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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, SEpTEmbER 14, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
publisher
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GUEST COLUMN
How will redistricting affect you?
I
had just parked outside a cafe in
downtown Tillamook when state
Rep. David Gomberg happened to
call. When I casually mentioned my
location, Gomberg commented that I
was barely a block outside his legisla-
tive district.
Say what?
Small-town Tillamook is divided.
Gomberg, D-Otis,
and Sen. Dick Anderson,
R-Lincoln City, repre-
sent the southern part of
Tillamook County. Rep.
Suzanne Weber, R-Til-
lamook, and Sen. Betsy
Johnson, D-Scappoose,
DICK
represent the northern
HUGHES
portion.
That division came
about when the 2011 Legislature rejig-
gered Oregon’s 90 legislative and five
congressional districts to balance popu-
lation changes from the 2010 census.
As is constitutionally required, the
Legislature is at it again with new num-
bers from the 2020 census.
As one example of how this affects
Oregonians, here is how the three pro-
posals released this month might alter
District 10, which Gomberg represents.
The district runs along Lincoln and Til-
lamook counties but goes inland to parts
of Polk and Yamhill counties, including
Sheridan and Falls City.
The plan put forth by the Oregon
Senate redistricting committee would
remove Tillamook, Polk and Yamhill
counties and bring in western Benton
and Lane counties as far south as Flor-
ence. The House Democrats’ plan also
would drop Polk and Yamhill counties,
not go as far south but add Yachats, the
rest of the city of Tillamook and coastal
Tillamook County. The House Republi-
cans’ plan would add Yachats and more
of the western Willamette Valley.
Which is best for residents? Would
their influence at the Legislature be
strengthened or diluted? Which political
party would benefit, although theoreti-
cally that’s not supposed to matter?
Like many of his colleagues,
Gomberg recently wrote to constituents
about the relevance of redistricting:
“We presently have four districts in
the Oregon House that stretch primar-
ily along our coast. But imagine for a
moment if Florence were paired with
Eugene, Newport and Toledo with Cor-
vallis, Lincoln City with Salem and Til-
lamook with McMinnville. We’d essen-
tially have more Valley-dominated
districts and coastal voices would be
diminished.
“To some degree that is the case now
with Sheridan, Grand Ronde and Falls
Salem Reporter
State lawmakers are redrawing political boundaries.
STATE LAW dECREES, ‘NO dISTRICT SHALL bE
dRAWN FOR THE puRpOSE OF FAVORING ANy
pOLITICAL pARTy, INCumbENT LEGISLATOR
OR OTHER pERSON.’ THuS, GERRymANdERING
IS ILLEGAL. IT HAppENS ANyWAy. STATE ANd
CONGRESSIONAL LAWmAKERS WANT dISTRICTS
CREATEd THAT ENHANCE THEIR REELECTION
ANd THEIR pARTy’S CONTROL.
City, which were added to our House
district 10 years ago. I visit them and
advocate for them as much as I can.
But it is an hour from the coast to Falls
City in Polk County and I have to drive
out of the district through Dallas to get
there. They are frustrated. They don’t
feel they belong in a ‘coastal’ district
and I understand that.”
The rub is that each of Oregon’s 60
state House districts must be roughly
equal in population. The same holds
true for the 30 state Senate districts and
the six congressional districts. The big-
gest battle will be where to put that sixth
congressional district that Oregon has
gained with the 2020 census.
State law decrees, “No district shall
be drawn for the purpose of favoring
any political party, incumbent legislator
or other person.”
Thus, gerrymandering is illegal. It
happens anyway. State and congressio-
nal lawmakers want districts created that
enhance their reelection and their par-
ty’s control.
Oregon Congressmen Peter DeFazio
and Kurt Schrader made national
news for complaining that state House
Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, surren-
dered Democrats’ advantage when she
put an equal number of D’s and R’s on
the House redistricting committee.
State law calls for districts “as nearly
as practicable” to be internally contig-
uous, have equal population, use cur-
rent geographic or political boundaries,
be connected by transportation links and
not divide “communities of common
interest.”
Urban areas generally have
grown in population, so rural legisla-
tive districts must expand in order to
have as many residents. Again, tak-
ing Gomberg’s district as an exam-
ple, should it grow to the north, east or
south? Which of the current and poten-
tial towns constitute communities of
common interest?
Similar scenarios are playing out
across the state. Rep. Shelly Boshart
Davis, R-Albany, is co-chair of the
House redistricting committee. She rep-
resents House District 15, which is cen-
tered on Linn County.
The House Republicans’ proposal
most closely would follow existing
boundaries. The House Democrats’ plan
divides the Greater Albany School Dis-
trict. The Senate’s plan would add part
of Marion County, including some of
south Salem, and remove part of Linn
County.
As for the potential boundaries for
congressional districts, the competing
proposals play to partisan desires —
although proponents contend they’re not
gerrymandering.
We’re left with a series of questions:
1. How much gerrymandering will
ultimately occur, albeit under the guise
of common-sense decision-making?
2. Will the Legislature actually meet
in special session on Sept. 20 to act on
redistricting proposals?
3. Will lawmakers and Gov. Kate
Brown agree on a plan? Or, as has hap-
pened almost always, will it be left to
the courts to set congressional boundar-
ies and Oregon’s secretary of state, lib-
eral Shemia Fagan, to draw legislative
districts?
4. In the meantime, what effect, if
any, will the public testimony at the
online hearings and individual Ore-
gonians’ boundary proposals have on
legislators?
5. Who will win and lose? What com-
munities will be segmented? Which leg-
islators will be edged out of their current
districts?
6. As cities and school boards eventu-
ally take up local redistricting to equal-
ize population numbers, how will the
resulting boundary changes in wards and
zones affect local elections?
In short, from city hall to Capitol
Hill, how will redistricting determine
who represents you? Will you be more
likely or less likely to elect someone
who represents your views?
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Do our part
R
emember the relief we felt at the
beginning of the summer, as we began
visiting family and friends and enjoy-
ing our favorite recreational activities?
We could be at that place again in a few
months, if we would all get vaccinated as
soon as we are eligible ( unless there is a
medical reason not to be vaccinated) and
wear masks in crowded public places until
then.
The minor pinprick of vaccination
and the temporary inconvenience of wear-
ing a mask are a negligible price to pay
for the freedom to gather without infect-
ing each other with a potentially deadly
disease.
If we would all do our part, we could
look forward to celebrating our favorite
winter holidays this year with the added
joy of leaving this COVID ordeal behind
us.
DEBRA LIVINGSTON
Astoria
Pleased to hear
B
ecause of the recent surge of COVID
cases, I have been reluctant to dine
inside in a restaurant, so I was pleased to
hear that Carruthers is requiring proof of
vaccination.
I appreciate that this restaurant is doing
its best to create a safe environment for its
staff and customers. Great food, too!
KATE DARLING
Astoria
A pledge
T
he opinion page of The Astorian has
appealed with cogent reasoning to a
broad number of persons to reconsider
their unwillingness to be vaccinated.
With this letter, I’m appealing to one
single person — a longtime good friend. I
asked him a couple of months ago whether
his reluctance to get vaccinated is based
on his religious belief or his political ori-
entation. He told me it was not his belief,
as the leaders of his particular religion got
their shots early on. The friend said he did
not care for “(Dr. Anthony) Fauci and his
gang.”
When his late mom was lying on her
deathbed, she asked my wife and me to
continue to be her son’s steady friends as
we had been in the past. We pledged our
loyalty.
We now ask him to consider whether
his continued loyalty to perceived politi-
cal principles is of a higher nature than to
serve his fellow human beings from the
imminent dangers to their lives by set-
ting an example. If the human commit-
ment is secondary to personal political
convictions, how can our friend reconcile
his personal obstinacy with the scriptural
demands that he professes to follow?
We pledged our loyalty to his mom and
her son. Now we appeal to him to pro-
tect his own life and the lives of his fellow
human beings.
ERHARD GROSS
Astoria