House redistricting could divide Gunnison and Crested Butte

County Dems lead charge to keep the valley united

Gunnison County Democrats have been mobilizing opposition to a proposal to split Gunnison County into different legislative districts for the Colorado House of Representatives.

Under a proposal put forth by the Reapportionment Commission, a committee of five Democrats, five Republicans and one independent, Mt. Crested Butte, Crested Butte and Crested Butte South would be part of District 61, with Delta County. The city of Gunnison would be part of District 58, with Montrose.
“Our concern is that if you were a candidate and had Delta County in your district, and you’re campaigning, would you go there to campaign or would you go to Crested Butte? Especially when you have to go through the city of Gunnison, which is not even part of your district?” said Democratic party co-chair Maureen Hall. “This is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. It’s an issue of losing our representation, no matter who’s in office.”
According to Hall, redistricting is completed every 10 years, following the U.S. Federal Census, for both the Senate and the House. Reapportionment for the Senate left Gunnison County intact.
“The mandate is to make sure districts have a pretty much equal number of people in each district, so it’s governed by population,” Hall said.
But as the State of Colorado web site explains, while federal law requires equal population, the courts have considered the role of racial discrimination, the compactness of districts, the preservation of county and municipal boundaries and the preservation of communities of interest in their review of redistricting plans.
Hall went before a joint meeting the Gunnison County Board of Commissioners and the Gunnison City Council on Tuesday, July 19, and later that day, co-chair Ramon Reed attended the regular meeting of the Board of County Commissioners to further address concerns, which include the removal or disruption of “communities of interest”—ethnic, economic, cultural, demographic and geographic communities that have an interest in being preserved.
 The Board of County Commissioners have chosen to focus on those communities of interest in drafting a letter to the Reapportionment Commission in support of preserving Gunnison County as one district. Commissioner Hap Channell prepared the draft letter.
“The emphasis is on communities of interest, and outlining how we do that,” Channell said. He went on to read from the draft, which stated that in spite of Gunnison County’s large size, only 15 percent is privately owned, making it a close-knit community.
“We are a uniform socioeconomic entity that should not be split,” the letter stated.
Reed informed the commissioners that under the state constitution, “except when necessary to meet equal population requirements, no part of one county shall be added to a part or all of another county.” He also indicated the state constitution mandates that communities of interest shall be preserved within a single district wherever possible.
“My argument is that it’s not necessary [to split the county] because there’s another plan that doesn’t split it,” Reed said.
According to Reed, Reapportionment Commission member Matt Jones proposed a plan that keeps the county whole. He urged the commissioners to attend a public hearing to be held Friday, August 5, at 6 p.m. in the Aspinall Wilson Center in Gunnison. Commissioner Phil Chamberland said that two of the three commissioners would attend.
Channell added, “We commented in our joint meeting that we really need to beat the bushes to get the people out. We need to be out there en masse and speaking with one voice.”
But while Reed indicated that fellow Democrat Jim Starr had reached out to Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte, the councils of which he said supported keeping the county whole, local Republicans might not be on the same page.
“I haven’t really had a chance to speak with other party members, but of course the Republican party is going to be happy if we can get more conservative representation that would be offered up by being with Montrose,” said Gunnison Republican party chairman Scott Rennick. “Are we wild about being split? Not necessarily.”
“It would be a headache for the county and the elections office. But we would be happy being in a Republican district—we’ve been working hard for that.”
According to Rennick, the Democrats did reach out to him about forming an alliance, but he says it’s too early to tell how the Republicans will become involved. That may start to become more clear as they gather for a rally on Sunday, July 27. But as for communities of interest, Rennick is not convinced that changes in district representation would have that great of an impact on how the county functions.
“I don’t really see it changing any functions of the county itself. The county government will operate the same way it always has, and the people in the county, with only the districts being changed, it’s kind of like okay, let’s move on,” Rennick said.
The Board of County Commissioners plans to contact Reapportionment Commission members directly, in addition to formally submitting a letter. Following the public hearings, the Reapportionment Commission will finalize the reapportionment plan and submit it to the Colorado Supreme Court for review within 45 days of completing the public hearings.