Dan Rupli
Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Wed Jul 27, 2011, 05:53 PM EDT
— Every 10 years a census is conducted across our nation to determine the total population and population movement among the states. It is required by our U.S. Constitution, and this year each state must reapportion its state legislative and congressional districts as a result of the census.
The governor has appointed five members to a Redistricting Advisory Committee, including the president of the State Senate and the speaker of the House of Delegates, and they are currently holding hearings in 12 different locations all across the State between now and Sept. 10.
They are moving from east to west, and the first two hearings occurred in Hancock and Frederick last Saturday. I signed up to testify on the suggested change in the makeup of the 6th Congressional District at the Frederick meeting, which is a subject that is dear to me as a former candidate for Congress in 1976 and 1978.
Basically, the 6th District, which currently extends along the Mason-Dixon Line from Garrett County to the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay in Harford County, would be reconfigured.
Under the new proposal the district would go from Garrett County no further east than Carroll County, but not include it, and would turn south and east into Montgomery County, picking up Gaithersburg and other heavily populated sections of northern Montgomery County.
It would profoundly change the nature of the 6th Congressional District, and arguably make it a far more competitive district between the two major political parties.
I actually support the basic idea behind the suggested change, but my purpose here is not to argue the merits of the plan, but to strongly protest the absence of public hearings west of Sideling Hill in the two western most counties.
This is the latest chapter in a long history of our state failing to pay proper respect and deference to citizens of the true “Western Maryland” region. I have lived in Frederick County for a very long time.
I have always been referred to as “Dan Rupli of Western Maryland” and I have also heard citizens of Carroll County referred to as “Western Marylanders” as well.
We all know that these two counties are really Central Maryland, but if you are careless in your geographic references, you can conclude that Western Maryland has now participated fully in the very important redistricting discussion as a result of Saturday’s hearings.
That is simply not true. How the 6th Congressional District is ultimately configured directly impacts the welfare and interests of the citizens of Cumberland and Oakland and our two westernmost counties.
I believe that before these hearings are concluded a public hearing ought to be held west of Sideling Hill regarding the makeup of our congressional district. I suggest Frostburg University as a proper venue for such a hearing.
I call upon the citizens, the media, and the elected leaders of Western Maryland to demand that they be consulted regarding this most important issue before it is decided by providing them the full opportunity to be heard at a public hearing before the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Committee. Fairness and due process demand it.
Dan Rupli
Frederick County
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