Point/Counterpoint: FOR & AGAINST AB-415

Republican Redistricting Legislation

by DEBRA FITZGERALD

The Wisconsin Assembly passed a legislative redistricting bill on Sept. 14 with a 64-32 vote. Only one Democrat voted for the bill that proposes to change the way district maps are currently drawn – Rep. LaKeshia Myers, who represents District 12 in Milwaukee. Assembly Bill 415 (AB-415) is co-authored by Door County’s representative, Joel Kitchens, and five other Republicans: Loren Oldenburg, Todd Novak, Travis Tranel, Jon Plumber and Jeffrey Mursau. 

Republicans claim the bill is nearly identical to the State of Iowa’s redistricting process. Democrats have long supported that model, but AB-415 is not it, they say. 

A Legislative Reference Bureau memo that compares the two in detail says otherwise, calling AB-415 “virtually identical” to Iowa’s model. Given that, Republicans say Democrats, by not engaging with the bill, are destroying an opportunity to finally change the way maps are drawn in Wisconsin. Democrats say even if AB-415 were like the Iowa model, which they refute, they can’t engage in a bill that was introduced on Sept. 12 and went straight to the floor for a vote on Sept. 14 without a public hearing. 

And here we are.

The legislation has to be approved by the Senate, which would have a public hearing process, and be signed by Gov. Tony Evers, who has blasted the bill as “election interference.”

In the background of AB-415 is the newly liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court and two court cases the Justices may take up that seek to overturn the current, Republican-drawn legislative maps – with a Republican threat of impeachment looming to oust the member who tipped that balance into liberal territory.

Also in the background are Wisconsinites. Both Republicans and Democrats acknowledge that Wisconsin’s current legislative redistricting process is broken, and they want legislators to fix it – 56 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties have passed resolutions calling for a fair redistricting process, and 32 counties have passed referendums calling for the same. Door County has passed both a referendum by popular vote and a resolution by the county board. 

The Peninsula Pulse received several letters to the editor opposing AB-415 and no letters in favor of it. Rather than publish a wave of opposition without hearing from the other side, I instead selected the best of the opposition letters, invited the author to rewrite her letter for a longer-column format, and then extended the invitation to Kitchens to write a column for his side.

Below you’ll find their perspectives for and against the legislation.

POINT

AB-415 Would End Bitter Haggling, Expensive Court Cases

by JOEL KITCHENS

Wisconsin is at a crossroads. Should we look to Illinois’ extreme partisan redistricting or look to Iowa’s non-partisan method? While we can debate the degree of gerrymandering in our state, there is no doubt that partisan redistricting has undermined the public’s faith in representative government. Since I first ran for office in 2014, I have consistently heard that Wisconsin should follow the Iowa model in implementing a nonpartisan redistricting process.

About two-thirds of counties have passed resolutions supporting such a process but, unfortunately, history has shown that whichever party believes they will draw the next map is reluctant to give up that power. In 2010, Democrats controlled all branches of government and ignored legislation proposed by Republicans. Since that time, Republicans have blocked similar attempts by Democrats.

With a court case pending, we now are in a once-in-a-lifetime situation where neither party should be sure they will draw the next map. With that in mind, I authored Assembly Bill 415 (AB-415) with five other Republican assembly-men who have always supported nonpartisan redistricting. This bill would implement a process that mirrors that in Iowa in time for the November election.

For several months, we talked to Democratic members about making it a bipartisan bill that would have gone through the normal committee hearing process. While several Democrats privately voiced their support, their leaders prevented them from signing on, believing that the Supreme Court would deliver maps that were rigged in their favor. In the end, the bill was put out on an abbreviated timeline with the court case looming.

AB-415 creates a commission comprised of equal members of Democrats and Republicans, and the actual drawing of the maps will be done by the nonpartisan and universally respected Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB). Districts will have nearly equal populations and will be drawn to preserve municipal and county boundaries. No regard will be given to historical voting patterns or the addresses of incumbents.

In accordance with our constitution, the legislature will vote on the passage of the maps as drawn. There is no opportunity to change them. If it passes the legislature with votes from both parties, it moves on to the governor for his signature. If it fails, we will voice our reasons for rejection and it goes back to the LRB. We have until Jan. 31 to enact the maps into law.

In Iowa, the Supreme Court is constitutionally a part of the redistricting process and, if there is an impasse, the process goes directly to them. Our Wisconsin constitution puts the process entirely in the hands of the legislature, so our bill cannot explicitly refer to the court. In practice, however, it will work exactly the same and the maps will go to the Supreme Court.

According to an LRB legal memo, the process created in AB-415 and that used by Iowa are “virtually identical.” It goes on to say that “the very few differences reflect matters unique to Wisconsin law, such as the constitutional power of the Supreme Court.”

Despite what you may hear, there is no scenario whereby either party could draw a partisan map in the event of an impasse. In the words of John D. Johnson, a redistricting authority at Marquette Law School, the amended bill would “establish truly nonpartisan, independent redistricting in Wisconsin.”

The time is long past for nonpartisan redistricting in Wisconsin. We know that our state is a deeply purple state and that majorities come and go. It is vital that we take the long view and do what is right for the future of Wisconsin. This plan, if adopted, will forever end the bitter haggling and expensive court cases. I sincerely believe that if we miss this opportunity, there will not be another in our lifetimes.

Joel Kitchens represents District 1 in the Wisconsin Assembly, which includes Door and Kewaunee counties, and parts of Brown County. First elected in 2014, he chairs the House Education Committee. He lives in Sturgeon Bay.

COUNTERPOINT

Where We Vote Makes a Difference

by KAREN WILSON

For each of us, exercising our right to vote happens in a particular place called a District. Every 10 years, after the national census, districts need adjusting. Voting maps are redrawn. That’s redistricting. In Wisconsin, the legislature draws the new maps. But the current process is deeply flawed, because the legislature can manipulate the boundaries in ways that ensure the dominant party’s majority. That’s called “gerrymandering.”

In response to extreme gerrymandering in Wisconsin, thousands of citizens throughout the state united to fight for a nonpartisan redistricting process, which the combined groups call “Fair Maps.” For more than a decade, we have studied this issue, including the experience of our neighbor-state Iowa. Forty years ago, they adopted what’s known as the Iowa Model. If Iowa could create nonpartisan maps, so could we.

We repeatedly urged the Republican legislature to create a nonpartisan redistricting process. Over and over, bills would be introduced based on the Iowa Model, but modified to meet Wisconsin’s needs – our own Wisconsin Model. But those bills got nowhere. They languished, year after year, without so much as a hearing. 

So what are we to think, when last Tuesday afternoon Speaker Robin Vos held a news conference and declared the legislature would adopt the Iowa Model! He proudly declared it would be introduced on the floor of the legislature on Thursday, to be passed the same day, without a hearing.

Rep. Joel Kitchens co-authored the bill. Not a single Democrat joined him. After the press conference but before the vote, bipartisan leaders from Iowa made it clear the bill was not the Iowa Model. A critical feature – how disputes get resolved – was missing. The Iowans declared the bill’s authors had “cherry-picked” parts of the Iowa Model. 

Yet on the floor of the Assembly Thursday night, those present were told over and over again that the Republicans were gifting the state with the famed Iowa Model. But as Iowans had pointed out, they were not.

The Assembly session went late into the night. Democrats tried to move the bill to committee where it could have a hearing. Republicans refused. Instead, just before midnight, they passed the bill with a sole Democrat voting yes. If you hear the bill was passed with bipartisan support, take it with a grain of salt.

Republicans misleadingly took the language of fair map advocates – who had asked them to look to Iowa as an example – but omitted the safeguards needed to prevent legislators from returning control to themselves.  

True intent for nonpartisan maps would have welcomed input from all parties. True intent would have included an expanded timeline, and one or more public hearings around the state. Citizens especially deserve to be heard on this issue which they have long studied and for which they have tirelessly advocated. They were instead given a sham.  

Republicans fear the Wisconsin Supreme Court will say Wisconsin’s gerrymandered voting maps need to be redrawn. Indeed they do, but without favoring one party over the other. Nonpartisan voting districts are basic to democracy.

Karen Wilson is a longtime Fish Creek resident who advocates for transparent government as part of the statewide Fair Maps coalition and Door County’s Indivisible organization. She joined with voters from each Wisconsin Senate district in the Wisconsin Supreme Court redistricting case, Johnson vs. Wisconsin Elections Commission. Her public service in Door County includes many years on the board of the Door County Environmental Council, and serving as its president.