This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 21, 2011 - The two Republican legislators who arguably played the biggest role in Missouri's congressional redistricting -- state Sen. Scott Rupp and state Rep. John Diehl -- are seeking to intervene in the lawsuit recently filed by Democrats.
Rupp, R-Wentville, and Diehl, R-Town and Country, also have submitted formal responses to the suit, in which they deny allegations that the new congressional boundaries amounted to "Republican gerrymandering."
They also deny that politics played a prime role in the General Assembly's decision to target U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, and dismantle his district. Missouri is losing one of its nine congressional seats because the state's population growth lagged behind some other states.
Rupp and Diehl are asking to be added as defendents in the case, because they contend that the current defendents -- Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and Attorney General Chris Koster -- aren't familiar enough with the legislative deliberations that resulted in the new boundary lines for the remaining eight districts.
The implication is that Koster and Carnahan, both Democrats, might not aggressively defend the new map, which goes into effect in January 2013 and is the basis for the 2012 congressional elections.
Rupp and Diehl note in their court papers, however, that Koster has filed a motion that generally supports the new boundaries and seeks to get the suit tossed out. They also cite Carnahan's public comments, in which she said she had no position on the suit. She is the congressman's sister.
The Democrats and allied voters filing the suit allege that the GOP took improper aim at Carnahan and drew up the remaining eight districts in a way to ensure that six of the state's seats would be Republican-leaning or solid GOP.
Democrats cite statewide election results to indicate that Missouri is more of a 50-50 state when it comes to political leanings. The suit implies that population patterns, and politics, dictate that an outstate district should have been targeted.
The suit's costs are being underwritten by the National Democratic Redistricting Trust.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly adopted the map last spring, with Rupp and Diehl taking major roles in each chamber's combative negotiations with the current six Republicans and three Democrats in the U.S. House.
Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, vetoed the map. But the General Assembly overrode the veto, with the help of four Democrats in the state House.
