Where was Jim?

Roll Call announces that "Voting rights advocates will join" Government Reform Chair Tom Davis (R-VA) today "when he announces the reintroduction of his bill to create a full-fledged House seat" for DC.

According to Davis' office, DC Mayor Anthony Williams (D), DC Council Chair Linda Cropp (D), ex-Reps. Jack Kemp (R-NY) and Susan Molinari (R-NY), UT Reps. Chris Cannon (R) and Rob Bishop (R), and DC Shadow Rep. Ray Browne (D) will all be on hand for the announcement. DC Del Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) will be "absent from the proceedings."

And what about Jim Matheson (D-UT)? He is the one most likely to be affected by this bill. In the past he has been supportive of the idea that Utah should get another district. But which would he run in, the redone 2nd or the new 4th? If I remember correctly, the 4-seat redistrict plan by the UT leglisture had the 4th centered around Taylorsville, where Jim did quite well in 2000. It is very likely that Jim would jump into that seat, creating an open seat race for district that would be extremely difficult for any Utah Democrat to win besides Jim.

Of course, that's the point of the bill: one Democratic seat via DC, one GOP seat via UT. Davis doesn't really care about what the voters want or true representation for District residents, he just wants ensure no net gain for either party. This he believes makes it politically tenable to achieve.

Delagate Norton has applauded Davis' effort but she "remains committed to legislation she has sponsored that would provide both House and Senate representation" for DC, which in reality won't pass until there is a fillibuster-proof margin of Dems in the Senate and a majority of Democrats in the House.

Davis' idea is to temporarily expand the number of representives to 437, but what about just inflating it so that members represent reasonable numbers of people not 500,000 to 735,000 people (Utah is on that high end). Making the House fixed number means that states legislatures have to duke it out as to who/which party gets screwed in losing their seat(s).