The group that draws new state legislative districts will make its first attempt to design maps for Rep. J. Paul Brown, Sen. Ellen Roberts and other Western Slope lawmakers next Monday.
The 11-member Reapportionment Commission heard testimony from half a dozen Western Slope residents this past Monday in Denver, but it did not make any decisions on new maps. It will pick a rough draft of a map next week and ask for feedback in public hearings in August, including one in Durango.
Bonnie Petersen, executive director of the Western Slope lobbying group Club 20, asked the commission to keep together counties with similar economic interests, like natural gas and tourism.
Its very helpful to have those counties that have a significant energy development economy to have a representative who understands those kinds of issues, Petersen said.
The three counties of La Plata, Archuleta and Montezuma work well in a single district, she said.
Commissioners have the option of putting Durango and Cortez in different districts.
Brown, R-Ignacio, represents a district that currently stretches from Pagosa Springs to Cortez. It includes Durango and the Southern Ute reservation, but not the Ute Mountain Ute reservation or western Montezuma County.
Roberts, R-Durango, has a Senate district that takes in all of the Four Corners and extends north to Montrose.
Both districts have about 1,000 more people than the ideal-sized district.
Colorado College Professor Bob Loevy serves as one of the five Republicans on the commission, which also has five Democrats and an unaffiliated chairman.
It seems to me we are developing two Western Slopes. One Western Slope is the destination ski counties, Loevy said, saying the areas around Vail, Aspen and other resorts are places where people who dont have to worry too much about when the next paycheck is coming.
The other Western Slope still makes its living from agriculture and energy development, he said.
Loevy suggested grouping the big ski counties into a single House district.
Legislators will run for the new districts beginning in 2012. The state draws new districts every 10 years, after the Census.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.
