The waiting is over for the sponsor of the legislation establishing Missouri’s new congressional districts. The state supreme court says he and fellow lawmakers who drew the lines did their jobs well enough. Representative John Diehl of Town and Country says the result is unprecedented nationally–a map eliminates a member of congress, enacted despite a govenor’s veto. The map eliminates Russ Carnahan’s district. He’s running against Congressman William Lacey Clay in the redrawn first district, St. Louis.
One of the supreme court judges continues to question two districts–the sixth of Northwest Missouri and the fifth, which stretches from Kansas City into rural areas as far west as Saline County.
Diehl concedes there might have been a way to draw those districts better….but it would have upset all the other districts.
Diehl says there were a lot of times when it looked as if the job would never get done, especially after the governor vetoed the bill and lawsuits challenged the map after the legislature overrode the veto. He says he was never worried about the length of time it took the court to make up its mind.