House districting negotiations snag on ‘what’s fair?’

An effort by Montana’s independent districting commission to reconcile Republican and Democratic proposals for dividing the state into two U.S. House districts slid into a thicket last week, as public comment split on largely party lines and an initial work session saw the body’s partisan commissioners yield only modest ground to their colleagues across the table.

Montana Districting and Apportionment Chair Maylinn Smith, the five-member body’s tiebreaker vote, opened a work session Thursday saying she hoped the commission would be able to hammer out a map amenable to both Republicans and Democrats by the end of the day.

“I have confidence that we can actually reach consensus despite the number of people that have expressed disbelief to me when I make that statement,” she said. “I’m going to try and work toward consensus because I do think that’s what’s best for Montana.”