PARKERSBURG - Local and national state officials have kicked down one redistricting plan that has been circulating throughout the state.
"I saw the plan and it doesn't have my support and it doesn't seem to have a lot of support from others I've spoken with," said Delegate Dan Poling, D-Wood.
If the plan, which was created by Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson, is passed, it would force Republican incumbents U.S. Reps. Shelley Moore Capito and David McKinley to run against each other in 2012 to remain in Congress.
The map also would leave one congressional seat up-for-grabs in the newly drawn district.
"That map was created for purely partisan reasons," a spokesman for Capito said Thursday.
Currently, the state's three U.S. House districts run east to west in belts of varying thickness. Snyder's plan divides the top of the state into vertical halves and leaves 3rd District Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., to continue representing southern West Virginia.
It would put Capito, from Charleston, and McKinley, from Wheeling, in the new 1st District.
A spokesman for McKinley's office said that he thinks it will be difficult for any state legislator to justify the map as anything other than a "partisan power-grab."
The spokesman for Capito added that Snyder still has a campaign account to run for Congress and the redistricting map he has put forth would make it easier for him to run.
"It is not surprising that Snyder created a map that would benefit him the greatest," he said.
McKinley's spokesman said this map is a transparently political move on Snyder's part.
"I don't think it will get close to passing," he said. "All of the West Virginia legislators I've spoken with want what is best for the people of their districts."
Both Poling and Delegate John Ellem, R-Wood, are on the W.Va. House of Delegates' redistricting committee, which is working with a similar group from the W.Va. Senate to redistrict the state to better reflect the latest Census.
The state's political boundaries are redrawn every 10 years with new Census information. Population shifts reflected by the 2010 Census mean boundaries of two of the state's three congressional districts need to be rearranged to bring the state into federal law.
"I will oppose that redistricting map not only because of what it will do in Congress, but what it will do to the state," Ellem said.
Ellem said the plan that would follow the map's lines would give the majority of power for the state to Kanawha County.
"In the short term it would force Capito and McKinley to run against each other," he said. "In the long term it would make it more difficult for a representative to come from Wheeling or Parkersburg.
"It's bad all the way around," Ellem said.
The state Legislature will meet in a special session beginning Monday where all of the maps and plans for the redistricting will be presented.
"There are likely to be several versions that will come into play," Ellem said.
It is unknown when the new districts map will be chosen, but Ellem said he hopes it will be finished by the end of next week.
