State Political Leaders Wrestle

 With Loss Of Congressional Seat

HARTFORD (AP) — State political leaders are already developing dueling plans, depending on party loyalty, to handle the loss of a Congressional seat in Connecticut.

Fueled by the economic downturn in the early 1990s, Connecticut residents fled to other states in search of secure jobs. Its recovery at the end of the decade didn’t keep the population high enough to merit all six of its U.S. House of Representatives members.

For the first time in 70 years, one seat has to go.

``There’s going to be a wide opportunity for mischief,’’ said U.S. Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District.

For Republicans, the preferred plan centers on the 5th District. Represented by Democrat James Maloney, the district that includes Waterbury and Danbury has seesawed between Republican and Democratic control for decades.

GOP stalwarts suggest the 5th District be carved up and doled out to its adjoining districts, with Maloney’s hometown of Danbury sliding into the heavily Republican 4th District now represented by Rep. Christopher Shays.

``I think Danbury would logically go in the 4th District,’’ said state Rep. Bob Ward, R-North Branford.

Republicans argue that Danbury was in the 4th for years, when there were five districts and one at-large Congress member. In 1930, the state earned a sixth member of Congress, after 30 years with just five members.

Maloney called plans to chop up his district and move him into Shays territory ``a fantasy,’’ adding, ``They’re not going to get any Democrat to agree with that.’’

Democrats have their own plan, and they’ve targeted the newest member, U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District.

That proposal would slice the 2nd District in half. As a result, the 3rd District, now represented by Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro of New Haven, would stretch along the state’s eastern coastline to Stonington and it would extend Larson’s 1st District east along the top half of the state.

The shoreline communities, Democrats argue, share many of the same issues, including concerns about Long Island Sound and the environment, and should be one district. But Republicans deride the plan as absurd gerrymandering.

``That would be catastrophic,’’ said Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-6. ``We ought to be urging that real thought be given to the interests of the district.’’

Simmons, who would then have to run against DeLauro, called it ``an ugly proposal that doesn’t merit a lot of consideration, because it turns its back on the traditional political geography of Connecticut.’’

Even some Democrats quietly dismiss the suggested split of the 2nd District. ``It’s a little bit of a stretch,’’ admitted Larson. ``It would completely change the character of the 1st and 3rd districts.’’

Yet he and others say moving Danbury into the 4th District, which would set up a run-off between Maloney and Shays in a heavily Republican, Fairfield County-based district, won’t pass Democratic muster.

A possible compromise would combine Maloney’s and Johnson’s districts into a new 5th, forcing them into a runoff in 2002.

Most officials agree the congressional districts will be an enormous challenge to the eight-member committee formed to tackle the redistricting. Four Democrats and four Republicans have been appointed to the panel.

``We have six incumbents and all six intend to run again,’’ said Ward, a committee member and the House minority leader.

In 1981 and 1991, there were no major changes in the congressional lines, but the eight-member panel battled over the new state House and Senate lines.

Both times the committee had to select an impartial ninth member to broker the final deal. Most expect that will happen this year, too.