Incumbent urges quick work on Congressional redistricting
Published 5:00 am Friday, August 10, 2001
Congressional representation was a popular topic Thursday asFourth District Rep. Ronnie Shows visited Brookhaven during his”For the People” community tour.
With Mississippi losing a seat in the House of Representativesdue to slower population growth, state lawmakers are looking atways to divide the state into four districts instead of the currentfive.
There’s been wide speculation that Shows and Third District Rep.Chip Pickering could wind up facing each other next year underredrawn lines. Shows said Thursday that “nobody knows” how lineswill be redrawn, but two current office holders will be facingoff.
“One of us is going to have to run against another incumbent,”said Shows, who was accompanied by staff members from hisWashington and district offices.
Shows, a Democrat, explained that Pickering, a Republican who isscheduled to visit Brookhaven next week for a joint Lions-Kiwanisclub meeting, is a potential target because of his centralMississippi location.
“His area is surrounded by everybody,” Shows said.
Under the new lines, Shows said each congressman will berepresenting about 711,000 people. He said that’s an increase fromthe current 560,000 per district, and Mississippi will have thefourth-highest representative-constituent ratio in the country.
“You’ve got to spread out to get that population growth,” Showstold a group of about 20 people who gathered to hear him in thecity board room at the government complex.
Despite its Republican leanings, Shows said he likesrepresenting Lincoln County and wanted to continue to do sofollowing redistricting.
“We want to keep it in our district,” Shows said.
With the candidate qualifying deadline in March andredistricting requiring U.S. Justice Department approval, Showspushed for a state legislative special session to deal with theissue. He said there will be many issues facing lawmakers in the2002 regular session, but a special session would allow them tofocus just on redrawing district lines.
“Something’s got to start hopping pretty soon,” Shows said.
There have been indications that a redistricting special sessionwill be called later this year, but so far a date has not beenset.
On a related topic, Shows said the “urbans have taken over”representation in Congress. He said 75 percent of the country’spopulation, and consequently their representation, is from urbanareas of 250,000 people or more.
“That only leaves 25 percent of us who are basically rural…,”Shows said in discussing difficulties in passing legislation thatis friendly to rural areas. “The problem is so few of us representrural areas.”
Shows said congressional tenure and seniority are ways ruralarea representatives can get legislation approved for theirconstituents.
Education, particularly class size, was another issue Showsaddressed Thursday. Citing a recent study showing only 20 ofdistrict classrooms were the optimal size of 18 students, Showsdiscussed the relationship between class size, discipline andeffective instruction.
“Class size makes a difference with discipline,” Shows said. “Ifyou’re spending less time with discipline, you’re teaching more.That’s what it’s all about.”
Also Thursday, Shows touched on the increasing globalization ofthe state’s economy, pitched a proposal to reduce the amount ofviolence on television by setting aside two hours a day fornon-violent, family-oriented programming, and criticized therecently-passed patients’ bill of rights.
“It’s a shame what happened to that bill,” Shows said of theHouse version.
Shows said he co-sponsored the bill, but ultimately had to voteagainst it because it had become so “twisted and tangled.” He saiddoctors and medical leaders liked the original bill, butdisapproved of the current version because it continues to favorHMOs.
“They don’t want to see another HMO bill of rights, and that’swhat it is,” Shows said.
Shows said the Senate passed a more favorable patients’ bill ofrights, and he was hopeful a suitable compromise could be foundduring House and Senate conference discussions.
Trade issues also got the congressman’s attention, and Showsoffered three reasons why the state’s economy is suffering. Hediscussed the need for adequate farm bill and the need to addressthe impact foreign timber is having on state markets.
“Imported Canadian timber is putting our people out ofbusiness,” Shows said, adding that a declining timber activity hasa negative “domino effect” on other sectors of the economy.
He also mentioned rising unemployment due to job losses toMexico as a result of NAFTA. He mentioned plant closings his homecounty of Jefferson Davis and elsewhere in the district.
“We’ve got to turn it around some way,” Shows said.
Thursday’s Lincoln County stop was one of about 25 town hallmeetings Shows has scheduled this week while Congress is in recess.After leaving Brookhaven, Shows traveled to Franklin County tovisit with officials and to tour the new recreational lake underdevelopment.