Redistricters term new hearings ‘well worth the while, well worth the exhaustion’

Idaho’s redistricting commission has closed its Boise public hearing, after more than an hour and a half of testimony. “It’s been very informative and helpful,” Co-Chair Dolores Crow told the audience. “Thank you for coming. … We will continue to do the very  best we can, and with your input, it really does help, it really does.”

Afterward, she said, “We’ve gotten some good ideas .. and there are things we’ll look at.” That was true with all three hearings, she said - Idaho Falls on Wednesday night, Coeur d’Alene on Thursday night, and Boise today. The commissioners have followed a grueling schedule, rising at 4 a.m. today for a 6 a.m. flight back from Coeur d’Alene to Boise, a pace they kept up all three days. “I didn’t think in the beginning that it was necessary,” Crow said, because the commission has the benefit of the entire hearing record amassed by the previous redistricting commission, which missed its deadline in early September, prompting the appointment of a second panel. “But it’s been well worth the while - and well worth the exhaustion.”