Part of county looks like a blood spatter, according to Andrews.

You have been displaced, at the hands of your governor. Montgomery County has long been part of District 8, but if you live in Gaithersburg, you are now part of District 6.

Redistricting is nothing new. Governors and State legislatures all over the country have rigged their state maps to favor their “teachers pet” candidates since the dawn of dirty potato politics. But in MD, the redistricting process has been egregious and ugly. Here is a quick visual history.

Here was the map in 1991, when most of MoCo was in the same District 8, nice and simple:

Here is the map in 2002 when District 8 was re-drawn with the sole intent of defeating long-time Congresswoman Connie Morella in favor of favored pet Chris Van Hollen.

And finally, here is the current map, adopted by the MD legislature last fall in order to favor O’Malley and Mike Miller’s (MD Senate President -D27) pet Rob Garagiola, who, btw, was defeated soundly by John Delaney in the primary (woot woot! Too bad, so sad, gerrymanderers!):

Notice how we are cast into the same district as Garrett, Allegany, Washington and the rural part of Frederick County. Other than being in MD, MoCo has very little in common with these areas.

I generally like O’Malley (pro-environment, pro-access to higher education, more), but he was acting like a potato head when he demanded this map. And I really like Phil Andrews’ comment about the other part of our county being redrawn: “District 3 includes the far-flung communities of Silver Spring, Towson, and Annapolis, yet excludes most of the areas between. District 3 looks like blood spatter from a crime scene rather than a Congressional district.” You can read Andrews’ full statement on this map here.

I’ve never been in love with Phil Andrews (not for any reason other than I can’t name any of his initiatives, so I must not have passion for them, and I throw up in my mouth a little every time I see his perma-smile while Mike Sesma kisses his tushie), but I like that he’s taking the potato heads in Annapolis to task, even the heads of his own party, on this one.

I will enjoy being represented by Delaney – I supported him in the primary and think he’ll be a great Congressman. But I really don’t like the gerrymandering that will have made him my Congressman. The party should vote for reform of this map. I can’t put it more eloquently than Andrews: “Don’t sully the Democratic Party’s good name by supporting this indefensible, gerrymandered map.”

I almost wish I could bring myself to vote for Bartlett just to show my disdain for this process, but considering Bartlett is about as exciting as a baked potato without butter, and his policies are no better, I think I’ll still vote for the self-starter who will do a good job and is not a puppet for the governor – Delaney.

I’ll keep you posted on what the Montgomery County Democratic Party precinct leaders vote for tonight regarding supporting reform of this gerrymandered map.

Update:  The MoCo Dem Party Precinct leaders voted to support the Congressional Districting Map.  wimpy.