A cynical import Colorado doesn’t need

From two weeks back, my take on the redistricting ploy cynically and belatedly brought to Colorado

“But mommy, he started it.”

Every parent, definitely those with more than one kid, has heard this instinctively defensive reaction to the point of exhaustion. It is the ultimate deflection or shifting of the blame.

A similar rationale, often about as juvenile, has overtaken our divisive, dysfunctional politics. All manner of bad behavior is excused away by pointing the finger across the aisle and claiming, screaming, that they did it first. Each side is perpetually aggrieved and justifies the unjustifiable by suggesting that their hated opposites initiated the whole thing.

It is all so very infantile. A flourishing democracy, heck, even just a semi-operational one, requires far greater maturity and discernment.

In that vein, let’s turn to the too-clever-by-half redistricting ploy that has been brought to our fair state by outside political money. A group calling itself Coloradans for a Level Playing Field has filed four prospective ballot measures to effectively gerrymander the state to the mass advantage of Democrats for the 2028 and 2030 election cycles.

If you look at their proposed map in any detail, the “level playing field” title fails any truth-in-advertising test.

The group has yet to disclose its donors. By the time it does so, be assured that the big money will be well laundered. But it is widely taken as a given that the gambit has its roots in interests aligned with the Democratic caucus in the U.S. House.

Before we get too deep into the weeds, let me offer a stipulation. The record is inarguable that this downward spiral of mid-decade redistricting began when Donald Trump’s White House leaned on Texas to redo its map in a brazen attempt to gain as many as five new GOP seats.

Republicans, especially those with MAGA stripes, can spare us the lectures about election integrity. The party of Jan. 6^th has forfeited its voice on this issue. Following the Texas shenanigans, they are ill-positioned to complain when Democrats display a comparable cynicism.

As surely as night follows day, Democrats in deeply blue California retaliated with their own new, contorted map. Other blue states, including Maryland and Virginia, are trying to get in on the action.

However, while Trump instigated this, it does not necessarily behoove Colorado to respond. First off, California’s maneuver has already “leveled the playing field,” if that is the objective. Second, this is all part of a fevered battle for control of Congress in the 2026 election, yet Colorado’s proposed map would not take effect until 2028. Talk about being late to the dance.

Third, such exceedingly ambitious schemes as in Texas can actually backfire, particularly in a wave election as may well be in store this year. In trying to pick off new seats, Texas Republicans drew down their margins for several incumbents. Some have dubbed it a “dummymander.”

Fourth, and most importantly, the voters of Colorado have already spoken loudly about their wishes. By a 71 percent majority, think of that number, voters approved Amendment Y in 2018, mandating that congressional districting be handled by an independent commission.

The “level playing field” crew and their financiers have a slick legal theory for getting around the electorate’s clearly expressed intentions. Though color me dubious about their ability to convince more than one in five voters to change their minds about this process.

There is nothing modest, or “level” if you prefer, about the Democrats’ proposed new map. Our congressional delegation currently comprises four Democrats and four Republicans.

Given how the political year is shaping up, Rep. Gabe Evans’s hold on the ultra-competitive District 8 seat is tenuous at best. If Democrats nominate anyone in the vicinity of the political center, befitting that area, the seat is likely to flip, giving Democrats a 5-3 edge in the delegation.

But the proposed Democratic map is far more ambitious, very far. It seeks a 7-1 advantage, packing Republicans into a secure seat for Rep. Lauren Boebert but attempting to tip the scales everywhere else. It is hardly a work of art, even as it would do right by Elbridge Gerry, the nation’s fifth vice president and father of the mapmaking manipulation that bears his name.

Denver would be split into multiple districts. Ditto for Adams, Arapahoe and Weld counties. Jefferson, Douglas, El Paso, and Pueblo counties would be split in two; same for more lightly-populated Summit, Eagle, Garfield, and Mesa counties on the Western Slope.

Good luck selling that.

The press release announcing this model was almost apologetic in its tone. At the outset, it quotes a spokesman, “No one wanted to have to take this action. Independent redistricting is the ideal.”

Here’s a hint: If you are filled with regret about a plan, maybe it is better left on the drawing board.

Going back to childhood, we are taught early on that two wrongs do not make a right. The lesson is fully applicable here. More than that, it is essential if we are ever to heal our broken politics.

Reprinted with permission of Colorado Politics, the Denver Gazette and the Colorado Springs Gazette.