Proposed Redistricting Plan Would Split Farmington, Hills

A Republican plan for the State House, State Senate and Congressional seats unveiled yesterday would deeply affect representation in Farmington and Farmington Hills.

Under the new Congressional plan, Farmington would be moved into the 11th District, currently represented by Republican Thaddeus McCotter of Livonia. Farmington Hills would be shifted to the 14th, now represented by Democrat John Conyers.

Currently, both cities are in the 9th Congressional District, represented by Democrat Gary Peters of Bloomfield Hills. Peters would be moved into the redrawn district of Royal Oak's Sander Levin, which is mostly Levin's current 12th District of Macomb County with a small portion of Oakland County.

Peters and Levin quickly issued a joint statement Friday blasting the Republicans for the most “shamelessly partisan” plan the state has ever seen:

“Instead of drawing fair lines that follow community and county borders in a logical way, the Republican legislature has drafted a map so skewed that it exploits every trick in the book to gerrymander districts in ways that benefit Republican incumbents," the Congressmen's statement said. "The legislature and Governor Snyder should reject this gerrymandered map and draw congressional boundaries in a way that puts Michigan voters’ interests squarely ahead of flagrant partisan advantage."

Based on the Republican proposal, Peters can:

• decide not to run for re-election
• battle Levin, a 30-year veteran representative
• move into the new 11th District, which contains most of his current district.

Under the proposal, Oakland County would be broken into four congressional districts (8, 9, 11 and 14).

• District 8 would include Rochester and Rochester Hills and the rest of the northern half of the county (from Oakland and Addison townships west to Holly and Rome townships). District 8 is currently led by Congressman Mike Rodgers, a Republican.
• District 11 would include Farmington and the southern half of the county, from Clawson and Troy to Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham west to Milford and south to Canton.
• District 14 would include Farmington Hills as well as West Bloomfield, Pontiac, Southfield and parts of Wayne County.
• District 9 would include Royal Oak, Ferndale, Berkley, Huntington Woods, and Bloomfield Township.

A press release issued by Frank Houston, Chairman of the Oakland County Democratic Party, said the proposal "probably represents the most overt attempt to gerrymander for partisan advantage our state has ever seen."

According to the release, Houston echoed the concerns of Republican Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson, who suggested that the Congressional plans unveiled could result in Oakland County not having a representative in Congress.

Houston also expressed concerns about the process and called for more public hearings and transparency.

State lawmakers have until Nov. 1 to approve reapportionment maps, which are drawn every 10 years following release of U.S. Census figures. The law requires that all districts must be equal in population. Democrats are expected to release their proposals Monday, but Republicans control the redrawing of the districts because they hold the majorities in the state Senate, House and Supreme Court.

In addition, former Secretary of State candidate Jocelyn Benson spearheaded a state-wide redistricting competition that allowed citizens to submit their own reapportionment plans. In May, The Michigan Citizens' Redistricting Competition sent state lawmakers its highest scoring maps, based on eight criteria that included contiguity, compactness and compliance with the Voting Rights Act.