Doyle says drawing of district lines shouldn’t be done by lawmakers

Legislation would put process in nonpartisan hands

Testimony wrapping up today in a trial on how Wisconsin lawmakers redraw assembly district boundaries every 10 years.

Critics say Republicans drew boundaries in a Frankenstein gerrymandering process five years ago, that only served to consolidate their power in the state assembly. 
Onalaska state rep. Steve Doyle agrees.

Doyle says the process shouldn’t be in lawmakers’ hands at all.

“I think that the Iowa model, which is a nonpartisan body that draws the lines, makes the most sense,” Doyle said.

Doyle is a sponsor of legislation that would put the once-a-decade redistricting process into the hands of a panel of nonpartisan judges. 

The way the process was done, Doyle said, it should be called what it is.

“When a professional football player deflates a ball to gain an unfair advantage in a game, we call that cheating,” Doyle explained. “When a political party manipulates a district line to gain an unfair advantage, we call that gerrymandering. But it’s still cheating.”

It will be weeks to even months before the three-judge panel hearing the case in Madison rules on the issue.