‘Thuggish way’: At trial, Democratic senator slams Republican-led process to redraw map
A Kansas Democratic senator testified that the Legislature pushed through a Republican-drawn congressional map in a “thuggish way,” as a trial opened Monday over whether the new district lines are unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
Former Senate President Susan Wagle also loomed large, with opponents and defenders of the map clashing over the significance of the Wichita Republican’s now-infamous remarks in 2020 that lawmakers, with a GOP supermajority, could “draw four Republican congressional maps.”
The bench trial, before Judge Bill Klapper in Wyandotte County District Court, is just one step in a lawsuit that is all but guaranteed to end with a decision by the Kansas Supreme Court. But it is still a crucial event for Democrats and fair map advocates who contend that the lines are racially and politically gerrymandered.
“I think this process really brought a lot of shame and discredit on the Legislature,” Sen. Ethan Corson, a Fairway Democrat, testified.
The map, which was approved along party lines over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto, splits Wyandotte County, the state’s most racially and ethnically diverse county, along Interstate-70.
The southern half of the county remains in the 3rd Congressional District, represented by Sharice Davids. The 3rd District stretches south through Johnson County and the more rural Franklin and Anderson counties. Democrats fear the redrawn district will harm the ability of Democrats to win elections there.
The northern half of Wyandotte County is placed in the 2nd Congressional District represented by Republican Rep. Jake LaTurner. The map also separates Lawrence from the rest of Douglas County, combining the left-leaning college town with rural central and western Kansas.
The state of Kansas, led by Solicitor General Brant Laue and other attorneys, said lawmakers had the power to redraw district boundaries and that population growth required changes.
“These are all Census-driven decisions,” attorney Anthony Rupp said.
The opening statements and early testimony centered on both the map itself – the way district lines cut across counties and minority communities – and how lawmakers arrived at their decision.
Mark Johnson, an attorney representing some of the plaintiffs, said the redistricting process played out “behind closed doors, out of public view.”
‘A box-checking exercise’
Corson, a member of the Senate Redistricting Committee, said he only learned that the committee planned to embark on a lightning-fast 14-stop listening tour of Kansas at the same time the public did. Many of the stops during the August tour were held during working hours, limiting the ability of Kansans to participate, he said.
Democrats were sounding alarms about an unfair process as early as July. Times and dates for the Legislative tour, they said previously, were set with short notice and without consulting the minority party.
In November lawmakers held four virtual town halls to hear more feedback from Kansans.
Corson testified that the behavior of Republican lawmakers during the listening tour was often disrespectful, with members on their phones as residents spoke. A photo was shown in court of Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, and other lawmakers looking at their phones during a Johnson County stop.
“The tour was really just a box checking exercise,” Corson said.
Proposed congressional maps were unveiled the first week of the legislative session. Within a week the map had passed through committee and the Senate as a whole. The following Monday the map was approved in the House of Representatives and sent to Gov. Laura Kelly’s desk.
The Senate and House held their hearings on the maps simultaneously in separate rooms of the Capitol. Witnesses complained that they’d been given inadequate time to process the consequences of the map before submitting testimony. Detailed data on the maps was made public hours before hearings began.
Corson said that after Kelly vetoed the map, the veto was overridden in a “thuggish way,” though he didn’t elaborate on the stand. Subpoenas issued in the case indicate Republican senators may eventually be called to speak to why they voted in favor of the map.
Rupp, who cross-examined Corson, said “it’s not a big surprise” that Corson, a former executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party, wouldn’t be happy with the map. Rupp emphasized several times through questioning that lawmakers have the power to exercise legislative judgment in setting congressional district boundaries.
Wagle’s role downplayed
Rupp questioned Corson about how many times Wagle voted on the map and how many times she publicly addressed the redistricting committee. Both times, the answer was none. Corson testified he has never personally met Wagle.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs opened the trial by playing a video clip of Wagle’s speech and played it again later in the day during Corson’s testimony. “She wasn’t involved,” Rupp said flatly at one point.
Wagle, who is no longer in the Legislature and wasn’t present in court, didn’t respond to a call Monday.
Much of the day’s testimony turned on sometimes-arcane discussions of the analysis performed by expert witnesses called by the plaintiffs. The state has its own expert witnesses, but isn’t expected to call them until later in the trial.
Jowei Chen, a political science professor at the University of Michigan, had a computer draw 1,000 versions of Kansas congressional maps, using non-partisan and traditional guidelines. In a written report, he said the approved map goes “beyond any ‘natural’ level of electoral bias” caused by state’s political geography or the political composition of the state’s voters.
Nearly 99% of computer simulations Chen ran using non-partisan, traditional redistricting criteria created fewer Republican-leaning districts than the map passed by lawmakers.
The map, Chen testified in court, makes the 3rd District “as invulnerable as possible for Republicans.”
Gary Ayers, an attorney for the state, attempted to poke holes in Chen’s methodology during cross-examination. He questioned Chen about the decision to program his algorithm to prioritize not dividing counties into multiple districts as opposed to keeping whole counties in the same district.
Ayers and other attorneys for the government defendants at several points during the day spoke about how one county was split in order to keep the Kickapoo reservation all in one congressional district.
The trial resumes Tuesday.
The Star’s Katie Bernard contributed to this report
This story was originally published April 4, 2022 at 9:07 PM with the headline "‘Thuggish way’: At trial, Democratic senator slams Republican-led process to redraw map."
