Lafayette anticipates 2010 redistricting
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LAFAYETTE — A political analyst told local officials Friday that they should begin pushing legislators now to ensure that Acadiana gets a fair shake in redistricting after the 2010 census.
“When it’s time to redistribute money and power, this area should win,” said Shreveport political analyst and demographer Elliot Stonecipher.
Stonecipher was brought in by the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce on Friday to discuss issues related to the 2010 Census and the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts that will follow in 2011.
Lafayette Parish is among a handful of parishes in the state that has grown at a rate above the national average since 1980, Stonecipher said, and it is the only parish to have experienced growth not driven by so-called white flight from other areas.
Lafayette’s growth should bring better representation and more resources, but redistricting in the hands of the legislature has often been criticized as focusing more on incumbents trying to hold on to power and territory.
“This process is messy and non-representative in the best of circumstances. In an atmosphere of scarcity, it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” Stonecipher said.
Stonecipher urged local officials to meet now to craft what they believe are appropriate legislative districts, and then to lobby the area’s legislative delegation to follow those maps.
“The process has always been just the opposite,” Stone-cipher said.
He said that, generally, local officials must react to new district maps that have already been drawn up by legislative staff, and he said seasoned legislators are most likely already working on those maps for their districts.
Stonecipher said the ideal would be to have a nonpartisan commission take on the task of carving out new legislative districts, which is the practice in some states.
The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana this year recommended creating a nonpartisan, independent commission to oversee redistricting.
That recommendation was not well received by some legislators, who argued that the work of the legislature is transparent and that elected representatives are more accountable to the public than an appointed commission.
Stonecipher quipped to the group on Friday that he doubted many members of the public have ever been in the room when legislators and staff are carving out new districts.
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