Residents Bring Local Concerns to Redistricting Panel

Put community concerns ahead of politics, area residents told lawmakers Monday at a public hearing on redrawing state and federal legislative districts.

The forum, held at Norwalk City Hall, was one of five scheduled across Connecticut this month by the state legislature's Reapportionment Committee.

Many of the 18 speakers asked that  to the same degree — or at all — when new boundaries are set for state Senate and House districts.

“Sure there are political considerations, but we’ll keep it to a minimum,” House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero (R-Norwalk) assured. Cafero was one of six legislators in attendance Monday.

Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams (D-Brooklyn) agreed, describing the process as "absolutely bipartisan."

The president of the Connecticut League of Women Voters reminded the legislators of the Voting Rights Act — "one person, one vote" — and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

"The acts have potential to conflict with partisan objectives," cautioned LWV president Cheryl Dunson. "Districts can be drawn to give some people more voting power than others."

"District lines can be drawn in an infinite number of ways," Dunson said, "and how they are drawn can affect who is elected."

The Reapportionment Committee puts together a plan every decade to redraw district boundaries consistent with the latest U.S. Census. The body is charged with setting both U.S. House and state legislative seats.

Members must submit a plan the General Assembly to adopt by Sept. 5. Should the lawmakers deadlock, the Connecticut Supreme Court is ultimately empowered to establish new districts.

Below are some of the areas covered at Monday's hearing.

Splitting up Darien

State Rep. Terrie Wood (R-Darien/Rowayton), asked the panel to consider creating a single senatorial seat for Darien.

The town is currently served by two state senators — Rep. Bob Duff (D-Darien/Norwalk) and Rep. Carlo Leone (D-Darien/Stamford) — whose districts include parts of larger cities.

Splitting up sections of Greenwich

Ed Krumeich and Joe Kautorski, both of Greenwich, presented a detailed proposal to alter legislative districts in their town to conform with Representative Town Meeting districts. The plan would divide the town into coastal, central business, and northern districts.

Their proposal, they said, would "undo the damage of the 1980 and 1990 redistricting," when Greenwich neighborhoods "were badly gerrymandered."

"Some villages were cut in three pieces," Krumeich said.

While Maryann Ramos of Greenwich agreed with their proposal, Fred Camillo, state representative for the affected 151st district, said he supports the district the way it is currently drawn.

"I love my district," Camillo said, urging the lawmakers to reject the proposal. Krumeich has challenged Camillo unsuccessfully in the past for his seat.

Splitting up Weston, New Canaan, and Redding

John Hartwell of Westport urged the panel to create "more competitive, less incumbent-protective" districts.

"Too many are single-party districts," he said, and too many "lack an organic feel" because they break apart natural constituencies.

"I believe this is a real problem," he added, noting that New Canaan and Redding are each divided into two state House districts and two state Senate districts.

"It's really a patchwork out there that doesn't promote democracy," Hartwell said. Instead, he proposed a radical redistricting that would link four house districts with each senate district.

Hartwell said that the Senate district that includes Westport, Wilton and other towns but only a sliver of Weston disadvantages Westonites.

His remark drew criticism from Larry Cafero a Norwalk Republican and minority leader in the state House of Representatives. Cafero sprang to the defense of Senator Toni Boucher, who represents that district. (Hartwell has unsuccessfully challenged her for that seat.)

Cafero spotted Boucher in the audience and invited her to speak, which she briefly did to say state legislators represent everyone in their districts "whether 100,000 or two" to the best of their ability.

Hispanic Senate districts urged

Rick Cruz and Werner Oyanadel, both of the state Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, asked the Committee to consider creating state Senate districts in Hartford, Bridgeport, and Stamford in areas where Latinos and Hispanics make up 50 percent or more of the voting populations.

They noted the Latino and Hispanic population represents 13.4 percent of the state's population and — at 49.6 percent — experienced the greatest growth since the 2000 census of any ethnic group in the state.

Although there are several state representatives of Hispanic heritage, there are none in the state Senate, they said.

Cruz said Hispanics earn 70 cents for every dollar earned by white workers in Connecticut and that their rate of unemployment — 17.7 percent — far exceeds white unemployment.

A voice is needed in the state Senate to respond to their special needs, he said.

Where to count prison inmates?

Several speakers also addressed the question of whether the state's population of 20,000 incarcerated inmates should be considered residents of the communities where they lived at the time of their arrest or where they are incarcerated.

LWV president Dunson, who noted that "redistricting is not straightforward," said that legislative districts nevertheless should have equal populations and respect political and geographic boundaries. The League supports counting inmates as residents of their hometown communities.

Following the hearing, Hartwell said he believes lawmakers are already "slicing and dicing—it's all about incumbent protection and incremental advantage."