This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 5, 2011 - Missouri state legislators charged with redrawing the state's remaining eight congressional districts got an earful Friday from local political and civic leaders -- and a few average citizens -- concerned with how the new boundary lines will affect the clout of the region and its residents.
A public hearing in the morning, held by the state Senate panel at Harris Stowe State University, focused on the importance of preserving the 1st District's racial makeup so that its voters can continue to elect an African-American as their congressman.
"We want a representative who looks like us, is concerned about us,'' said the Rev. Sammie Jones, political action committee chairman for the St. Louis Clergy Coalition.
The hearing in the afternoon, held by the state House panel in Clayton, largely dealt with a bipartisan call for retaining three congressional districts in the St. Louis area. But the debate is over which parts of the region get placed into which districts.
For example: St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and Jeff Rainford, chief of staff for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, argued against crafting a congressional district that combines part of St. Louis region with rural territory from southeast or northern parts of the state.
The seemingly separate concerns of both hearings hinge, primarily, on how the 1st District is treated. That district will likely need to be drawn first, with the neighboring districts fit in around it.
The 1st District remains Missouri's only district with a majority minority population. The 1st was the state's first to elect an African American to Congress -- Democrat William L. Clay Sr. in 1968 -- and is now represented by his son, U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr.
As a result, the 1st District is protected by federal voting-rights laws that, in effect, seek to guarantee that the African Americans in the district retain their advantage.
But the 1st District also lost more population than any other district in the state, so it's guaranteed to take in some of its neighbors' turf. The only issue is where.
Adolphus Pruitt, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, cited at the morning hearing Missouri's past as a racially segregated (and former slave) state. He said his group and others will closely monitor the new congressional boundary line "to make sure it protects the voting rights of African-Americans."
But some St. Louis County residents, Republicans in particular, dislike the fact that since the 2000 census, the 1st District now also includes part of west St. Louis County, including Creve Coeur and Maryland Heights.
The afternoon House hearing featured lots of testimony from those who want those areas, which are predominantly white, removed from the 1st.
Some south county political activists also testified at the afternoon hearing that they did not want their area included in a congressional district with any part of the city of St. Louis. That is the current situation. The 3rd District now spans from roughly Interstate 44 in the city of St. Louis through south St. Louis County, Jefferson and Ste. Genevieve counties.
Kurt Witzel, GOP committeeman for Oakville Township, said south county should be included in the same congressional district as southwest and west parts of St. Louis County, with which it has more in common. The city and south county, said Witzel, "have different interests, different lifestyles."
Meanwhile, the hearing at Harris Stowe focused on a different question facing the 1st District: How many African Americans must reside in the 1st District to guarantee that a black candidate is elected?
At issue is the fact that the 1st District's African-American population stands at 56 percent, according to the recent census. White residents made up 39 percent, while the rest were split among Asians, Hispanics and other minorities.
Some 1st District African-American leaders want that percentage to remain -- or increase. That would also mesh with the desire of some predominantly white county areas that want to be removed from the 1st.
But others argued Friday that it would be politically counterproductive -- and perhaps impossible -- to pack all of the region's minorities into one congressional district simply so an African American can hold the seat.
Eric Vickers, a lawyer and political activist who is African American, told state senators at the morning hearing that they shouldn't feel bound by the unofficial rule that a congressional district needs to have a black population of 60 percent or more to make it likely that an African-American is elected.
Vickers asserted that the racial breakdowns in the neighboring 2nd and 3rd Districts -- which had black populations of 3 percent and 9 percent, respectively -- indicated that "you'd have to take every black person'' in those districts and put them into the 1st to reach the 60 percent threshhold.
Vickers said he was concerned that the result would simply worsen the region's racial polarization, while leaving minorities with no voice or representation in other congressional districts.
Vickers suggested in an interview later than an American-American percentage in the low to mid-50s might be adequate for the 1st -- while allowing at least one neighboring district to have a sizable black population.
"It's worth the discussion,'' Vickers said. "I don't want to see all the African-American voting influence in one district."
Meanwhile, city Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed joined in the call of the mayor and the county executive for legislators to consider the broader issue of retaining three members of Congress in the St. Louis region -- even as the state loses a seat, and St. Louis loses population.
Reed and political science professor David Kimball emphasized that the region's population -- including the collar suburbs -- is close to 40 percent of the state's total.
Rainford said that the region also provides about 40 percent of its economic output. "Don't kill the 'golden goose,' " Rainford testified, explaining that reduced congressional representation will hurt the region's political -- and economic -- clout.
And some of the region's outer suburbs agreed. Jefferson County Executive Ken Waller beseeched legislators to keep the county in one congressional district -- and a district that includes other parts of the metro area.
Mike Clynch, the former Moscow Mills mayor, argued that Lincoln County also remain in the same congressional district with St. Charles and St. Louis counties. He told legislators he was concerned by talk that Lincoln might be carved out and placed in a new district largely made up of rural northern Missouri.
Lincoln, said Clynch, isn't rural anymore.
The chairmen of both panels -- state Rep. John Diehl, R-Town and Country, and state Sen. Scott Rupp, R-Wentzville -- say preliminary drawings of the new boundary lines are likely to begin next week.
