Farms mix with suburbs, cities with small towns
By John Fritze, The Baltimore Sun
11:33 p.m. EDT, October 15, 2011
Jim Schillinger, a fourth-generation farmer from Severn, has occasionally tussled with politicians who don’t understand the first thing about crop yields or the rising cost of fertilizer. When he tries to explain his concerns, it’s as if they don’t speak his language.
So when Schillinger studies the proposed boundaries for Maryland’s eight congressional districts and sees that his 136-acre farm in Anne Arundel County would be lumped with densely populated Prince George’s, it doesn’t inspire confidence that his voice would be heard in Washington.
“These people have different opinions than what these people have up here,” Schillinger says, pointing to a map of the redrawn 4th District. “They’re going to have different ideas — the city people — versus what we have.”
As a byproduct of their effort to bolster political advantage through the once-in-a-decade redistricting process, Maryland Democrats have created some odd pairings: farms mixed with suburbs, city centers combined with small towns and — most important from a political perspective — deeply conservative areas tied to staunchly liberal enclaves.
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