MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin state Senate on Tuesday passed Republican-drawn maps that creates new political boundary lines for all 132 members of the Legislature and eight congressional districts, despite pleas from Democrats that the maps were illegal and being pushed through in advance of upcoming recall elections.
No Democrats voted for the maps, which passed on a party line 19-14 vote. Democrats offered no alternative maps or any other changes.
The Assembly plans to vote on the maps Wednesday and have Republican Gov. Scott Walker sign them before recall elections in August.
Democrats argued that Republicans were moving quickly on redistricting because they are afraid of losing majority control of the Senate this summer as a result of the nine recall elections, six of which target incumbent Republicans. Democrats need to pick up three seats to reclaim the majority they lost following the 2010 election.
"This is a huge power grab by a party that's worried about losing the majority in a couple weeks," said Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach of Waunakee.
Typically, the Legislature doesn't consider the once-a-decade process of redistricting until the fall. The new lines, which are required to be drawn to address about a 320,000-person population increase over the past decade, don't take effect until the fall 2012 elections.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald defended the maps and the timing, saying they weren't rushed or drawn to protect GOP incumbents.
"In the end, this map does exactly what we hoped it would do — live up to any legal challenge that could be offered on a constitutional basis," Fitzgerald said.
Democratic opponents pointed out numerous problems they saw with the maps, including the distribution of the minority Hispanic population in Milwaukee and how lines are redrawn around Racine and Kenosha. They also criticized Republicans for spending $350,000 to date on private attorneys to help draw the maps, at the same time Democrats were not allowed to hire their own attorneys to come up with an alternate plan.
"The map may be legal, but it's not fair," said Democratic Sen. Fred Risser of Madison, who's been involved with redistricting for decades. Risser is the longest-serving state lawmaker in the country, first elected to the Legislature in 1956.
Risser decried the lack of public involvement in the crafting of the maps, which were released publically on July 8, saying he's never seen a more secretive process.
Despite the heated rhetoric, the ultimate determiner of where the new political boundary lines will be drawn could rest in federal court. Federal judges drew the state's legislative maps each of the past three times, when a politically divided Legislature couldn't agree on maps.
A federal lawsuit was filed last month by former Senate Democratic Majority Leader Judy Robson of Beloit and 14 other citizens. They asked for a federal three-judge panel to develop a redistricting plan if lawmakers do not put a constitutional plan in place in a timely fashion.
The legislative map makes a number of changes to the current 99 Assembly and 33 Senate districts. Twelve Republicans and 10 Democrats are being forced to run against an incumbent in the newly drawn districts.
Senate Democrats also complained about the redrawing of two Senate district boundaries in the southeast corner of the state that would join the cities of Kenosha and Racine into one district and place the western parts of the counties into another. Currently, the districts are broken up largely along county lines.
The change would put Democratic Sen. Bob Wirch of Pleasant Prairie in the same district as Republican Sen. Van Wanggaard of Racine. That new district would be heavily Republican, while the one encompassing the cities of Racine and Kenosha, which Wirch would be outside of by just a few blocks, would be heavily Democratic.
Wirch is one of three Democrats facing a recall election. Both of his Republican challengers would also no longer live in the district he currently represents. That means whoever wins the Aug. 16 recall election would either have to run in 2012 in the new district or move.
Two Democrats running against Republican Sens. Luther Olsen of Ripon and Rob Cowles of Allouez also would no longer reside in the district they are seeking to serve. That affects state Rep. Fred Clark of Baraboo, who is taking on Olsen, and Nancy Nusbaum, who's challenging Cowles.
The congressional map moves Portage County and eastern Wood County from the 7th District, along with Democratic-leaning cities of Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids and Chippewa Falls, and puts them into the 3rd District. It also moves Republican-leaning areas including Vilas and St. Croix counties into the 7th District.
That would make the 7th District, currently represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, slightly more Republican. The moves would make the 3rd District, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, more Democratic.
The map passed by the Senate also keeps the home of Pat Kreitlow, a former state senator and Democratic candidate for Congress next year, in the 7th Congressional District. However, it removes his base of support in Chippewa Falls, where he used to work as a television news anchor.