I was almost gerrymandered out of my Missouri GOP seat in Congress. Here’s the fix

By Tom Coleman, Special to the Star
The Kansas City Star

No matter our color, background or ZIP code, most of us believe that voters should pick our leaders, not that our leaders should pick their voters. But this occurs every 10 years after the national census is taken. Census data forms the basis for determining how we will be represented and how funds for essential community services will be allocated. Congressional districts are redrawn, and it’s really our local communities that are impacted.

Traditionally, state legislatures have been responsible for congressional redistricting. However, eight states have pulled the redistricting process from their legislatures and given it to an independent commission. Unfortunately, Missouri continues to have its legislature make the determination, drafting it in the form of a legislative bill that, if passed, is sent to the governor for approval.

Gerrymandering occurs when congressional and community district line-drawing intentionally maximizes seats for one political party over the other. It’s rigging the system so that politicians — a handful of them — serve their political interests instead of our own communities’ needs. Some legislators are willing to carve up our communities, dividing our neighborhoods and silencing certain voices for their own political gain.

They have honed their techniques, aided with sophisticated computer software, to reduce the opposition party’s strength by gerrymandering and draw districts dominated by their own partisan voters. These political machinations are referred to respectively as “cracking and packing”. Sometimes, the result is a deliberate distortion of district boundaries based on race. The aim may be to dilute minority representation, while at other times the purpose is to pack the district with members of a minority group to create a majority-minority district.

That’s what’s being suggested regarding Missouri’s two congressional seats currently held by Democratic incumbents, U.S. Reps. Cory Bush and Emanuel Cleaver, who represent the urban areas of St. Louis and Kansas City. Their districts could be “packed or cracked.” If accomplished, there would be a long lasting impact on the communities they represent, as distribution of federal funds are often based on the demographic composition of a congressional district.

A partisan effort to “crack” Cleaver’s district reminds me of my own experience with redistricting politics. During my third term in Congress, Missouri was slated to lose a seat and my northwest Missouri district was on the chopping block. Democrats had control of the Missouri legislature — the opposite of today, when Republicans prevail.

The redistricting bill’s objective was to redraw my district making it more Democratic. That was a problem because at the time, I was a Republican. My supporters and I crafted a strategy to defeat the proposal. Busloads of constituents attended the bill’s committee hearing in Jefferson City, where I testified against it. Media coverage pointed out the unfairness to my constituents, who would be adversely affected on important issues dealing with farming and education.

It didn’t seem to matter that only five years previously, I had been a member of the Missouri House with friendships on both sides of the aisle. They didn’t count for much now. It was political hardball.

Fortunately, Republican Gov. Kit Bond vetoed the bill. The decision would ultimately be made by U.S. District Judge Russell Clark, who drafted an order that served as the redistricting map for the entire state, making minimal changes to my district. The district and I had escaped political extinction.

If Congressman Cleaver, a respected voice in Congress, were to be targeted, I urge him to fight gerrymandering by following the admonition of his former congressional colleague and civil rights leader John Lewis: “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Tom Coleman is a former eight-term U.S. representative from Missouri. He serves as an adviser to the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Protect Democracy Project.
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10.01.21
Source: I was almost gerrymandered out of my Missouri GOP seat in Congress. Here’s the fix
The Kansas City Star