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comments on Comm. 67, Bill 18 re. redistricting by Cory Harden,PO Box 10265,Hilo, Occupied Hawaii 96721 mh @interpac.net 808- 968 -8965 For Hawai'i County Council Committee on Governmental Relations 9 AM Tuesday, February 1, 2011 I don't understand the many details of redistricting. But two people I respect, Councilmember Brenda Ford and former Councilmember Bob Jacobson, support this bill, so I hope the Council will carefully consider it. I do recall how contentious the last redistricting was. Citizens were so upset they took on the time- consuming task of doing their own maps and submitting them to the commission. Citizens had many complaints. • There were more Hilo Council districts than the population justified • The one - hundred -mile length of District 6, from Puna to South Kona, hampered adequate representation • Kea'au and much of upper Puna were split off and put into a mostly Hilo district • Urban Kailua -Kona received inadequate representation I recall someone taking a second mortgage on their house to help pay for almost $100,000 in legal fees incurred by Citizens for Equitable and Responsible Government. Ms. Ford also put money into the lawsuit. The suit made it to the Hawai'i Supreme Court, then failed by only one vote. Ms. Ford tried to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court, but didn't succeed. The legal challenge took up many hours of Corporation Counsel's time. In short, the process didn't work real well. A lot of the problem may have been inadequate training for commissioners, so this bill mandates training. Another problem is citizens felt Charter guidelines were violated, so this bill spells out the rules. That way the public, and courts if necessary, can refer to them. I hope we will end up with a bill that ensures the game can only be played fairly, so every citizen's vote counts equally. Comm. No. Ref. To: Ref. Date FEB _1 7011