GOP members of St. Joseph County Council push for quick action on election maps

SOUTH BEND — Democrats and Republicans would each have three favorable St. Joseph County Council districts, while the three remaining seats could be battlegrounds, under election maps proposed by the council’s three GOP members.

The proposed maps could give Republicans a shot at breaking the two-thirds majority that allows council Democrats to pass ordinances without bi-partisan support and override vetoes by the all-GOP Board of Commissioners.

Republican council members Richard Pfeil, Mark Root and Mark Telloyan released the proposed maps on Wednesday and called for the council to act quickly to pass a redistricting plan before the end of the year.

The Commissioners, the county’s executive body, approved their new districts last month. But the council has yet to draw its own districts, and Democrats on the council have signaled they may further delay the process by suing over the commissioners’ maps.

“We believe it is important for the council to fulfill its statutory obligations to establish districts prior to the end of the year,” Telloyan said in a written statement, “rather than continue to focus on pointless threats of very expensive litigation.”

Council President Rafael Morton, a Democrat, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday afternoon. Attorney Kip Tew, whom council Democrats hired to represent the council in potential litigation over the district maps, also did not return a call.

The council has yet to file a lawsuit against the commissioners.

Telloyan noted state law on county redistricting calls for council maps to be redrawn in the year following the U.S. Census. That, he said, means the maps must be approved no later than Dec. 31.

Beyond the legal requirement, Telloyan pointed to the practical need to have the new districts drawn by Jan. 5, when candidates begin filing for the 2022 county elections.

“Candidates need to know the contours of their districts when they file,” Telloyan said in an interview.

Democratic council members threatened legal action after the commissioners passed a controversial redistricting plan that could give Republicans the edge in county elections for the next decade.

The council Democrats hired a team from the law firm Ice Miller, including Tew, a former Indiana Democratic Party chairman, and John Gregg, a former Indiana House speaker.

Drawn by Commissioners President Andy Kostielney with help from former Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma’s law firm, those maps would strengthen Republicans in two of the three commissioner districts while shifting Democrats and racial minorities to the third.

The commissioner maps could also create more GOP-friendly council districts. That’s because the council must draw its districts within the borders of the commissioner maps.

Republicans have more power over both the commissioner and council districts this year because of a recent change in state law that allowed the commissioners to create their maps without approval by the council.

The maps proposed Wednesday by the council Republicans could make it easier for the GOP to flip at least one Democratic-held seat. The GOP council members said they drew the maps with help from Bosma’s firm, at no additional cost to the county.

The districts currently represented by Pfeil, Root and Telloyan would maintain a Republican lean of at least 10 percentage points, according to data available through “Dave’s Redistricting,” an online mapping tool.

But District A, currently represented by Democratic Councilman Bobby Kruszynski, would be about 51% Republican under the proposed maps. It would still be considered a competitive district under the criteria used by Dave’s Redistricting, as would two districts with slight Democratic edges.

The remaining three districts, all within the South Bend city limits, would lean heavily toward Democrats.

Republicans have said the current council maps, last redrawn in 2011, packed large numbers of Republican voters into three districts while leaving the six remaining seats easier for Democrats to win.

Pfeil, Root and Telloyan called on the council to hold a public hearing on their proposed maps at its meeting Tuesday, and to hold a special meeting to pass the maps Dec. 28.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Joseph County Council Republicans push new election district maps