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Iowa Leaders leaning toward backing redistricting plan
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| Contributor | COSDem |
| Last Edited | COSDem Apr 06, 2011 10:30pm |
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| Category | General |
| News Date | Thursday, April 7, 2011 04:30:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Key legislative leaders from both parties said Tuesday that they were leaning toward approval of the first plan to redraw Iowa's congressional and legislative districts.
House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, told The Associated Press that the map put together by nonpartisan legislative staffers hasn't garnered strong opposition from lawmakers. But both stopped short of official endorsement.
"I'm leaning ever so slightly toward the first map," said McCarthy, noting that he likes and dislikes various elements of the plan. "It's kind of a wash, and if it's a wash, you risk getting something that would be really bad later."
The proposed map redraws Iowa's congressional districts into four rough quadrants, dumping the state's 5th Congressional District. Iowa lost a congressional seat after the 2010 census showed that its population growth wasn't as strong as in other states.
The map also would combine many state-level districts, displacing about a third of the state's 150 legislators.
"I would say that what I was looking for was to make sure that Iowans had the opportunity to make decisions, which would include having Republicans in control of the chambers and have the opportunity to elect some Republican congressmen," Paulsen said. "It appears to me this map does that."
The reconfigured boundaries would put Democratic U.S. Reps. Bruce Braley and David Loebsack together in the same eastern Iowa district, while Republican U.S. Reps. Steve King and Tom Latham would be tossed together in the same northwest Iowa district.
While neither Paulsen nor McCarthy announced a final decision, their support gives the proposed map a giant boost. |
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