Plan No. 1 looks good

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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The first redistricting plan for Iowa's congressional and state legislative districts looks like a good one overall. The population and geographic divisions are clean and fair. We think this one's a keeper.

The redistricting process that's mandated every 10 years based on new U.S. Census figures never is without political pain in any state. But Iowa's system, in place since 1980, is about as fair as it gets and serves voters fairly.

The maps of districts are drawn up by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency without regard to where incumbents reside and forbids considering political affiliation, previous election results and any demographic information other than population. The four criteria are, in descending order of importance: population equity, contiguity, unity of counties and cities (maintaining county lines and keeping House districts within Senate districts and Senate districts within congressional districts) and compactness.

The first plan can't be amended. If the first chamber to consider the plan rejects it, it's dead, and the LSA must produce a second map. If the second plan also goes down, a third plan must be produced. Unlike the first two, legislators can amend the third one.

If a plan is not approved by Sept. 1, then the Iowa Supreme Court makes the decision.

Iowa legislators never have gone beyond plan two. That's because the LSA does its job well.

The biggest change for 2011 is that Iowa drops from five to four congressional districts because of our slow population growth. The four districts on the first map draft put same-party incumbents in the new First and Fourth districts - Democrats Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack and Republicans Tom Latham and Steve King. Already, Loebsack has indicated he would move to the wide-open new Second District to run for re-election.

Such moves are not unusual at either the congressional or legislative levels. The political parties expect them and adapt. It's the fairness of the boundaries and population divisions that matters most, as it should be.

Iowa's process also tends to produce turnover in which party controls a legislative district. For example, in 1991, the Democratically controlled Legislature approved a redistricting plan that made Democrats more vulnerable. Republicans took control of the House in the next election, 1992.

The first 2011 plan would put 41 incumbents in districts with more than one incumbent. Most of them involve Republicans, but overall, the number of incumbents affected would be 23 fewer than in 2001.

If the first plan is rejected, there's no going back. The risk in the next step is more tinkering with geographic boundaries. Risk we don't need to take.

Stick with plan No. 1.

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