State redistricting to go

before Supreme Court

The on-again, off-again redistricting plan that has many Kentuckians like Clinton County residents guessing who their state legislature representatives are, will be the subject of a hearing this Friday in front of the Kentucky Supreme Court.

One aspect of the redistricting process – that of where Clinton County would be placed in the U.S. Congressional map and for whom local voters would be seeing on the upcoming primary ballots, has been finalized.

Approved by the state legislature on February 10, and immediately signed into law, the new maps will leave Clinton County in the 1st Congressional District, leaving unchanged their representation by U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (R-Hopkinsville).

An earlier version of the Congressional map had Clinton County being moved into the 2nd District, which is represented by Brett Guthrie (R-Bowling Green).

For Clinton County voters, that means that when they step into the voting booth for the May Primary, Republican voters will see an unopposed Whitfield on the ballot, while Democrat voters will be choosing a candidate between James Buckmaster or Charles Kendall Hatchett. Both candidates are from Henderson.

However, the issue of where Clinton County is situated in regards to the Kentucky House of Representatives, is still very much up in the air, and will remain so until a decision is made by the Kentucky State Supreme Court.

Currently in the 83rd House District, Clinton County is represented by Jeff Hoover, an attorney from Jamestown who is a Clinton County native.

The old boundary lines for Hoover’s 83rd District include Clinton and Russell County, as well as a portion of Pulaski County.

The new Kentucky House boundaries which were passed by the Kentucky Senate and signed into law, changed several House districts in the state, including the district that would include Clinton County.

The proposed boundary changes placed Clinton County into the 52nd House district with Wayne County, meaning the Clinton County would be represented by Monticello attorney Sara Beth Gregory, who works with the Carroll and Turner law firm in Monticello.

Gregory is serving her first term in the Kentucky House of Representatives, having been elected in 2010 to serve the district that originally included Wayne, McCreary and part of Pulaski County.

When the new map was released and signed into law by Gov. Steve Beshear, Hoover expressed his anger at the move in a brief interview with the Clinton County News.

“I have so many friends and family there still, I was born there and grew up there on Hopkins Street,” Hoover said during an interview with the Clinton County News on January 16. “It’s like my second home – always has been and always will be.”

When it appeared that Clinton County would be moved into Gregory’s 52nd District, she issued the following statement via email saying she welcomed having Clinton County as part of her district.

“Soon after the passage of House Bill 1, I began contacting local officials and other individuals in Clinton County to discuss the needs and concerns of the county,” Rep. Gregory said. “I look forward to the opportunity to represent the people of Clinton County and will work hard to be your voice in Frankfort.”

The issue is still up in the air however, after several House Republicans joined in a lawsuit to challenge the legality of the new House boundary lines.

Hoover, who is the House of Representative Minority Leader, was one of the plaintiffs listed on the suit, which challenged the constitutionality of the new boundary lines.

In a decision that was made two weeks ago on February 7, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that the new boundaries were in fact unconstitutional because they split too many counties and allows too many counties to vary by more than five percent from what is referred to as the “idea population size”.

In his ruling, Shepherd tossed out the new law and ordered that the upcoming primary elections for Kentucky House seats, use the previous district lines.

That decision was challenged by legislative leaders who appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which sent the case straight to the Kentucky Supreme Court.

The parties involved in the case were ordered to have their records filed with the Supreme Court by noon (EDT) this past Friday, with briefs for the February 24 hearing due to be filed by this Wednesday.

The Kentucky Supreme Court also noted in it’s two-page order Friday, that each side will be given 15 minutes to present it’s arguments.

The redistricting measures are mandated following each census in an effort to make each of the Kentucky House districts as close as possible in regards to population.