Politicians brace reapportionment
election districts

Every 10 years a panel redraws
the districts to adjust for changes
in Hawaii's population

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By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

The 2002 election season unofficially begins on Friday, when a bipartisan state panel meets for the first time in a decade to redraw state political districts using new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

For politicians like state Rep. Mark Moses (R, Makakilo-Ewa-Waipahu), what the nine-member 2001 Reapportionment Commission decides by Halloween will affect how he conducts his re-election campaign next year.

Moses has watched the population in his broad district -- which covers Village Park, Ewa Villages, Kapolei and Makakilo -- expand by 33.9 percent since 1990.

The huge residential increase makes it one of the "must-redo" districts when commissioners tweak all 76 state legislative and two U.S. House district boundaries in a process called reapportionment.

"I just hope they use common sense, and that's it," Moses said.

"In the past there's been gerrymandering just to keep somebody out of a district or to move boundaries to make it difficult for them," he said.

The state Constitution requires that the commission redo political district boundaries every 10 years to ensure the integrity of a "one person, one-vote" democracy.

That is done by adjusting district boundaries so the populations in each are about the same.

This year, the panel also must stagger the 25 state Senate seats, which will all be up for election next year.

Reapportionment commissioners, appointed last month by Senate and House majority and minority leaders, will meet at 6 p.m. Friday at the state Capitol.

The members are Deron Akiona, Rick Clifton, Jill Frierson, Lori Hoo, Lynn Kinney, Kenny Lum, Harold Matsumoto and David Rae.

The group must select an independent ninth member to serve as chairperson by May 31 or the Hawaii Supreme Court will do the picking.

Also, legislative leaders must choose others from each island to serve on apportionment advisory councils to the commission.

"Incumbent lawmakers and people who are considering running are intensely interested (in reapportionment)," said Clifton, the only appointee who served on the 1991 Reapportionment Commission.

"Some of them spend a lot of time checking the maps each time you come out with a new version. Others just think they don't have any control of the process and sit back and see what comes," he said.

Clifton, legal counsel for the Hawaii GOP and a leading candidate for federal appointment to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said the panel must wait for adjusted population figures from the 2000 Census before it can begin to redraw political boundaries.

Census data released last month showed Maui County's population increased by 27.6 percent since 1990, while Hawaii County rose by 23.6 percent. Kauai County showed a 14.2 percent hike.

Honolulu City and County showed only a 4.8 percent increase.

By town, the population of Kihei, Maui, increased by 50.8 percent -- the most statewide -- followed by Kapolei on Oahu.

Foremost on the commission's agenda is the selection of a chairperson acceptable to all. Rae, who was appointed by Senate Democrats, said reapportionment is by its very nature a political exercise, but the equality provided in Hawaii is different from the way other states handle redistricting.

"I think representative democracy is very important," said Campbell Estate's public affairs manager.

"It is the foundation for what we're all about. It's not just an exercise in politics; it's really how people get heard," Rae said.

Once a chairperson is selected, the commission will have 150 days, or until the end of October, to develop a final reapportionment plan that it then will file with Chief Elections Officer Dwayne Yoshina.

Statewide public hearings will be scheduled after preliminary redistricting is completed.