Opinion ID: 2169494
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plaintiffs' Evidence

Text: At trial, plaintiffs engaged a geographer, Chester Smolski, a Professor at Rhode Island College, to render an opinion on the compactness of the senatorial districts in the East Bay region as enacted by the General Assembly. The professor drafted three alternative plans that he believed were better than the challenged plan because his plans were more compact. He argued that since he was able to draft three alternative plans, the challenged plan, by definition, was not drawn as compactly as possible. Professor Smolski reviewed the challenged plan, population data, community boundary lines, relevant literature and communities of interest. No statistical measure of compactness was performed. In the East Bay, the Smolski Plans contain seven municipalities entirely within a district and five parts of other communities in the districts totaling twelve subdivisions. In Smolski Alternatives 3 and 4, incumbent Democratic Senator Theresa Paiva-Weed is paired with incumbent Republican Senator June Gibbs. In Alternative 5, incumbent Democratic Senator J. Clement Cicilline is paired with incumbent Republican Senator June Gibbs, and in all alternatives, incumbent democratic Senator Walter Felag is paired with incumbent Republican Senator David Bates. In his alternatives, he combined all of Barrington and Warren, and used a bridge to establish contiguity, in District 9. In District 10, Smolski combined the Town of Bristol with the northwest portion of Portsmouth, and its islands, and relied on bridges and a port for contiguity. In the Professor's alternative for District 11, he combined the towns of Tiverton and Little Compton with eastern Portsmouth and used a bridge for contiguity. In District 12, three municipalities were used (the redistricting statute has four municipalities in District 12) including all of Middletown. At trial, Smolski testified that Districts 9 and 12 are not as compact as possible and that District 10 is not contiguous and not as compact as possible. In his opinion, contiguity, population, travel routes, municipal boundary lines, neighborhoods, local communities and geography were all relevant considerations in making those assessments. Professor Smolski conceded on cross-examination that it would be impossible to draw five senate districts in the area of the East Bay without specifically dividing either the Town of Portsmouth or the Town of Bristol into three districts. In spite of this opinion rendered, two of his alternative plans do not divide Bristol or Portsmouth into three districts. He testified that the Senate Plan was not irrational, but not as good as the plan he had drawn. He further testified that a plan could, in fact, be rational despite the absence of land-based contiguity, though it would not [be] the best arrangement. Finally, he indicated that reasonable minds could differ as to the drawing of the senate districts. Plaintiffs also retained the services of Victor Profughi, also a Professor at Rhode Island College, as an expert in this matter. Professor Profughi is a political scientist with particular expertise in studying Rhode Island government and politics. Professor Profughi reviewed socioeconomic data, with multiple variables, in determining whether the challenged statute maintained, or kept intact, various communities of interest for purposes of redistricting. He also reviewed relevant literature and historical data. His definition of compactness, for purposes of his analysis, was districts that are together, symmetrical and orderly. [13] He also related the concept of effective representation to the concept of compactness. His position was that the more compact a district, the greater the likelihood of similarities between the people. The more similarities would indicate more effective representation. Communities of interest, as defined by Professor Profughi, reflect commonalities between individuals. Using information compiled from census data, Professor Profughi looked at socioeconomic indicators of the portions of the municipalities in the East Bay districts to determine if there were communities of interest. The variables reviewed included: owner-occupied housing; minor children in household; households with adults over the age of sixty-five; whether or not one is a native Rhode Islander; whether or not one is a foreign-born individual; amount of bachelor and graduate degrees; median income; and percentage below poverty lines. In his opinion, those variables are sufficient to make an effective determination of communities of interest; although, he conceded that many of the differences were not necessarily significant differences. Due to data drawn from census tracks, Professor Profughi's analysis actually double counted some registered voters in Districts 10 and 12 in order to complete his work. Based on his analysis, Professor Profughi found the districts, as drawn, irrational. Professor Profughi, however, also surmised that it would not be irrational for a reasonable mind to disagree with his data or the conclusions drawn from his data. On cross-examination, he agreed with defense counsel that the concept of functional compactness was a concept that would be rational for the General Assembly to consider in drawing up the new districts. Professor Profughi also testified that objective measurements, such as dispersion, perimeter, and population measures, exist and may be used to prove relative compactness. Nonetheless, plaintiffs failed to present this Court with any evidence in this regard. The plaintiffs also called three elected representatives: Senator June Gibbs; Senator Mary Parella; and Representative William Enos. Representative Enos is also a named plaintiff in this action. These members of the legislature all currently represent constituents in the East Bay area, with Senator Gibbs representing new Senate District 12, Senator Parella representing new Senate District 11, and Representative Enos representing new House District 71. Representative Enos was the senator for former Senate District 47 from 1987 through 2002. That district was primarily made up of the Towns of Tiverton and Little Compton, with a smaller portion of Warren comprising the rest of the district. During the statewide 2002 elections, then-Senator Enos made a decision to run for the newly created house seat. He spoke of the lifelong ties he has with the community and the similarities that many of the communities in that district shared. He described the difference between Tiverton and Little Compton, as well as Middletown and Newport. Representative Enos also discussed the distance from one end of the Senatorial district to the other end and other geographical obstacles between parts of the district. Although he considered running for the seat in Senate District 12, he believed that running in a district where a majority of the citizens hailed from areas that he had never represented, Newport and Middletown, would be a fool's race. In addition to that pragmatic assessment, Representative Enos also testified that he would be doing the citizens of those towns a disservice because he believed: I have no business representing Middletown and Newport. I don't know Middletown and Newport. Thus he chose to represent the people he felt that he would be best able to serve, those in Tiverton and Little Compton, or, in his words, God's country, and to continue to have a voice for those people in state government. It was also his testimony that Senate District 47, the former district that he represented; House District 71, the current district that he represents; and current Senate District 12, the district in which he would have been eligible to run, were all unconstitutional. Representative Enos also testified that he was effectively representing the constituents of his current district and, as a whole, effectively represented the constituents of his former district. However, he stated that he would not be able to represent the voters of current Senate District 12, who resided in Middletown and Newport as effectively as he would those voters in the portion of Senate District 12 who resided in Tiverton and Little Compton. Senator Parella was the senator in former District 45 and a lifelong resident of Bristol. Prior to redistricting, her district breakdown was approximately three-quarters Bristol and one-quarter Warren. The current senate district that Senator Parella represents, District 11, on the other hand, is approximately two-thirds Portsmouth and only one-third Bristol. It was her testimony, as a resident and elected representative, that the division of Bristol into three districts dilutes the representation for the population of Bristol. She testified that the three portions of Bristol, each of which is a minority in Districts 9, 10 and 11, are linked with communities that they have very little in common with, most notably, those portions of Bristol within Districts 9 and 10. The division, in her opinion, unnecessarily divided neighborhoods, put the municipalities together in such a way that issues of local and statewide concern might often clash, and ignored other natural and geographic boundaries. Senator Parella was particularly concerned with the Town of Bristol having a resident senator from the town and the inherent improbability for that occurrence if the Town of Bristol is divided into three minority enclaves. Though acknowledging the challenge of representing the people of Portsmouth as a resident of Bristol, Senator Parella was confident in her ability and desire to effectively represent her constituents in District 11. Senator June Gibbs, the representative for Senate District 12, also testified. The Senator has lived in Middletown for over fifty years and has represented the area since 1984. Senator Gibbs recognized the difficulties in representing a senatorial district that was geographically larger than her previous district, including increased travel time. Representing more voters within a district was, and is, also a challenge. One of those challenges included meeting a new group of constituents and recognizing the needs of that constituency. She conceded that some of the issues important to the citizens of Tiverton and Little Compton located in District 12 are also important to citizens of Middletown and Newport in District 12. But she testified that some of the issues, including but not limited to education, tourism, and employment in the defense field, impact the towns within District 12 to a much different degree. Despite the challenges perceived by Senator Gibbs, it is her belief that she is effectively representing the needs of all of the citizens of District 12.