Putting the words "Tom" and "redistricting" in the same sentence these days conjures the unholy spectre of DeLay's Texas two-step.

But Clark County commissioners should not let their partisan beliefs get in the way of what is actually a pure, albeit unusually timed, redistricting plan pitched by County Manager Thom Reilly.

For the first time in recent memory, the county has eschewed political consultants and back-room talks to redraw its commission district boundaries and involved the public.

In most places, redistricting typically occurs after the U.S. Census decennial count. With Southern Nevada's rapid growth, the lines get out of whack in some places as soon as they're drawn. There is currently a 45 percent difference in population between the largest and smallest commission districts, putting the county at risk for a lawsuit.

But every time incumbents get a say on how to draw their districts, the maps always contain little notches, odd configurations and looks that confound contiguity. One need only read about the corruption trial going on downtown to know that the commissioners who were in office the last time the lines were drawn did not care about disenfranchising voters.

The most formidably dishonest commissioner -- Erin Kenny -- put her paws on the maps in 2001, to the county's peril. Fearing an opponent, Kenny pushed to draw Republican Esther Quisenberry out of District F, the district Kenny "represented" at the time. Fellow commissioners cried foul and drew Quisenberry's street back in only to watch Kenny push her out a second time on the final map.

County staff has now given this accommodation an apt name: the dragon's neck. Not just because it looks too gangly to be real, but because of the former commissioner's tendency to breathe fire. The irony of that move is that Kenny didn't seek re-election in 2002, knowing full well her district would have run her out for the same reason she'll end up doing prison time.

The dragon's neck is a "highly unusual" construction, said Don Burnette, the county's chief administrative officer.

That's the county's way of saying the 2001 maps were a gerrymandered mess. Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, who is currently on trial in the corruption case, worked hard in 2001 to keep a sliver of District B surropunding her new home. This geographic jog is now referred to as a "finger," perhaps befitting for a former commissioner whose ladylike persona is now being used in her defense.

But the appendage also proved to be of the middle variety when it resulted in the bifurcation of an Hispanic "community of interest."

Fast forward to today, when county staff and a nonpartisan consultant, National Demographics Corp., have redrawn the boundaries. Commissioners were expected to get their first glance at the completed maps Wednesday in advance of Tuesday's vote.

There are some problems with the three separate plans the commissioners will consider. For starters, some districts now cross the "natural boundary" of Interstate 15 to include voters on both sides of the freeway. The plans, depending on which is approved, could also result in up to 25 percent of the population switching districts. And because the winning plan won't take effect until after November's election, some voters will cast ballots for candidates who won't represent them come January.

But there's plenty right about the process, too. The commissioners approved the general criteria by which the lines would be drawn. The criteria, which passed unanimously, include respecting communities of interest, accounting for expected population growth and respecting the general configuration of the existing districts.

The county also sought public input during a series of meetings. Staff redrew one district to include an entire mobile home park that had been split in half in a prior boundary map.

The old dragon's neck is now divided between Districts C, D, E, B and G, depending on which plan is used. Yes, it really does take that many other districts to chop off the neck of that beast in District F and keep the map contiguous.

The new plans commissioners will consider do create fairly contiguous districts. District D stretches west just past Decatur Boulevard, though clearly not far enough to include incumbent Yvonne Atkinson Gates' new home in Summerlin. That would have to be quite a snake to stretch from her rented apartment in the district to her home west of the Las Vegas Beltway.

Reilly said that even if the population disparity between the districts wasn't as pronounced, it would be good to approve a new plan to "clean up the old one."

But every time you change a boundary, you're not just moving a map line. You're altering the commissioners' life blood sport. The current District F, dragon's neck and all, is a Democratic district by about 7,000 voters. Under all three scenarios the commissioners will consider, it will become a Republican district.

At least it is now, before the commissioners get out their pens.

Erin Neff's column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 387-2906 or by e-mail at eneff@reviewjournal.com.