We Do Redistricting All Wrong!

And no, this post isn’t a rant against gerrymandering or other bias in district distribution. This is more an observation on how ass backwards the system seems to be. This all comes from a newspaper article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stating that the City of Milwaukee had to wait…

Continue Reading

Wisconsin’s an example of gerrymandering to the extreme

Given President Barack Obama’s call in last night’s State of the Union address for changes to how legislative districts are drawn all across the nation, this article from The Isthmus in August 2015 seems appropriate, given that Wisconsin could stand as a national example of the negative impact of ultra-partisan…

Continue Reading

Wisconsin needs nonpartisan redistricting

This is great news for anyone who wants to see fair elections in our state. A lawsuit filed by Democrats challenging Wisconsin’s 2010 political map reached a small milestone recently when it filed a rebuttal to state Republicans’ motion to dismiss the case. The Democrats also learned the names of…

Continue Reading

Guest Blog: The Issue of Gerrymandering Legislative Districts in Wisconsin

A recent post from billmoyers.com was brought to my attention. It discusses the actions being taken by the Arizona Legislature to have the power to set Congressional boundaries instead of a non-partisan committee, actions including taking the case to the Supreme Court. The post enumerates a list of reasons why…

Continue Reading

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on redistricting reform: “no one cares”

Apparently Republican Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos doesn’t think redistricting reform is worth considering. “Nobody cares,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Burlington, finally concluded earlier this week as he tried, repeatedly, to dismiss suggestions by the Wisconsin State Journal Editorial Board that he should convene a public hearing on redistricting…

Continue Reading

Kathleen Vinehout: Let the People Speak on Nonpartisan Redistricting

From my email inbox comes Democratic State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout’s thoughts on nonpartisan redistricting. “Look at this map,” the man directed. “There are lots of squiggly lines in Wisconsin and Illinois but Iowa has real neat boxes.” The maps he showed me were the lines of Congressional Districts in the…

Continue Reading

Wisconsin Republicans deleted hundreds of thousands of redistricting documents

Wait….Republicans in Wisconsin tried to hinder transparency?!?!? What a shock! As Democrats were seeking access to Republican redistricting files last year, hundreds of thousands of computer files were deleted from state computers used by GOP aides, according to documents filed Thursday in federal court in Milwaukee. Democratic plaintiffs alleged in…

Continue Reading

Wisconsin could learn a thing or two from Iowa when it comes to redistricting

Last week Joe did a great job of breaking down the Republican Party’s 27-seat structural edge in State Assembly seats. The structural edge Republicans gave themselves in Assembly seats was made even more clear by the fact that despite the fact that Wisconsin’s Democratic Assembly candidates won 193,000 more votes…

Continue Reading

GOP Senate Majority Provided Shills for Redistricting Hearings.

Last Wednesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published an article on the redistricting emails that were withheld from the courts. These emails were withheld even after the attorneys (Michael Best & Friedrich) for the Madison GOP legislators in their gerrymandering scam were fined for doing so. That is a story onto…

Continue Reading

Law firm that represented Republicans in redistricting withheld documents from courts

Why am I not surprised that the law firm that represented Republican lawmakers after they were sued over their hyperpartisan redistricting plan withheld some documents despite being ordered by a court to turn over all documents relating to that redistricting plan? Attorneys who helped lawmakers draw new election maps last…

Continue Reading