The committee is charged with redrawing the congressional districts, as Massachusetts will lose one of its 10 positions in the U.S. House of Representatives.
L-R, Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, Rep. Michael Moran and Sen. Stanley Rosenberg hear testimony at the Joint Committee on Redistricting's public hearing in Springfield.SPRINGFIELD – Officials, legislators and the public spoke on Saturday of the need to keep two congressional seats in Western Massachusetts, praising the two U.S. representatives, John W. Olver and Richard E. Neal, for their work on behalf of the region.
The Joint Committee on Redistricting met at Van Sickle Middle School for the first of 13 hearings on the controversial redistricting issue. The committee, chaired by state Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, will draw new boundaries for state and federal legislative seats, as the state will lose one of its 10 positions in the U.S. House of Representatives.
That is the reason why people are concerned. The change will be in effect for the 2012 elections. Massachusetts is losing a position because it has not grown as quickly as other states.
“I ask you that you fight like hell to make sure that Western Massachusetts has two congressional districts,” State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, said.
Brewer spoke of Neal and Olver’s commitment to Western Massachusetts, to education and to projects such as Baysate Heath’s nearly $300 million “Hospital of the Future,” featuring a new 70,000-square-foot emergency room, among other improvements.
Brewer also spoke about how they have fought for such things as fuel assistance, and said Massachusetts has derived “hundreds of millions” because it has more than one legislator fighting for it.
Neal, D-Springfield, said his district, which features 41 communities, grew more than 4 percent since 2000. Neal said members of the Western Massachusetts delegation “regularly out-punched colleagues and contemporaries in terms of clout based upon committee assignments.” He is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for taxes, and has jurisdiction over Medicare, social security, trade and tariffs. Neal has served the district for 23 years; Olver 20.
Neal spoke of continuity, and how he started as a “soldier” in his predecessor Edward P. Boland’s “army.”
Both Neal and Olver, D-Amherst, have said they plan to run for reelection.
Olver’s district includes 107 communities, an area that is close to 40 percent geographically of the state, but has only grown 1.65 percent since 2000, the slowest population growth of any of the state’s 10 congressional districts, according to a Boston Globe analysis. Olver did not attend the hearing.
Neal said based on “geography, history and arithmetic,” the two positions in Western Massachusetts should be kept.
Agawam City Clerk Richard M. Theroux said the region will be at a loss without Neal and Olver.
“These two individuals bring more to the table than anyone I can recall . . . Can we really afford to silence their voices?” Theroux asked. “The needs of the area have been well-represented for as long as I can recall. Keep our two congressmen working for us.”
Theroux added, “Western Massachusetts does not end at Worcester.”
Former Pittsfield state senator Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr., who plans to run in the Democratic primary for Olver’s 1st Congressional District seat, urged the committee to keep two Western Massachusetts congressmen, and to keep Berkshire County intact.
Democratic State Committee vice-chairman Raymond Jordan said Olver and Neal are the “two most powerful guys in the Western Mass delegation” who are at risk because of redistricting. Jordan said they have clout, and “we can’t afford to lose that in these tough economic times.”
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said “continuity and not diluting representation is key.”
“When you start cutting into these districts, you lose that continuity,” Sarno said.
“I do not envy the task that you have,” Sarno told the committee.
Rosenberg has said a final congressional map should be ready by Thanksgiving, possibly earlier. Information about the redistricting process can be found at www.malegislature.com/redistricting; the website has a section where citizens can add comments about the redistricting process.