A Kansas City attorney who helped draw the boundaries of Missouri’s current legislative districts is trying to knock a question off the November ballot designed to end partisan gerrymandering. In a lawsuit filed on behalf of Paul Ritter, a Miller County resident, attorney Eddie Greim said the proposed referendum violates a provision in the Missouri Constitution that prevents multiple subjects from being combined into one ballot proposal. “One purpose of the prohibition on multiple subjects in a single ballot proposal is to prevent `logrolling,’ a practice familiar to legislative bodies whereby unrelated subjects that individually might not muster enough support to pass are combined to generate the necessary support,” the lawsuit says.
The referendum sponsored by the group CLEAN Missouri asks whether voters want to tighten campaign contribution limits, ban lobbyist gifts, institute a two-year “cooling off” period for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists, start a new redistricting system in 2020 and require lawmakers to adhere to the Sunshine Law.
Currently, state legislative districts are drawn by two bipartisan panels. Under the model proposed by CLEAN Missouri, the state auditor would appoint a nonpartisan state demographer to draw new districts after the 2020 U.S. Census; a citizen commission would then review the lines.
Full Article: Lawsuit seeks to knock gerrymandering issue off Missouri’s November ballot | Political Fix | stltoday.com.