The Senate pairings certified by the Alaska Redistricting Board last November were ruled to be unconstitutional gerrymandering and remanded to the board for correction. I am struck by the lack of shame or remorse by the board majority in producing an illegal map. They disregarded fairness and constitutionality in their replacement map.The new map pairs HD-22 in Eagle River with HD-9 in South Anchorage and Turnagain Arm, to leverage the Republican majority in Eagle River for an additional Senate seat for the coming decade. The board is deliberately repeating the gerrymander ruled unconstitutional in the first pairing.
Further, the new map violates Alaska’s constitutional criteria for Senate pairings: “Drainage and other geographic features shall be used in describing boundaries wherever possible.” The Chugach mountains are a geographic feature; what part of that does the board not understand? There may be precedent in previous gerrymandering, but that does not give license to repeat the error. In short, members of the board majority show no sense of values with regard to fairness or legality. If you happen to host any of these three to dinner, count the silverware before they leave.
— Doug Robbins
Anchorage
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