By STEPHEN STEED
Special to the Leader
The state Board of Apportionment on Friday approved new boundaries for House and Senate districts on a widely expected 2-1 vote.
Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel voted for the plan they developed together. The lone Republican on the board, Secretary of State Mark Martin, voted against it.
Rep. Mark Perry of Jacksonville saw the boundaries of Dist. 44 shift west to state Hwy. 107. “It’s a little bit of a change,” Perry, a Democrat, said. “I’m content. I’ll do my best to represent the people of District 44 wherever they are.”
Perry said one positive change was on the Senate side, where Jacksonville is no longer part of a district that also includes Beebe and Cabot.
“We can be happy or mad about them (new district lines) but when it comes down to it, we’ve got to work with whatever we’re given,” Perry said.
The air base will be in new Dist. 34, and Jacksonville will be split between new Dists. 34 and 30 in Sherwood and North Little Rock.
Senate Dist. 28, currently held by Eddie Joe Williams, and Senate Dist. 29, currently held by Jonathan Dismang, both Republicans, will essentially exchange much of their districts.
Little Rock Air Force Base, now served by Dismang, will be included in a district with Sherwood, and most of Jacksonville will be included with North Little Rock.
Lonoke County, which Wil-liams represents, will be split. The Cabot School District, where Williams lives, will be the only part of Lonoke County that he will serve. His new district will be Dist. 29. Williams’ district would lie between Jacksonville and Searcy but not include either, but it would take in Beebe and McRae.
The southwestern quarter of White County, which includes part of Searcy, will be Dismang’s new district, Dist. 28. That new district also includes Lonoke County (excluding Cabot), the southwestern quarter of Woodruff County, about one-quarter of Monroe County, all of Prairie County and most of the northern half of Arkansas County.
“I hate to lose Jacksonville and the air base,”Dismang said. “It’s been an honor and a privelege.”
He added that his new territory is much the same ground that Gov. Beebe represented. “From Searcy to DeWitt, I’ve got a lot of ground to cover.” Dismang said the new district is a very rich area in culture and he is looking forward to serving the people in that district.
Dismang represents Jacksonville now, but that part of the existing Dist. 29 won’t become Williams’ territory.
Sen. Mary Anne Salmon lives in the new Dist. 34, but she is term limited, so the seat is open. Sen. Linda Chesterfied serves in Dist. 34, which will become Dist. 30.
The Board of Apportionment is responsible for redrawing state legislative district lines every 10 years following the completion of the U.S. Census. The state General Assembly redraws the lines for seats in Congress, and it did so this year while in regular session.
Beebe, McDaniel and Martin sat together at a small table in the old Supreme Court chamber in the state Capitol for the vote. To Martin, Beebe said, “I’ve got a plan. He (McDaniel) has a plan. Our plans are a lot alike.” Martin smiled and nodded, acknowledging beforehand that he would be outvoted.
Beebe made a motion that the board approve his House and Senate plans on separate votes. After McDaniel voted for Beebe’s House maps, Beebe again turned to Martin. “I assume you’re a ‘no,’” Beebe said. “I’m a ‘no,’” Martin replied.
Beebe and McDaniel also voted to keep apportionment staff and office in place for another 30 days to work with county clerks on the changes and be ready anytime after that in case there’s a court challenge to any of the new boundaries. Martin appeared supportive of that idea but still cast a ‘no’ vote.
Reached in Seattle, where she has been watching flight crews from Little Rock Air Force Base compete in the Air Mobility Rodeo 2011 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Rep. Jane English, a Republican from North Little Rock, said she hasn’t seen maps for her district in several days.
“They were kind of fuzzy, and it was hard to tell what the lines were,” English said. “If I had an opinion, I’d certainly give it. The governor had his plans, and that’s what we got.”
Other area lawmakers couldn’t be reached Friday.
The Beebe-Mc-Daniel plan reduced the number of black-majority House districts from 13 to 11, a change that has upset some lawmakers. Their changes also resulted in four cases in which an incumbent representative could face an election challenge from another incumbent. Those districts are in the Paris, Altheimer, Pine Bluff, Camden, Magnolia and Pocahontas areas.
Those changes couldn’t be helped, Beebe said, because of population shifts.
“You can’t make everyone happy,” Beebe told reporters. “Some people are happy and some are unhappy. But it was really challenging to protect the minority vote.”
The new plans have each House district with about 29,150 residents and each Senate district with about 83,300 residents.
Democrats have a 55-45 majority in the House and a 20-15 majority in the Senate. Those margins have been dwindling over the years, and GOP leaders think they can win control of one or both chambers in the 2012 elections.
Leader staff writers Joan McCoy and Rick Kron contributed to this report.
