Neal said he didn't believe that the seat of John Olver of Amherst is the one that most likely will be eliminated.
Richard Neal, left, and John OlverNeal said he didn't believe that the seat of U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst, is the one that most likely will be eliminated.
“What’s important in the redistricting argument is to keep two seats in Western Massachusetts,” Neal told reporters during a visit to the Statehouse for an event to mark Earth Day.
Neal, a Springfield Democrat, said it was "mere speculation" that parts of his district would be folded in with parts of Olver’s district to create one seat.
Neal said it is a misnomer to say that Olver’s district lost population. An analysis showed that the population of Olver’s 107-community district could grew by 1.65 percent, the slowest of any of the state’s 10 districts, and Neal’s, by 4.2 percent.
Neal said he is teaming up with Olver and U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, on a key reason to preserve the two seats in Western Massachusetts. Neal said geography is a factor.
“When you keep two seats in Western Massachusetts, you keep three seats in central Massachusetts,” Neal said. “That’s an argument that Jim McGovern, John Olver and myself have applied. It’s based on evidence and rational.”
Neal said Olver’s district includes northern Worcester County and his own includes southern Worcester County.
“John Olver represents almost 40 percent of the land mass in Massachusetts,” Neal said. “I represent 41 cities and towns. So between the two of us, we represent well over half the land mass in the state.”
Neal said it is important for a U.S. representative to be able to visit those communities.
Neal said seniority is also terribly important, as well as committee assignments of members of Congress.
Neal, 62, elected in 1988, is the sixth-ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee and the No. 3-most senior member of the state’s U.S. House delegation.
Olver ,74, elected in 1991, is the only member of the state’s delegation on the House Appropriations Committee and is No. 4 in seniority in the state’s House delegation.
The Legislature’s 24-member redistricting committee, co-chaired by state Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and state Rep. Michael Moran, D-Boston, has opened hearings around the state as it prepares to redraw the congressional and legislative district maps. Massachusetts is losing a seat in the House because of population changes documented in the U.S. Census.
The committee held a hearing in Springfield on March 26. Other meetings in Western Massachusetts are scheduled for 6 p.m. May 31 at Greenfield Community College and 10 a.m. on June 11 at Pittsfield City Hall.
Neal said the redistricting committee has not made any decisions and probably won't produce a final plan until around Thanksgiving. Neal stressed that he was not trying to "trespass" on the work of the redistricting committee.
Rep. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer, a member of the redistricting committee, said she didn't see how the panel could combine the seats of Neal and Olver. Gobi said seniority does count in the process and that both Neal and Olver are effective in Washington.
“The first and second congressional districts have to be preserved,” Gobi said. “We just can't take away that type of representation in the western part of the state.”
The process could result in two incumbent members of the House being forced to run against each other in 2012. Neal and Olver have both said they are running for re-election. Other incumbents — all Democrats — have not given any indication that they do not plan to seek re-election, though Reps. Michael E. Capuano of Somerville and Stephen F. Lynch of Boston have been mentioned among several possible challengers to Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown in next year's election.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.