HJR 2: Blows away balance

One area where Idaho gets it right is with our fair, balanced redistricting process. It is deeply concerning that there is a bill making its way through the House to change that.

Currently there are six members on the bipartisan commission, three Republicans and three Democrats. The bill proposes adding a seventh member from the majority party. This removes any need for compromise or fairness moving forward and gives 100 percent control to the Republicans who already have an 80% super majority throughout the state.

I attended a Town Hall meeting on Saturday at the Library and was very troubled to hear that Rep. Addis supports this effort to stack the deck, and pave the way for blatant gerrymandering. He seemed more concerned with “getting things done” than maintaining fairness in our Idaho elections.

Representative Addis acknowledged that our current redistricting process had been working well for Idaho for years, and then denied that this is an overt power grab by the majority party. He certainly didn’t seem keen on the tie-breaking member of the commission coming from the minority party.

Regardless of your affiliation, we should all fight to oppose gerrymandering in Idaho elections. Neither Mr. Addis nor Mr. Amador would commit to opposing this legislation which means that District 4 residents need to hear from them.

BROCK SCHROEDER

Coeur d’Alene