Particularly because some Republicans are apparently referring to Rep. Paul Weissmann’s (D-Louisville) redistricting bill as gerrymandering, journalists might be tempted to equate the Democratic effort this year to the GOP “midnight gerrymander” in 2003. If they are compared, reporters should be careful to spell out the big differences. Otherwise, casual readers could be easily confused.

Expect news coverage this week about Weissmann’s House Bill 1408, passed out of committee Tuesday, to repeal a 2004 GOP law that dictated criteria that courts should use …• and the order in which the criteria should be weighed …• to map out Colorado’s congressional districts, if the Legislature does not agree on how to do so before the 2012 election. 

Congressional redistricting will occur in 2011, based on the results of the 2010 census.

The Republicans’ 2004 statute was passed after a 2003 GOP redistricting law was found unconstitutional by the Colorado Supreme Court. The court ruled that the GOP-controlled Legislature didn’t have authority in 2003 to pass an election-mapping law after a judge had already created new legislative boundaries after the 2000 census…-and an election had already occurred.

An April 22 Denver Post article sets up the discussion of Weisman’s bill this way:

In 2003, Democrats lamented a “midnight gerrymander” by the legislature then controlled by Republicans, a plan courts threw out. Now Republicans …• in the minority in both houses …• are complaining that Democrats are trying to ram through a plan to “rig” future elections by marginalizing voters in predominantly Republican rural areas of Colorado.

The Post article goes on to accurately describe how the procedures and tactics being used by Democrats today are different from those used by the GOP in 2003. But you have to read the story carefully to grasp the magnitude of the difference.

To avoid confusion, reporters should lay out a few facts for readers, when Republicans equate the events of 2003 with Weissmann’s legislation:

• Weissmann’s bill is technically called a “late” bill, but it was introduced about a month before the session ends. In 2003, the GOP introduced the gerrymander bill in the State Legislature three days before the session ended, suspending rules and circumventing committees to ram it through in three days.
• Weissmann’s bill has been the subject of one hearing so far, and Republican views are being incorporated into the bill, according to Denver Post’s Spot blog. (Republican Rep. Carole Murray voted for the Weisman bill in a committee vote.) In 2003, debate on the GOP bill was curtailed repeatedly, as the legislation was rammed through without any Democratic support or input.
• Weissmann’s bill would make statutory changes in advance of the 2010 census. In 2003, the GOP passed its bill after the census count occurred, after reapportionment had occurred, and after an entire election had gone by.

Reporters should be clear about the differences between the redistricting debate occurring today and what’s now widely viewed as the gerrymandering that we saw in Colorado in 2003.

Chronology according to the Dec. 2, 2003, Rocky Mountain News:

Jan. 25, 2002: District Judge John Coughlin redraws congressional map after lawmakers can’t agree on one.

May 9, 2003: Gov. Owens signs redistricting plan into law. Democrats file challenge.

Dec. 1, 2003: The Colorado Supreme Court throws out GOP map. (GOP federal appeal was denied in June 2004.)

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