArapCo district, like CD6. Then CD1 is entirely Denver.

               Log in to Reply

2. Today is Morse Code Day

   Log in to Reply

3. There he goes again, dividing America. <sigh>

   I believe no one should work full time and still live in poverty. That’s why today, I raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour for people working on federal contracts.

   — President Biden (@POTUS) April 27, 2021

   Log in to Reply

4. Did anyone working on federal contracts actually make less than $15/hr before this announcement?

   Log in to Reply