State Panel OKs Shift Of Local Voters To New District

By John Voket

Newtown will be split from two to three state legislative districts, moving about 1,000 voters from the western part of town — mostly in the Dodgingtown area — to a newly organized district that will also include parts of Bethel, Redding and Danbury.

The Bee learned just hours ahead of an anticipated 4 pm vote on Wednesday, November 30, that a bipartisan legislative redistricting committee was close to rendering the decision about redrawing statehouse districts across the state.

Representative Chris Lyddy, who will lose about 1,000 constituents from his 106th District, said the redistricting committee was proposing House and Senate districts based on census numbers.

“Instead of two representatives, Newtown will now have three,” Rep Lyddy told The Bee following the vote. “One section will continue to be served by Monroe’s representative [currently DebraLee Hovey], one representative will remain solely with the majority of Newtown, and the newest addition to our team will be from Bethel. Currently, this particular seat also represents parts of Danbury and Redding.”

Rep Lyddy said that the Newtown constituents involved will be moved to the Second General Assembly District.

“I do not believe this move favors the Democrats or the Republicans in Newtown with regard to the electability of the 106th District or any other district Newtown will be served by,” he said.

Rep Lyddy said he currently enjoys a positive, collaborative, and supportive relationship with both Rep Hovey and Senate Minority Leader John McKinney.

“I welcome the new representative from Bethel to the table and trust he or she will embrace the people of our community as well as the type of leadership that we appreciate and deserve here in Newtown,” Rep Lyddy said.

First Selectman Pat Llodra said that while Newtown may enjoy some advantages having three voices speaking for Newtowners, she was concerned the new district’s representative would not be able to fully advocate for Newtown’s needs.

“Where Representative Hovey’s district has very similar needs to Newtown, I feel we’ve been manipulated for the better of someone else’s districting plan,” Mrs Llodra said. “I’m not a fan of this outcome. It is not in Newtown’s best interests. We are not well served by having two of our three representatives serving slices of geography that have proximity to other towns.”

The bipartisan panel rendered its statewide redistricting plans just under the wire on the final day before the decision would have reverted into the hands of the courts. This after The Connecticut Mirror reported that the panel had already has missed an earlier deadline.

When the legislature’s eight-member Reapportionment Committee failed to finish by September 15, the panel was reconstituted as a Reapportionment Commission with the addition of a ninth tie-breaking member, former state auditor Kevin Johnston. But Mr Johnston was not part of the daily negotiations.

The two Democratic House members on the panel met regularly with the two Republican House members, focusing exclusively on drawing 151 state House districts. And the two Democratic senators on the commission conducted the same exercise with the two Republican senators, exchanging revised maps of 36 state Senate districts, according to The Mirror.

Contacted about the prospect of a third voting district, Newtown’s Democratic Registrar LeReine Frampton echoed the first selectman’s sentiments, saying, “I don’t like it.”

Ms Frampton said that Newtown already has 2,000 of its 16,000 registered voters represented by a lawmaker whose primary voting population resides in Monroe. Monroe has 12,847 registered voters according to an official in that community.

Ms Frampton said that if a newly proposed district accommodates 1,000 voters from Newtown and tens of thousands between Danbury, Redding, and Bethel, it is logical to assume the elected official will be most responsive to the largest constituency that can get them reelected.

The Newtown registrar said she anticipated a shift or change in the local districts, however, and was holding off on changes to local polling places until the state formalized its redistricting. Ms Frampton said the town will now move to a three-polling-place system instead of the current four.

“In 2012, we will be going to the middle school gym, the Reed School cafetorium, and the old cafeteria at Newtown High School,” she said. “That way the polling places are close enough to still be convenient if a voter goes to the wrong location, and all three will be easily accessible for commuters who are heading from or to [Interstate] 84.”

Connecticut grew by about 1.4 million people over the past ten years and as a result, the ideal population of each state House and Senate district increased. The Reapportionment Committee was bound to redraw the General Assembly lines so that each district’s population falls within five percent of 99,280 people in each state Senate district and 23,669 people in each state House district, according to The Mirror.