Taking Issue With Pioneer Press

I should first say that I rarely read the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. I scan the headlines for anything that catches my eye. Yesterday's Pioneer Press article, "Do redistricting right, coalition of Minnesota political all-stars tells Legislature" did just that. I'm huge opponent of gerrymandering. I'd go as far as saying that it's one of the biggest faults of our current electoral system.

For those of you that don't know, gerrymandering is the reestablishing of electoral districts in favor of gaining seats for political power. Former U.S Representative Tom Delay was one of the worst at this in the late 1990s, and this helped multiple Republicans get elected in Texas and disenfranchised thousands of African-Americans who now found themselves living in Republican dominated districts.

So as you can imagine, I was thrilled to see a bipartisan effort to design electoral districts fairly. However, further down in the article the journalist paraphrases a University of Minnesota study, "That fuels political polarization, a study by the U's center said."

While I know that the "U's center" is making reference to the "University of Minnesota's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance," mentioned earlier in the article. This is not an obvious connection for someone outside of Minnesota. For one of only two major newspapers in the state to write for an audience of a few is disheartening. Yes, Minnesota is a few when we're talking about a much larger scale of the United States political system.

The subject matter at hand is larger and more serious than just a Minnesota issue. I can see college students researching a paper and coming across and wanting to cite this article. The reporter makes no reference to the term "gerrymandering" or that this is a problem that does occur across the country. By giving the audience no context to the problem, the reporter's minimizing the issue and selling the reader short.

The Star Tribune does a much better job at covering the same story, "Reformers want politics out of political mapping." At least they provide historical context to why this is important in Minnesota and how it's affected the constituency in the past. But again, there's a term for what they are describing, there's a larger context to the issue that both reporters ignore. We should know that the "reformers," as the Star Tribune calls them, are taking an even more impressive stand in the larger context of national politics. Limiting our World view helps no one, especially the reformers at hand.