Mapmaker, mapmaker Gerrymandering is alive and well-and for good reason

BY RICHARD A. HOCARTY

11 summer and into the fall, politics junkies have been called “codfish aristocracy” of Marblehead, his father hav- treated to an unexpected sideshow: a battle of insid- ing made a fortune shipping dried cod to Spain and the West ers over congressional redistricting. That the re- Indies. In the words of John Adams biographer David drawing of district lines gives rise to political games- McCullough, “Gerry viewed mankind as capable of both manship should surprise no one. The federal census great good and great evil.”An ardent patriot who was inde- that takes place at the start of every new decade is pendent by nature, he was a signer of the Declaration of always followed by a reapportionment of seats in Independence, but he refused to sign the national consti- the US House of Representatives,and the consequent reshuf- tution because it lacked a Bill of Rights, though he ultimately fling of voters can make or break political careers. became the fifth vice president of the . But the post-2000 redistricting was supposed to be po- Gerry was also known for his cunning and political crafti- litically painless. For the first time since 1970, this year’s ness. Twice elected, in 1810 and 1811, to one-year terms as reapportionment does not cost a seat in governor of Massachusetts, Gerry switched his party alle- Congress. Therefore, there would be no need to pit incum- giance from Federalist to Jeffersonian Democrat. Led by bent against incumbent in an electoral game of musical Gerry, the Democrats redistricted the General Court, as the chairs. Nonetheless, we have watched the spectacle of a five- state Legislature is formally known, consolidating Federalist term Democratic congressman, Martin Meehan of Lowell, strength in just a few seats. The Federalists cried bloody mur- brought to his political knees by a single, if inordinately pow- der, and Gerry’s map became the talk of the Commonwealth. erful, state lawmaker of his own party, House Speaker Thomas Elkanah Tisdale illustrated how the Democrats carved up Finneran, by the simple act of drawing lines on a map-a the Essex state Senate district in order to gain unfair advan- map that was, at the time, no more than hypothetical. tage over the Federalists in a famous cartoon that appeared For those who love democracy more than politics, these in the Gazette. One observer remarked that the car- Machiavellian machinations may be more bewildering- toon looked like a salamander, which gave rise to the term and disturbing-than diverting. And they raise an unavoid- “gerrymander.” It was an addition to the American politi- able question: Why does this fundamental act of represen- cal lexicon that has yet to outlive its usefulness. tative government seem to carry with it such opportunities Partisan interest in district lines has continued ever since. for political mischief? From the late 1850s to the 1940s, Yankee Republicans Perhaps it’s because no other act of democratic gover- dominated the 13 county commissions (which, until 1930, nance compares in its mix of high principle-“one man, controlled redistricting) and the General Court, maintain- one vote”-and sheer, unadulterated self-interest. Rep- ing political control despite a large influx of famine- and resentative government is impossible without grouping post-famine-era Irish Catholic immigrants, thanks to skill- citizens for the purpose of choosing their representatives. ful gerrymandering. The Democrats achieved a majority in Yet how district lines are drawn may, by itself, determine who the state House of Representatives for the first time in 1948 gets elected to be representatives. Thus every attempt to and took control of the Senate in 1958, which set the stage redraw congressional boundaries, including Finneran’s, for a watershed redistricting-following the 1960 census. both invokes lofty principles of fair representation and With states like California and Florida growing much embodies the exercise of raw political power. And it’s been faster than the Bay State, Massachusetts lost two of its 14 that way since the founding of the republic. seats-which were then held by six Republicans and eight Democrats. State Sen. Kevin Harrington of Salem was as- ..-- . I\ ,-,a , - ,:,. , , \ .. ,. \, u \. \ii <- .... . i I ’ i signed the task of redistricting the state in 1962. A faithful Manipulating district lines for partisan advantage goes back Democratic Party man, Harrington concocted a gerryman- to the legendary , who is credited with in- der that would have assured the Democrats nine of the 12 venting the practice in 1812. A Harvard graduate and a House seats. But Republican Gov. John Volpe insisted that man of great wealth and stature, Gerry belonged to the so- the two major parties split the loss of the two congressional

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seats, which they did. But they shared the pain in a way that be worth as much as another’s,’’ the court declared. Based strengthened each party’s hand. Republicans gave up the on this new “one man, one vote” formula, the court forced Back Bay district of -the last Republican states to correct the political imbalance between growing to represent a Boston-based district-who, despite serving cities and dwindling rural areas. five terms, was too liberal for GOP tastes. The Democrats But the court’s requirement that districts be drawn with sacrificed Thomas Lane of Lawrence, who had previously nearly identical populations has made the political mis- served time in federal prison for income tax evasion. No chief we have seen every decade since almost unavoidable. asset to his party, Lane lost to Bradford Morse, a popular The kinds of “communities of interest” that might make a Republican incumbent, in the 1962 election. natural basis for electoral districts are based on settlement patterns, ethnicity, history, and other social bonds; they do ,~,.. . ,. ,.,- ..,_. , ~,.\ , ...... \, i,.\, I .. ~,. . not form in equal sizes. But the requirement of equal num- Redistricting had never been pretty-or politically indif- bers forces the drawing of districts based on populations that ferent-but partisan maneuvering turned technocratic af- add up to the right number. Common interests, however ter two landmark US Supreme Court decisions in the early they are defined, are necessarily a secondary consideration. ’60s. Up to that time, rural legislators exercised dispropor- The equal-numbers mandate also forces states to readjust tionate influence in both Congress and state legislatures district lines every 10 years to reflect the smallest movement across the country. Though the cities were burgeoning with in population, even if reapportionment does not alter the immigrants and domestic migrants, farmers and conserv- state’s total number of seats. The resulting jurisdictional ative interests based in the countryside dominated legisla- shifts may have little impact on the voters at large, but con- tive caucus rooms. tain tremendous implications for people in office-and In 1962, the Supreme Court outlawed malapportionment their prospective challengers. in its landmark decision of Baker v. Caw, and confirmed the In 1970, the one man-one vote requirement forced re- ruling in Reynolds v. Sims two years later. “As nearly as is districting because of population changes within congres- practicable one man’s vote in a congressional election is to sional districts-a move that gave Democrats the chance to

1 Tufts University Medford, MA 021 55 61 7-627-3453 [email protected] httcx//UCCPS.tufts.edu

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pick up a congressional seat. Republican in running for governor instead of re-election-he could decided not to seek reelection in the Cape Cod-based 12th redraw Massachusetts’s congressional map nearly from Congressional District in 1972. His Democratic rival, Gerry scratch. Finneran proposed representation based on com- Studds-a descendant of the father of gerrymandering, for pact boundaries that, he argued, gathered together true whom he is named-who had nearly beaten Keith two years communities of interest. These districts would include a before, narrowly defeated Republican state Sen. William new seat in Bristol County that unites the cities of Fall River, Weeks, thanks largely to the removal from the district of seven New Bedford, and Taunton-a region that has been sliced towns that had voted Republican in the previous election. and diced among multiple districts since the early 20th The next two rounds of redistricting-in 1980 and century-and a “majority-minority’’ district anchored in 1990-were not only more bizarre but also more politically Boston-a goal of reformers for a generation. “We’re try- disruptive, since each involved the loss of a Massachusetts ing to rewrite history and give it a little more cohesion,” seat in Congress. The 1980 redistricting gave us the specta- Finneran declared. cle of two incumbents The Speaker’s pious ( and Margaret words by no means insu- Heckler) facing off in the lated him or his map from same reconfigured district political dissection, how- in 1982, with Frank the sur- ever. Editorialists in the prise victor in what turned Merrimack Valley screamed out to be a Democratic year. that Finneran did to their In 1990, declining popula- region what prior maps tion forced a consolidation had done to southeastern of districts in and around Massachusetts-carve it up Boston. Seven-term incum- in a way that made true rep- bent Brian Donnelly deferr- resentation impossible.And ed to 10-term congressmen some minority activists Studds and , both pointed out that Finneran’s fellow Democrats, and gave proposed 8th CD was not up his district. The effort to majority-minority at all, accommodate the remaining when it came to the voting- incumbents also resulted in age population, and that the the snakelike districts in the Lynn and Revere white eth- southeastern part of the state nics drawn into the district that have, at least ostensibly, were less likely to support a offended Speaker Finneran black or Latino candidate I,. so much that getting rid of than the Cambridge liberals Tisdale’s “Gerry-Mander”: ‘X New Species of Monster.” them is reason enough to who had been removed. unseat a sitting congressman and fellow Democrat. Indeed, the so-called majority-minority district seemed drawn as much to protect incumbent Michael Capuano of ,\J Somerville as to boost minority representation. Meanwhile, Redistricting, like politics itself, ain’t beanbag, to paraphrase politicos in Lynn objected to being redistricted out of the Finley Peter Dunne’s Mr. Dooley. But Finneran’s redistrict- North Shore. ing foray, unveiled July 11, was breathtaking in its audacity. But politically, these were quibbles compared to the im- It was a unilateral move, made with little consultation of pact on Meehan, who learned that his district was on the his colleagues and in sharp departure from the traditional chopping block the very day that his federal campaign- House-Senate collaboration on this politically sensitive finance bill was moving to the floor of the US House of Rep- process. (Finneran later professed not to have realized that resentatives. The timing, indeed, was lost on no one, as most the redistricting committee was a joint body.) observers saw Finneran’s move as payback for Meehan’s Finneran justified this redistricting maneuver on the criticism of Finneran over construction of a new Patriots grounds of the elegance of its product: a new district map football stadium and for refusing to fund the new Clean allegedly free of the usual gerrymandering shenanigans. Elections Law. Now Meehan the reformer has abandoned Taking advantage of two districts lacking (in his eyes) an thoughts of a run for governor and has been reduced to lob- incumbent whose interests had to be protected-as a result bying state Senate President Thomas Birmingham for the of Moakley’s recent death and Meehan’s apparent interest district-line status quo in order to save his seat-and his job.

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However, apart from its unnecessarily provocative nature- increasingly, Finneran’s trademark- the Speaker’s gambit falls solidly into the gerrymandering tradition. That is, it freely mixes high-minded concern for representation with gritty political advantage. After all, one can view Finneran’s map as just another redrawing based on political self-interest, wrapped up in rhetorical window dressing about communities of interest, minority representation, and the like. Or one can embrace it as raising the ideal of compact, contiguous districts that represent true communities of interest over the political self- interest of any individual incumbent congressman. Or it can be seen as a brilliant, but cynical, hybrid: Finneran draws from scratch sensible districts that represent authentic communities of interest (including long unrepre- sented minority communities) at the same time that he set- tles a political score with Meehan. The latter interpretation Berkshire Connect makes Finneran’s move a combination of high principle and Machiavellian power mongering that would make Elbridge Gerry proud. Cape Ann Connect Gov. Swift has indicated she will veto any redistricting map that takes apart the 5th District, as Finneran’s does. In September Senate President Birmingham proposed a map Cape Cod Connect that keeps Meehan’s seat largely intact and makes the 8th District neither more nor less majority-minority than Finneran’s, but with white voters from neighborhoods con- FranklinmHampshire Connect sidered more liberal. It also keeps the New Bedford-Fall River area together, but in Frank‘s 4th District, rather than a new one. MassBroadband Despite all the lofty talk about representation and com- munities of interest, redistricting is always about political ad- vantage-a subject there is always more than one way to look at. Take Finneran’s proposed reunification of the long- gerrymandered southeastern region of the state. Are the interests of Fall River better served by a first-term repre- sentative elected in a newly created Bristol County district, www lmtpclorgleluster or by having both Jim McGovern and Barney Frank fight- ing for the struggling mill city on Capitol Hill? As redistricting winds its way to an end this fall, don’t be surprised if more political scores get settled. And be prepared to hear from the losers that they are the victims of gerry- mandering. 75 North Drive It can be no other way. For, in the end, there are no ide- alized, perfectly representative districts from which any po- Westborough, MA 0 158 1-3340 litically crafted map is a corrupt and self-serving departure. TEL 508-870-03 12 There are only conflicting versions of political self-interest- FAX 508-898-9226 the self-interest of individual politicians, of political parties, vvvvw. mtpc .0 rg of specific communities, and of the state as a whole. Stay MTC is a program of the tuned for coming attractions. W Massachusetts Technology Park Corporation, an independent agency of the Commonwealth Richard Hogarty is a seniorfellow at the McCormack Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.

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Making the deans list Moakleyj. delegation-steering role falls to Markey

BY MICHAEL CROWLEY

/’ ‘‘\ apitol Hill is generally consid- junior senator, looking past his district ered a den of publicity hounds, to the good of the entire state. It’s up to free agents, and egomaniacs him to spread his colleagues across key -folks who mean well, per- committees strategically, to coordinate haps, but would get low marks the delegation’s positions, and to me- in the “plays well with others” diate the inevitable feuds and rivalries \ 1 category of any grade-school that arise when egos collide. The title is report card. There are clear incentives informal, and granted automatically to for this sort of behavior, thanks to a a delegation’s most senior member. But keep the Merrimack Valley district celebrity-worshipping media, but it’s in a Congress built on hierarchy and intact. But he couldn’t prevent Newton not always the best way to get things tradition, the post brings real stature Rep. Barney Frank, whose district done. That’s especially true when it and responsibility. And in the Massa- includes southeastern Massachusetts comes to protecting the state’s interests chusetts House delegation, that role communities that would gain a con- in Washington. Some of the giants of has just been passed on. gressman under the Finneran plan, Congress can make good things happen For more than a decade, until his from recanting the next day. for the folks back home-a new high- death from leukemia in May, the title way, a new military base-with the snap belonged to South Boston Democrat of their fingers. But for members with Joe Moakley, who himself became dean /” s Markey adapts to his new role, more limited clout, it takes teamwork. when of Springfield he can consider the example 1 In fact, since the birth of the US retired in 1988. Now the Bay State’s next / . . \.set by Moakley. By dint of his Congress, individual representatives of most senior member, Malden Demo- power and personality, as well as pure each state have banded together to pur- crat Edward Markey, has taken on the seniority, Moakley was the consum- sue their common interests and boost mantle of leadership. The standard has mate dean. He had excellent relation- their collective clout. In the late 18th been set high: The Bay State delegation ships with veteran Democratic leaders and early 19th centuries, some delega- has always had strong leaders, includ- whom he’d come to know over his tions actually lived together in board- ing such famous personalities as three decades in the House. He was a ing houses. When the first Congress Moakley and former House Speaker likeable and decent man, with a gentle convened in 1789, members of Penn- Tip O’Neill. Markey’s job is made eas- personal touch, whom people trusted sylvania’s delegation used their house ier by having a delegation unified by to settle their disagreements fairly- as a staging area for their plot to install party and, to a considerable extent, but who was not afraid to be firm. one of their own-Frederick A.C. background and ideology. But any Moakleywas “a good example of a guy Muhlenberg-as the first Speaker of such collection of egos and agendas is who could exercise power without the US House of Representatives. prone to disputes, rivalries, and in- pissing people off,”saysFrank. Perhaps Nowadays it’s hard to imagine such fighting requiring arbitration. Indeed, equally important was the raw power big egos crowding into the same kitchen Markey’s deanship got off to a rocky that Moakley derived from being the every evening (and who would do the start this summer, when some critics senior Democrat on the powerful House dishes?).But most state delegations still said he was too slow in uniting the del- Rules Committee, which sets the terms think of themselves as a team. And just egation to defend one of its members, of every legislative debate. as every good team has a captain, every Lowell Rep. , against People rightly remember Moakley good delegation has a strong“dean”- state House Speaker Thomas Finneran’s for winning lavish amounts of federal an authority figure who is equal parts plan to redistrict him out of his seat. pork for the state. But surely one rea- leader, judge, and enforcer. In his home Markey finally did get his colleagues to son he could do so was the way he kept state, a dean is expected to be a kind of sign a joint letter urging the Speaker to the delegation working together to

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