Michigan redistricting commission won't reconsider attorney hire after GOP objections
Clara HendricksonMichigan's first-ever, independent citizens redistricting commission declined Thursday to reconsider its hiring of a voting rights attorney despite strong backlash among Michigan Republicans.
The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, which is responsible for redrawing the state's congressional and legislative districts, selected Bruce Adelson on April 8 following an interview with the Maryland attorney who specializes in voting rights.
Every Republican member of Michigan's congressional delegation immediately spoke out against the selection in a joint statement, raising concerns about Adelson's political donations.
The Michigan Republican Party also encouraged its members to speak out, warning supporters that Adelson would be "an unchecked liberal voice on this allegedly non-partisan commission."
While Republicans have characterized Adelson as a big Democratic donor, his proposal to the commission — which required Adelson to disclose all political contributions — shows he made only a handful of donations over the years to Democratic candidates as well as one Republican candidate.
Adelson donated $125 to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's 2018 campaign, according to state campaign finance records. In his proposal to the commission, Adelson also disclosed a $30 donation to Joe Biden in 2020 as well as other donations to a Michigan district judge candidate and a Republican county commissioner in Colorado.
More:Your questions about Michigan's new redistricting process answered
During Thursday's meeting Rhonda Lange, a 48-year-old Republican commissioner from Reed City, put forward a motion to reconsider hiring Adelson, pointing to a flood of public comments received by the commission. She also said she came across retweets on Adelson's Twitter account that bothered her as well as an article she said was written by Adelson's former co-worker characterizing him as a "left-wing ideologue."
Doug Clark, a 74-year-old Republican commissioner from Rochester Hills, said he thought the commission made the right decision but he believed it warranted further discussion. He ultimately voted against the motion to reconsider hiring Adelson.
Some commissioners raised concerns about revisiting the hiring decision. Steve Lett, a 74 year-old independent commissioner from Interlochen, reminded the group that Adelson's role is advisory.
"He's not making any decisions, he's giving us advice and I think that we can interpret his advice as we choose," he said.
Julianne Pastula, who serves as the commission's legal counsel, told the commissioners that they would be hard pressed to find someone for the position who was truly nonpartisan.
She noted that the transparency in the commission's work and decisions would help ensure public confidence in the redistricting process.
"All of the work is done in public with public input and public decisions," Pastula said.
Michigan GOP chairman Ron Weiser urged the commission to hire a Republican attorney following its vote against revisiting the decision to hire Adelson. "If the commission keeps Adelson, it should bring on a second Republican attorney to remove any appearance of partisan political bias," Weiser said in the statement.
Rebecca Szetela, a 47-year-old independent commissioner from Canton, said some of the public comments urging the commission to revisit its choice contained inaccuracies.
Allegations about Adelson's work with Arizona's redistricting commission were inconsistent with how Arizona's commissioners described his work, Szetela said. And comments alleging Adelson has donated vast sums of money to Democratic candidates don't hold up either, she added.
"I think sometimes we need to practice the art of discernment," Szetela said.
The commission voted down the motion to reconsider hiring Adelson 5-4.
The new redistricting commission was created after Michigan voters amended the state's constitution in 2018 to take the power to draw new districts away from the Legislature and give it to a group of randomly selected citizens that includes Republicans, Democrats and individuals who don't belong to either major political party.
Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA. Contact her at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743 for comments or to suggest a fact-check. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen .