OLYMPIA — A special panel forging state and federal redistricting off the 2010 Census is considering two proposals that could give East Jefferson County new lawmakers.
One of the proposals would break East Jefferson out of the state’s 24th Legislative District, which is now represented by Sen. Jim Hargrove and Reps. Kevin Van De Wege and Steve Tharinger, and place it in a Kitsap County district.
A separate set of four proposals has one that would carve out a new congressional district and end Rep. Norm Dicks’ 6th Congressional District representation of the North Olympic Peninsula.
The four voting commissioners of the Washington State Redistricting Commission are expected to narrow their proposals for redrawn state legislative districts from four to two in Olympia on Friday.
At a later meeting to be scheduled, the commissioners intend to cull four plans for creating a new 10th Congressional District to two.
It’s unknown if either or both of the plans affecting the North Olympic Peninsula will survive the cuts by the time the state Legislature meets in special session after Thanksgiving.
One of the four legislative proposals — an option offered by Republican Commissioner Slade Gorton, the former U.S. senator — would take Port Townsend out of the 24th District and into the 25th along with Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo in central Kitsap County.
One of the four congressional district plans, a proposal from Democratic Commissioner Dean Foster, would create a new 10th Congressional District out of an area that includes Jefferson, Clallam and Grays Harbor counties.
Neither Foster nor Tom Huff, a Republican member of the commission, could predict Wednesday whether either proposal affecting Clallam and Jefferson counties will make it to the next round.
“Right now, there is no way to predict what will happen,” Foster said.
The redistricting committee — which also includes Democrat Tim Ceis — expects to end Friday’s meeting with two semifinal proposals for legislative districts that represent respective plans of the Democratic and Republican parties.
The meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Redistricting Commission’s Office, 1063 Capitol Way S., Conference Room 105, Olympia.
While the chairs of North Olympic Peninsula’s county Democratic parties oppose both plans that would affect the Peninsula, the chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party likes the idea of a change.
Jefferson County Republican Party Chairman Ron Gregory of Port Ludlow said he would support Gorton’s proposal to move Port Townsend into the 25th District because it would give Republicans more influence in the reconfigured 24th, which is now represented by three Democrats — Hargrove, Van De Wege and Tharinger.
He would also favor a “reasonable” new congressional district that, he said, would allow the Republicans a fighting chance to elect someone to Congress.
Dicks, D-Belfair, was first elected to Congress in 1976 and is senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
Clallam County Democratic Chair Matthew Randazzo V said that although there are “lots of ambitious people” who would pursue the new congressional seat, losing Dicks would decrease the area’s clout.
“Anyone else would be less effective,” he said.
“It would take us years for a new representative to become as influential.”
Randazzo also opposes any proposal that would split the Peninsula into separate state legislative districts.
“We have a vested interest in staying together,” he said of Clallam and Jefferson counties.
“We have the same interests and the same future.
“If the east end of Jefferson County becomes part of the 25th District, it will be ignored, and Port Townsend will become an afterthought.”
Jefferson County, Democratic Party Chairwoman Teri Nomura said she is against any proposal that would split the county and dilute its current Democratic majority.
Nomura said that splitting a county makes elections more difficult for both the auditors and party officials by increasing the number of elections.
“Splitting the county has political ramifications,” she said.
“It means we would be running two different races every two years, which changes the dynamics of the election.”
Clallam County Republican Party chairman Dick Pilling and Gorton did not return calls requesting comment Wednesday.
Huff said both legislative and congressional redistrictings are slated to be completed by November, after which time they will be addressed by the state Legislature.
A special session scheduled to begin Nov. 28 will provide an “ideal” chance to approve the plans, Huff said.
“It would be a good thing to do this quickly because it will give both the auditors and the candidates time to plan for any changes,” Huff said.
Every 10 years, the bipartisan Washington State Redistricting Commission is established to redraw legislative and congressional district boundaries according to shifts in population documented by the U.S. Census.
A 14.1 percent population increase reflected by the 2010 Census gives Washington state an additional congressional seat.
Commissioners also must redraw 49 state legislative districts into roughly equal population sizes.
Any redisticting plan must be approved by three of the four commissioners prior to being submitted to the state Legislature.
If three do not approve a single plan, the proposals will be addressed by the state Supreme Court.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
