Letter: Republican complaints are empty

Tuesday night’s public meeting regarding redistricting was excruciating. Listening to the local Republicans whining over and over about their “lack of representation” in the 49th Legislative District was so annoying.

Let’s begin with some factual data. Within the 3rd Congressional District there are seven legislative districts with a total of seven state senators and 14 state representatives. Currently, one senator and two representatives are Democrats. The remaining six senators and 12 representatives are all Republicans. And then there is our U.S. representative, who is also a Republican.

Because our district is heavily gerrymandered, it has been impossible to unseat Ms. Herrera Beutler for 10 years no matter how qualified the Democratic candidate is.

Adding insult to injury, the district map as drawn for the five Clark County Council positions has given us four Republicans (three of whom seem to be conspiracy theorists). Not exactly equal.

Republicans, not happy with having the overwhelming majority of lawmakers from their party, now want to take over the only district that provides a voice for Democrats.

Last night the Republicans repeated ad infinitum that we need “competition.” Actually, what we really need is a fair playing field and equal representation.