Efforts to make changes to the boundaries of Pierce County’s seven council districts to account for population changes over the last decade have resulted in GOP claims of biased and unfair redistricting.
At issue for state Republicans is the selection of Steven Garrett as districting master by the Pierce County Districting Committee that includes Republicans Doug Richardson and Sharon Hanek, Democrats Justin Leighton and Joy Stamford, and Chair Frank Cuthbertson, a retired Pierce County Superior Court judge. The districting master is responsible for using a Geographical Information System (GIS) with uploaded 2020 Census data to draw the preliminary district lines.
Caleb Heimlich, chair of the Washington State Republican Party, contends Garrett is not the nonpartisan professional he portrayed himself to be in the hiring process. He points to the facts Garrett was once a GIS analyst for Democrats in the state legislature and that anti-Republican content that has appeared on Garrett’s social media accounts.
“It’s just an unfair process that is being controlled by a partisan Democrat,” Heimlich told The Center Square, claiming a previous version of the map – not the final draft map approved by the committee – was drawn to dilute the GOP vote and solidify the current 4-3 Democrat majority on the Pierce County Council.
Heimlich noted the earlier iteration of the map moved Republican Pierce County Coucilmember Dave Morell out of his current district.
“The proposed map draws Dave Morell out of District 1 and into District 2,” Heimlich said. “The justification given is that you can’t split communities, but the proposed map splits Graham at Meridian. This split puts people in Graham in the same district as Lake Tapps, which is quite a stretch. So you can’t split South Hill, but you do split Graham?”
The same thing happened in 2011 when Garrett was districting master, Heimlich said, a reference to Republican Pierce County Councilmember Stan Flemming being redistricted outside the 7th District he represented.
“So, this is a very similar stunt to what he pulled 10 years ago,” Heimlich said.
It’s something of a moot point in that the final draft version of the map does not put Morell in a new district. Still, it doesn’t sit well with Heimlich.
“Thanks to the mounting public pressure and all of the people that contacted the redistricting commission, an amendment was made and voted on that kept Councilmember Morrell in office representing his constituents,” Heimlich said. “The mapmaker’s demonstrated biases remain a stain on the process, but at least the most egregious example of partisanship in his maps was rectified.”
As for the districting master himself, he rejects Heimlich’s characterization.
“What I’m actually doing is un-gerrymandering,” Garrett said, noting that back in 2001 Republicans enjoyed a 5-2 supermajority on the Pierce County Council, claiming Republicans were upset that his work as districting master in 2011 resulted in the loss of that supermajority.
“I did this job 10 years ago,” said Garrett, a professional cartographer who has a degree in geography from the University of Washington. “I’m doing this job now.”
“My job is to produce small, compact, contiguous districts that promote democracy with a small ‘d,’” Garrett said, comparing the process of redrawing council districts with a well-known saying attributed to Otto von Bismarck: “If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.”
He did concede some of his past online anti-Republican commentary was over the top. Garrett is a Democrat who is no fan of former President Donald Trump and he said he sometimes posts things when he’s “hot.”
“People can’t make too much of that,” Garrett said, noting he has voted for both Democrats and Republicans in local elections.
Garrett thinks of himself as a professional getting paid to do a job.
“I’ve been a public servant most of my life,” he said. “That’s all I care about.”
“I don’t have a dog in this fight,” said Garrett, who lives in Edmonds in Snohomish County.
As for the claim he tried to gerrymander Morell out of his district, Garrett quipped, “He has been saved by a Democrat.”
The Pierce County Districting Committee is expected to act on the amended map at its Dec. 16 meeting following a period of public comment.
Under state law, the new district boundaries – with the goal of having roughly the same population within each district – must be completed by Dec. 31. Once the boundaries are approved, they go to the Pierce County Auditor’s Office so the elections division can make changes to the county’s 611 precincts. This all must be completed by May 2, 2022, before candidate filing week.
