Could creative redistricting help avoid a clash of elephants in Southern Minnesota?
The Star Tribune noted on March 16 that, according to 2010 Census figures Senator Julie Rosen represents one of the smallest state senate districts in terms of population. The Fairmont Sentinel reported in Region could see less representation:
State Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont, says his Minnesota House district has decreased in population by 4,700 people since the 2000 Census.
House District 24A includes all of Martin County, as well as portions of Faribault and Watonwan counties. The district to the east - 24B, represented by Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder - lost 3,700 people.
Adding together those losses equals 8,400 people, and they represent the total lost in Senate District 24, represented by Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont. . . .
. . .What it means for him is that his district may be growing larger again. In 2002, it expanded from 906 square miles to 1,200 square miles, he said. Another expansion may require Gunther to face a Republican primary opponent as districts are combined.
If Fairmont resident Gunther risks facing a primary opponent as districts are combined, Rosen may face the same challenge.
She may also have built a perception problem on the bluffs in Mendota.
This item from Politics in Minnesota is a bit old, but State Senator Julie Rosen (R-Fairmont), has a new home in Mendota:
Sen. Julie Rosen is building a new home in Mendota, just a few minutes from the Capitol. Does this mean the third-term Republican senator from Fairmont is planning a move to the city, and therefore out of her seat in the Legislature?
No way, says Rosen: “This is a second home,” she told PIM yesterday. “My residency is in Fairmont.”
Her new place is likely to be the envy of greater Minnesota colleagues who put up at Kellogg Square or the Kelly Inn when the Legislature is in session; the $300,000 parcel sits on a hillside on Sibley Memorial Highway overlooking the river. The home next door is valued at a little over $1 million.
Rosen and her ex-husband, Rosen Diversfied/American Food Group mogul Tom Rosen, divorced last year. Word is that Rosen moved into the home in Mendota this weekend.
Questions of perception aside, there's a good reason to have a little place in the Cities if you're a state senator from Greater Minnesota. It's a long drive to Fairmont, which is 150 southwest of St. Paul, and while the upscale price tag is unusual, the need for outstate legislators to live in the Cities during the session--and duties during the off-session months--poses vexing questions for them. Salaries are quite low ($31,140 per year) and per diem allowances controversial.
But Bluestem thinks that Brodkorb's redistricting brigade could kill two birds with one stone with a little geographic creativity. Rosen's new and modest pied-à-terre on the river invites a simple, if meandering solution.
Brodkorb and his crack team can simply crayon in SD24's boundary up the middle of the Minnesota River toward Rosen's house, carve out a couple blocks and call it a day.
While the senator's neighbors may resent having Tony Cornish foisted on them, Rosen is highly respected on both sides of the aisle and should serve her new slice quite well.
Photo: Rosen's new second-home in Mendota. Photo courtesy PIM; used with permission.
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