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For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

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For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by Matt » Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:26 am

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opini ... 258049002/

It's hard to imagine people did NOT see this happening from a mile away:
The commission, by law, is supposed to be made up of four Democrats, four Republicans and five independents. 

But two of the professed independent members of the commission appear to have strong ties to Democrats or liberal causes. This adds to a pattern of partisanship the redistricting commission was purportedly designed to avoid.

...

In addition, the commission has opened its doors to experts like Matthew Petering, a professor from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, to present on a map-drawing algorithm he developed (Petering’s also a Bernie Sanders financial supporter).

Yet it has refused to grant an equal opportunity to former state Supreme Court justice Stephen Markman, who has sought for months to address the commission over his concerns with its definition of community in forming district lines. Markman teaches constitutional law at Hillsdale College, which commissioned him to write a report to the redistricting commission on this issue.
"Voters, not politicians?" If you believe that nonsense, I suspect you will be VERY INTERESTED in waterfront property in Sanford.


What's more pathetic: harassing an old man who is paying to do a radio show or supporting a grifter like Trump?

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MWmetalhead
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Sep 11, 2021 7:34 am

You haven't even seen the product of their work yet!

Yes, even independents have political leanings. Appointment of commission members was subject to legislative override. So, two of the five independents lean liberal, perhaps strongly. What about the other three?

Here is an older article regarding map drawing:

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/ ... 589271001/

The article you posted is from a biased opinion columnist who was opposed to the commission from day one. She intentionally cherry-picked facts in an effort to put a negative spin on the commission.

The same columnist seemingly has no issue with the maps drawn up in 2010 by Republican-led consultants that led some fairly high ranking federal judges to call them some of the most gerrymandered maps they had ever seen.

Stephen Markman is not part of the commission and wasn't hired by the commission for consulting services. The guy seems to think he deserves special privilege.



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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by audiophile » Sat Sep 11, 2021 9:41 am

Won't matter, the whole country is turning again Cuomo, Whimer, Newsome and Biden.


Ask not what your country can do FOR you; ask what they are about to do TO YOU!!

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MWmetalhead
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Sep 18, 2021 6:43 am

Draft State Senate district maps were posted a couple days ago. WXYZ showed one of the maps on its morning newscast a couple days ago.

So far, I like the results. They are geographically purer than the 2010 districts. The Commission has indicated these are not necessarily the final maps, I should note.

The Freep also shared results of a third party statistical analysis of the proposed districts based on the draft maps. They are much more balanced than the 2010 districts.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/politi ... 356716002/



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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by Splouge » Sat Sep 18, 2021 11:41 am

The state senate draft map is alright. But the congressional map is really bad.

District 1 puts Melvindale and Allen Park with distant communities like Center Line.

District 7 puts South Downriver communities like Wyandotte and Woodhaven with distant areas that they have very little in common with such as South Lyon, Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and even Grass Lake Township!

District 8 is one of the worst, it puts Monroe County with SE Berrien County. That means that parts of the Detroit area will be with what some people define as the Chicago area! (Berrien is not defined as the Chicago area by the Census or Neilsen DMAs, but both Berrien and Cass are defined as Bears territory)

District 10 puts Milford with Lapeer and Flint.

District 11 has Macomb Twp with Midland.

District 12 has the UP, but instead of putting it with a nice section of the northern mitten, like with Traverse City and Cadillac, it sprawls down across the NE mitten, avoiding Traverse City and Cadillac, instead putting the UP with places like Mount Pleasant and Ithaca. This one is the worst.


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MWmetalhead
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Sep 18, 2021 3:02 pm

I have not yet seen the draft U.S. Congressional map.

Do you have a URL where it can be found? I would love to take a look at it.



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Splouge
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by Splouge » Sat Sep 18, 2021 3:37 pm

MWmetalhead wrote:
Sat Sep 18, 2021 3:02 pm
I have not yet seen the draft U.S. Congressional map.

Do you have a URL where it can be found? I would love to take a look at it.
https://michigan.mydistricting.com/legd ... lan/128/23


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MWmetalhead
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Sep 18, 2021 3:56 pm

Many thanks for the link.

With the exception of Berrien and the small portion of Jackson County allocated to District 7, District 8 covers a series of entire counties that are adjacent to one another. I honestly have no issue with the configuration of District 8. It can be canvassed quite easily via I-94 or US-12.

There is some room for improvement for the configuration of districts in SE MIchigan. I will agree with you there. I would've liked to have seen the entire City of Detroit served by the same congressional district, for example. Macomb County is segmented in an unusual way. Most notably, the City of Warren is split between two districts (most of the city falls in District 1, but not all of it). Given the fact Warren is a top five city in the state in terms of population, it should have unified representation in Congress. (It bears noting that the current map adopted in 2010 subdivides Sterling Heights in bizarre fashion.)

Overall, the map is a moderate improvement from the current one; however, I believe there is certainly room for additional improvement. Completely agree that the configuration of District 12 is a clusterfuck. To expect the same Congressman to campaign in Mt. Pleasant and Ironwood is unreasonable.



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MWmetalhead
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:01 pm

Here are the current U.S. Congressional District maps as a point of comparison.

Trying to decipher the Metro Detroit districts on the current map (from 2010) gives me a headache.

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/cgi/ ... 1463_7.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan% ... _districts



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Splouge
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by Splouge » Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:54 pm

I agree that Detroit should have been unified.

Monroe County would fit in with unified Downriver and Dearborn/Dearborn Heights.

Ann Arbor and the eastern townships of Washtenaw County should be with South Lyon and NW Wayne County


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MWmetalhead
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Sep 18, 2021 6:19 pm

I don't see much inherent value in ensuring NW Wayne County and Ann Arbor are in the same district. Plenty of people who live in NW Wayne County do not commute to Ann Arbor, for example. Economic development in Ann Arbor does not directly benefit NW Wayne County and vice versa.

The difference between Monroe County and, say, Dearborn in that regard is even more stark.

That's not necessarily to say such combinations are infeasible or inappropriate.

I played around with the online version of the Districtr software. I was able to draw geometrically prettier districts in SE Michigan, all containing between 765,000 and 785,000 folks, with little difficulty (other than the fickle nature of the drawing tool, which for some reason would not allow me to select individual wards easily). I did not bother to check to see if my boundaries gave one party an unearned significant advantage over the other, though.

Probably going to play around with it some more, just for fun. Yes, I'm sick in the head. 8o



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Splouge
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by Splouge » Sat Sep 18, 2021 6:32 pm

Canton and Wayne are on MI 12 on the way to Ann Arbor, and they're all quite milennialish. Ann Arbor fits in with those better than it does with any of the other options, such as Lenawee, Downriver, Livingston, or Jackson. It's probably the best option.

Monroe County wouldn't be such a problem if Lucas and Wood Counties were in Michigan, then it could be part of a Toledo area district with Lenawee and Hillsdale. I know that Monroe County is rural just like Branch and Hillsdale, but something about Monroe County seems a little different.

Detroit couldn't be unified since that would mean packing black votes. But... they only made ONE black majority district. Personally, I think that if the black majority city is a community of interest, it should be kept together.

Even though there isn't a unified Downriver district, I am at least glad that my hometown, Melvindale, will be put with AP and LP.

Also, I love how the state senate map liberates the Pointes at last!


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MWmetalhead
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Sep 18, 2021 6:42 pm

What you propose certainly seems reasonable to me.



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Splouge
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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by Splouge » Sat Sep 18, 2021 9:59 pm

MWmetalhead wrote:
Sat Sep 18, 2021 6:42 pm
What you propose certainly seems reasonable to me.
The districts? Or Michigan annexing Lucas and Wood Counties? :P


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Re: For all you rubes that thought an "independent" commission was needed

Post by MWmetalhead » Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:36 pm

I drew a beautiful map, but then I reviewed the analytics.

Based on Presidential election data, 6 of 13 were strongly Republican and another 2 or 3 leaned Republican. Only 3 were strongly Dem.

Likely allocation would be 8 or 9 Repubs and 4 or 5 Dems. Geographically and geometrically, my boundaries looked good. In terms of preventing a disproportionate advantage for the Republicans, not so much! LOL

Will give it another shot later today. There should be a minor Republican advantage (on paper) for Congressional district boundaries. My first attempt gave them a major advantage.



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