In redistricting fight, Valley gains more power

All signs seem to indicate that the fight over redistricting has reached a conclusion.

The parties crying foul over the map the state redistricting board drew have told the media they do not intend to appeal their lawsuit to the state’s highest court.

If they let the allotted 30 days lapse without filing an appeal, then we know in what manner the Valley has been redrawn into districts for the House of Representatives.

In the end, we think, the Valley came out on top. We won for ourselves both a new representative and a new senator. Senate districts that were heretofore been made up of a Valley district and a district from somewhere else are no longer drawn that way, meaning our interests in the Senate will no longer be diluted.

That’s not to say we approve of the process that arrived at this result. We would remind residents that these are the maps Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss endorsed in our names, but as a private citizen from his home email account without approval from the assembly. And these are the maps that assistant Republican party chairman Steve Colligan’s company had contracts to draw for more than one group submitting plans to the board. He even drew the map DeVilbiss submitted.

The appeals court may have seen no evidence of gerrymandering, but we’re not sold on that premise, whether the parties to the lawsuit decide to appeal or not. Regardless, we prefer more transparent governance that avoids even the appearance of gerrymandering.

Still, this version of the map may even amplify the Valley’s political clout. Since Valley voters also make up a majority of the residents in the Butte/Chugiak district, Mat-Su issues will likely dominate there, too.

And although Valley voters are not dominant in the Sutton/Valdez/Delta Junction seat, the other voices are split between multiple disparate communities. We have seen three-way races there split almost evenly by candidates coming from different communities.

The Valley, it would seem, has a good chance of dominating that district as well.

Our hope is that whomever we pick to fill those seats — and there are a number of people who have already filed — will be judicious stewards of the Valley’s growing political power.

We are coming into our own here in Mat-Su. We are building a jobs base with health care, public education, a prison and rail and port projects. We will soon be generating our own power, too.

We are, in short, making our presence felt on a statewide level. We hope that inspires our representatives to feel an extra measure of responsibility to govern wisely, as they bring a Mat-Su perspective to our legislative dialogue.