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These poor House Republican leaders just can't seem to get it right.
Last week, the Chair of the Special Committee on Redistricting, Rep. Paul Mirski (R- Enfield), took heat during a committee hearing for the obvious lack of transparency and public input in the redistricting process this year. The criticism so bothered Rep. Mirski that, even though he had recused himself from the committee at that particular point to introduce and lobby for a bill he was introducing, he retook his seat specifically to negate the charges.
Disagreeing with the criticism levied by America Votes NH, Chair Mirski told committee members that the public did not need to be involved in the redistricting process because:
"It's a very complicated problem and quite frankly because it is a mathematical problem it doesn't lend itself to the sort of give and take with the public that may have been the case in the previous redistricting ... We have been holding off on this because we really have no way to utilize the public forum to get those answers. I just want to make that point." - Rep. Mirski, Redistricting Committee, 9.20.11
Never mind that public input sessions are a common and expected practice of past redistricting committees.
Just over a week later, though, Rep. Mirski is changing his tune and has announced a press conference for this coming Tuesday morning to release details on a series of 10 public hearings across the state related to redistricting. (Perhaps our poking around State House archives and the several inquiries to committee members past and present to determine the public input process and timeline for past redistricting committees caught his attention?)
In any case, our efforts to call for and pressure for public hearings seems to have produced some action. Only problem is, it appears it's not the type of action we were looking for, as it turns out Rep. Mirski booked the space for the press conference at least 24 hours prior to even notifying committee members about the potential for said public hearings. That's right: the rest of the redistricting committee knows nothing about these events. Furthermore, the committee members are invited to attend the press conference where they will hear the dates, times and locations for these events which should, under any reasonable expectation, inform them in the redistricting process and at which they should be in attendance.
See full GSP press release for the email.
How is this an open and transparent process, if the very committee members assigned to do redistricting have no prior knowledge of the events, no say in the dates or times, and no prior collaboration regarding what will be presented, shared or expected in those venues?
Our better read on what these events really are: a hasty public relations maneuver to head off criticism of the poor redistricting process by the NH House Leadership. And Speaker O'Brien and his leadership team should receive no applause for a half-asked attempt at something which they had to be pressured to do in the first place.
In any case, we will be at those public hearings, whatever and wherever they turn out to be, and we will continue to call for an open and transparent process with real, intentional public involvement. Which includes the fact that the public - and committee members - have yet to receive any type of redistricting plan or use of the software that has been developed for it, and as of tomorrow, it is October.
