DENVER As a two-week trial to draw Colorados new Congressional districts drew near to a close Friday, a Democratic political operator pulled back the curtain on the partisan calculations behind the whole process.
The trial before Denver Chief District Judge Robert Hyatt is on a one-week break, with closing arguments scheduled for next Monday.
For the past two weeks, Republicans, Democrats and Latino groups made their case for new borders for the seven districts. Lawyers tried to convince Hyatt that their maps were the best at following the legal criteria for districts compactness, respect for communities of interest and minority voting blocs, and balanced populations.
The last witness was Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut, who offered two of his own maps as a compromise between Democratic and Republican plans.
In his two-and-a-half hours on the stand, Thiebaut said what others would not.
Partisan politics is part of the mixture of what we do when we draw these lines, whether we like to admit it or not, Thiebaut said.
The Democrat served as Senate Majority Leader in 2001, and he was closely involved in drawing new district lines for both the Legislature and Congress.
Thiebaut freely admitted to trying to draw maps in 2001 that benefitted Democrats and drew Republican incumbents out of their districts. He also said that in 2001, he tried to draw a new 7th Congressional District that he could run in and win. (Ultimately, Thiebaut did not run, and Republican Bob Beauprez won the districts first race.)
Thiebaut was not part of the Democratic team this year, but urged the judge to draw his own map, using Thiebauts as a template.
If I were to start drawing a map, I would start with this map right here and then make changes off it. Because its a balance between the Democrats and Republicans, Thiebaut said.
Although he acknowledged his desire to help Democrats, he said his plan would create five or six competitive districts more than either major partys map.
Like the maps from the Democrats and Republicans, Thiebaut would make few changes to the Western Slope. But he offered a much different take on the Front Range and Eastern Plains, where Republicans are trying to protect their incumbents and Democrats have targeted U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, a Republican who currently has a safe district in Denvers south suburbs.
New districts are drawn every 10 years to rebalance population. The issue landed in Hyatts courtroom because the Legislature failed to adopt a map.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.