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Under Maryland law, the redistricting process is initiated by the Governor, who draws a proposed new “map,” which is then debated and confirmed by the General Assembly. Given the extraordinary imbalance of Maryland’s legislature (133 Democrats versus a measly 55 Republicans), our State’s redistricting process is exceptionally lopsided and is an exercise in raw political power that few other States can match. Maryland’s political monopoly has certainly not been shy about flexing its muscles in this round of redistricting. The Governor’s plan reflects the following major priorities: protect all six sitting Democratic Congressmen; knock Republican Roscoe Bartlett out of his seat in Western Maryland; and chop Anne Arundel County into as many pieces as possible so as to dilute its political influence. The Governor’s plan succeeds beautifully in achieving these priorities. But the cost of this political achievement to the citizens of Maryland and Anne Arundel County is significant. Several of the proposed districts are so convoluted that they have been described variously as paint splatters, creatures from the swamp and mangled salamanders. The Congressmen representing these districts won’t know their constituents, and their constituents won’t know them. Congressman Sarbanes, who will represent portions of Anne Arundel County, will need a canoe to visit his constituents as his district jumps from peninsula to peninsula down the Bay. Invariably, Congressmen will ignore the more far-flung communities within their districts. Moreover, the citizens of the State will see the politics of the State tilted to an even greater extreme than they are already. In a State that generally votes 40-45% Republican and 55-60% Democrat, it seems unjust that only one Congressman out of eight will be a Republican. The Governor’s plan wreaks the most havoc on Anne Arundel County. Once again, our County will be divided into four pieces. The political purposes of Balkanizing the County in this manner are to neutralize Anne Arundel County as a political force and to deprive the citizens of our County of their ability to elect a Congressman of their own choosing. Anne Arundel County, with its nearly 600,000 citizens, is almost as large as a Congressional district. An unbiased, non-political redistricting plan would establish the County as its own Congressional district. But that won’t happen because the powers that be know that the independent-minded citizens of Anne Arundel County would probably elect someone deemed undesirable to the political establishment. Under the Governor’s plan, the Congressman for North Anne Arundel County (including Brooklyn Park and Cedar Morris Hill) will be chosen by the residents of Baltimore City and Harford and Baltimore Counties. The two Congressmen splitting Central County (including Pasadena, Severna Park, Glen Burnie and Annapolis) will be chosen by the residents of Montgomery, Prince Georges, and Baltimore Counties and Baltimore City. Finally, the Congressman for South County (including Edgewater, Davidsonville and Mayo) will be chosen by the residents of Calvert, St. Mary’s, Charles and Prince Georges Counties.
Some people argue that the majority is simply exercising its democratic right to draw districts as it sees fit. This is true. However, the process is subject to commonsense limits, including the principles that districts be of equal size, reasonably compact, connected, respectful of political and geographic boundaries, and protective of the rights of racial minorities. The Governor’s plan fails on all these tests.
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The 429th General Assembly Session concluded on October 20, 2011 for the purpose of re-drawing the boundaries of Maryland’s eight Congressional Districts.
