Monday, March 30, 2009

The Claw

Senator Ed Kasemeyer is leading the legislative effort to rescue the petition challenging CB58. According to this story by Larry Carson in The Sun, his emergency bill seeks to “retroactively negate the harsher aspects of a Dec. 19 Court of Appeals ruling in a Montgomery County case.”

This is the second time this session that Mr. Ed has stepped into the thick of Howard County issues. Earlier in the session he wrote a letter to the editor of the Columbia Flier supporting the positions of Liz Bobo and CoFoDoCo on the future of Symphony Woods.

That got me to wondering who Mr. Ed actually represents. I knew that his senate district (Senate District 12) included most all of Arbutus and parts of Catonsville and Columbia but I wasn’t exactly sure what parts of Columbia.

What I found sort of surprised me. Senator Kasemeyer’s district resembles a claw that comes out of Arbutus and creeps into Howard County through Elkridge, shimmies up Route 100 to the intersection of MD Route 108 and US Route 29 and then reaches in to grab virtually all of west Columbia except River Hill.

It looks like this.
Certainly this isn’t the only odd shaped district in the state but it does stand in stark contrast to the other senatorial districts in Howard County.

This is Senator Alan Kittlemans district (Senate District 9).

This is Senator Jim Robeys district (Senate District 13).

These two seem to be much more logical with the boundary thing.

The state interactive legislative map is kind of neat but it is also flawed. When I entered in my home address it came up with a location that is about 7 miles away from my house…in Mr. Ed’s district no less!

6 comments:

Wilbur said...

What's your point or was this just mindless dribble like the kid who makes shadow figures in front of the projector?

Sen. Kasemeyer, whose constituents are very happy to have represent them (70% of electorate in 2006), is taking time from leading the Senate to address the statewide Board of Elections mess that is probably going to wind up in U.S. District Court.

Let's hope that he and the legislature can help the Bd of Elec fix this assault on the underpinnings of our democracy (ie. the right to vote) before a federal judge decides to do it for them.

Disgusted said...

I heard that Alan Kittleman was working with Kasemeyer to put a bipartisan Bill in. I guess the developer money helped change his point of view. So much for doing the right thing, without worrying about political contributions.

Dave W said...

That's the benefit of overwhelming one-party control. The majority party always gets to pick their constituents.

Anonymous said...

Wilbur, the point of the post is clear...Dave W filled in the blanks if you can't connect the dots.

Personally...I agree with the Bd of Elec decision and am quite sure it will be upheld in court.. time with tell though..

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Liz Bobo, it looks like she is the target of an ethics investigation.

Billy Bob said...

Dave W, were you referring to the disgraced former Speaker of the House, Tom DeLay, and his district gerrymandering of Texas?

It's amazing how the R's had the foresight to move the Orkin Man up to the head of the class. Have they thrown his pesticide laden ass in jail yet?