Clark County redistricting

The Las Vegas Valley's rapid growth has made equal representation in local government all but impossible. District maps simply can't be redrawn fast enough to prevent some office holders from gaining or losing disproportionate power.

Take the Clark County Commission. Lawrence Weekly's inner-city district has about 210,000 constituents, while Bruce Woodbury's fast-growing suburban district has more than 327,000 residents. Although Mr. Woodbury represents about 55 percent more people in a geographic area at least 10 times larger than Mr. Weekly's district, Mr. Woodbury still gets only one of the commission's seven votes -- the same as Mr. Weekly.

In most parts of the country, district boundaries need to be shifted only once a decade, after each U.S. Census. But in Southern Nevada, waiting that long can create district population disparities that are blatantly unconstitutional.

Current plans call for the commission to consider an ordinance on Aug. 21 that would allow the panel to redraw district boundaries mid-decade. The proposal, dubbed "Revised Plan Z," would shrink the gap between the most- and least-populated districts to 17,500 people while accounting for uneven population growth in the years ahead. It would maintain some measure of population balance through the county's next anticipated redistricting in 2011.

The commission could have approved the plan as early as Sept. 11.

But opponents are already sharpening their knives. Commissioners who benefit from the current district maps will do everything in their power to delay the redrawing of boundaries. The last thing they want is to dilute their concentrated constituencies.

"Redistricting is political," says Commissioner Tom Collins, who opposes Revised Plan Z. "It is nothing more than political."

Population balance isn't the only concern for the county. Any redistricting effort should affect as few residents as possible and ensure that they do not go more than four years between commission elections.

Revised Plan Z should be a no-brainer for Clark County. Only 17 percent of county residents would wind up with a new representative, each commissioner would represent a nearly equal constituency for years to come, and some blatant gerrymandering from years past would be corrected.

Commissioners should adopt these new district boundaries -- the sooner the better. Instead, watch for Plan Z to be "shot while trying to escape."