Importance of Redistricing and the Tennor of Legislature

As we enter into the process of sculpting the Legislative Districts for the State of Maryland, we need to look past boundaries and seriously consider the impact these new districts will have on our Country, Our State and ourselves. If we continue to have districts which are politically drawn with unstated but implicit goal of safe seats for the "party faithful" and if the "party faithful" are fanatically "left" or "right", then we will guarantee a continuing dysfunctional Congress.

When it passed the law requiring single-member elections, Congress also created some vague rules for drawing the boundaries of congressional districts; each state's voting districts were supposed to be geographically contiguous, compact in shape, and roughly equal in population.

But those rules were pretty loose and subjective, which opened the door for state politicians to pull all kinds of shenanigans in drawing district boundaries for partisan gain. This is known as gerrymandering—the manipulation of the boundaries of congressional districts to serve the interests of the political party drawing the boundaries. (The odd-sounding name comes from founding father Elbridge Gerry, who was serving as Governor of Massachusetts in 1812 when he drew up the state's legislative districts to favor his own Democratic-Republican Party. Gerry's critics thought that one of the resulting districts, a snakelike creation stretching northeast from Boston, looked like a salamander—a monstrous creation they called a "Gerrymander." From http://www.shmoop.com/legislative-branch/house-of-representatives.html

As the Sunpapers so accurately noted, there is little moderation in Congress and few members are "middle of the road".

Thanks to gerrymandered congressional districts that mean many representatives face competition only in their party primaries, there are few centrists left, and members of both parties' fringes not only have an incentive to embrace extremism but reason to fear for their re-election prospects if they don't. The Baltimore Sunpapers Editioral August 2, 2011.

If the constituents are moderate, then how do we end up with "representatives" who do not represent our ideals and principals? The simple reason is that we have abandoned responsibility.

We as a citizenry have abdicated our role to be involved in our government and have allowed party “hacks” and “zealots” to take control of the local County Party and Central Committees.

Is it any wonder that the individuals who are supported by the local party are carbon copies of the ideology of the Central Committee? That the candidates are extreme and not moderate? That collectively we hold our nose when we cast our votes?

The Calendar for Public Hearings on Redistricting has begun.

Here is the calendar, we need to take notice, educate ourselves and let our voices be heard,

Public hearings will start at the designated time and end following the last testimony of registered persons.

The hearings and start times will be:
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The Universities at Shady Grove
Building #1 Auditorium
Starts at 7:00 p.m.
9630 Gudelsky Drive
Rockville, MD 20850 (Driving Directions)
Parking in lot 2
• Public Testimony Advance Sign-in

Friday, August 12, 2011
Morgan State University
Student Center - Calvin & Tina Tyler Ballroom (Campus Map)
Starts at 7:00 p.m.
1700 East Cold Spring Lane
Baltimore MD 21251 (Driving Directions)
Park in the stadium parking garage (13 on map) and take bridge on 3rd level into the Student Center
• Public Testimony Advance Sign-in
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
College of Southern Maryland
Center for Business and Industry, #113 (Campus Map)
Starts at 7:00 p.m.
8730 Mitchell Road
La Plata, MD 20646 (Driving Directions)
Park in lots 2, 6 & 7 – Most convenient to BI
• Public Testimony Advance Sign-in

Saturday, August 27, 2011
Harford Community College
Amoss Center (next to Harford Technical H.S.) (Campus Map)
Starts at 11:00 a.m.
200 Thomas Run Road
Bel Air, MD 21015 (Driving Directions)
Parking all around school
• Public Testimony Advance Sign-in
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Towson University
Stephens Hall Theater (Campus Map)
Starts at 2:00 p.m.
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252 (Driving Directions)
• Public Testimony Advance Sign-in

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Anne Arundel Community College
Center for Applied Learning & Technology (CALT) 100 (Campus Map)
Starts at 4:00 p.m.
101 College Parkway
Arnold, MD 21012 (Driving Directions)
• Public Testimony Advance Sign-in
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Howard County
Wilde Lake Interfaith Center, Room 4 (Campus Map)
Starts at 7:00 p.m.
10431 Twin Rivers Road
Columbia MD , 21044 (Driving Directions)
• Public Testimony Advance Sign-in