Legislators Mull Proposed Redistricting Of Wisconsin

Redistricting maps for legislative and congressional districts across Wisconsin were released on Friday.

The proposed maps were unveiled by Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R‐Horicon) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R‐Juneau).

Wisconsin's Constitution requires new maps be drawn for districts after every census.

“Republicans have been keeping our promises and getting the job done since Day One. We started with jobs bills to improve the economy; we balanced the budget on time and turned a deficit into a surplus; and now we’re fulfilling our constitutional requirement to properly reapportion the state’s legislative and congressional districts,” the Fitzgeralds say in a joint statement.

U.S. Rep Ron Kind (D-La Crosse) said he was disappointed in the proposed redistricting.

“It is an incumbent protection map that does little to maintain competitive districts in Wisconsin. We need more competitive districts in order to end the intense polarization of our political system,” Kind says in a statement. “The map also does little to honor the historic Wisconsin tradition to keep Congressional districts as compact as possible and respect the territorial integrity of our counties – in fact it goes so far as to dilute our communities. The map breaks up the traditional alliance of Wausau, Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids, communities that have been in the same district for over 100 years. I am especially troubled by the manipulation of expected outcomes and the gerrymandering drawn into the third and seventh congressional districts.”

Kind also said he would have liked the redistricting process to have been more bipartisan.

“This process shows the need for our state to adopt a model similar to Iowa that uses a nonpartisan judicial commission to draw the political boundaries,” Kind says.

State Senator Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point), who leads the Senate Democratic Caucus, suggested that any votes by the legislature about redistricting be postponed.

“Governor Walker and the Republican legislative leaders, by their actions over the past six months, have divided this state as it has never been divided in our lifetimes. They say they want to decrease tensions and rebuild bipartisan cooperation,” Lassa said. “If they are serious about repairing the damage they’ve done, they can start by postponing a redistricting vote until the citizens of Wisconsin make their will clear in the recall elections.”

The proposed redistricting maps are attached to this article, below.