IMPORTANT #2: House Re-apportionment (Sen. Grantham)

Greetings all - again:

My note from earlier today dealt primarily with the Senate District changes for SE Colorado. This note will address the House districts. Again the links to the maps are as follows:

House Maps: http://1.usa.gov/oTGLwE

Senate Maps: http://1.usa.gov/pOeQ73

The changes to the House districts in our area cover several issues and I'll address them accordingly.

For Fremont County, the split in the county goes from three districts down to two: we actually lose the portion of HD47 (Swerdfeger) that is in SE Fremont and the Lincoln Park area of Canon City. Those precincts are essentially split between 60 and 21. This remaining split is unnecessary. All of Fremont could easily be put in 60 and kept whole. Rep. Gardner (21) could easily retract into El Paso County with minor line adjustments to the other districts in El Paso to adjust for population. I would encourage all of our Fremont residents to attend the meeting and testify for keeping Fremont whole. At the very least a split could happen that actually makes sense this time around such as following the line between RE1 and RE2 school districts instead of the current or proposed hack jobs.

Las Animas County: You're county has been severed from the rest of SE Colorado and included with HD 47 in Pueblo County. I don't believe that this is even remotely in the best interest of LA County. Given the issues and nature of the county including ranching, Pinon Canyon, oil & gas, etc., it is far better served remaining with the SE area counties such as Otero, Bent, Baca, and Prowers.

Others: The above are just a couple of issues that have an end result of negatively affecting you as well through diluted representation. There are other options for how these lines can be drawn that would keep communities of interest together. If LA County stays with the SE area then 47 must find its population elsewhere from adjoining counties, possibly Custer, Crowley, and a more sensible split of Fremont. The loss of Crowley and gain of Las Animas in HD 64 would result in an oversized district and the need to drop some population - possibly from Elbert County. There are several ripple effects like these that would need to be addressed if the necessary changes are made to the proposed maps.

If you are from one of these other counties and are so inclined I would encourage you to come and testify on these issues and for the integrity of SE Colorado - especially in regard to the treatment of Las Animas and Fremont counties.

If you have the same or similar concerns with these maps please find the time to come testify at one of the following meetings. Share this information with other concerned citizens in your county so that they can make their voice heard.

Thank you all and I look forward to seeing you at the meetings.

Kevin Grantham
Senator, Colorado District 2
kevin.grantham.senate@state.co.us

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