Group petitions for House redistricting

A group is petitioning the Merrimack County Superior Court to order the legislature to redistrict the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

The New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation argues that the house must be redistricted to comply with the constitutional amendment that was passed in 2006.

The amendment required that each town that have 3,089 people or more, based on the 2000 census, to have one or more of its own House districts assigned to it.

After the election, state Rep. Neal Kirk (R-Weare) filed HB687, which would have redistricted the lower-chamber.  However, the bill was defeated in March 2007 by a vote of 283-72.

The group's petition says that the current districting is unconstitutional because some towns do not have a representative.

"As a result, the districts established by RSA 662:5 are unconstitutional because 106 qualified towns and cities, including Petitioner towns, are not guaranteed representation from within the town," the petition states.

The petition adds that 15 towns currently do not have a representative from within the town.

"The result (the amendment) will be to bring representation closer to the people than it is now in the disenfranchised and under-represented towns," William O'Brien, the group's executive director said. "The amendment and this lawsuit are intended to return New Hampshire to the type of state representative districts that it had before the court-ordered redistricting in 2002 set up large multi-town, multi-legislator districts."

According to O'Brien, the towns of Canaan, Enfield, Litchfield, Loudon, Weare and Wilton would each gain a representative.  He also said that Nashua, New Boston, New Ipswich, Pelham, Pittsfield, Northwood, Plaistow, Salem, Stratham and Barrington should gain an extra seat.

There are 15 petitioners in this lawsuit - six towns (Canaan, Enfield, Litchfield, Loudon, Weare and Wilton) and nine individuals (Ralph Boehm, state Rep. Gary Hooper (R-Weare), Judith Finsterbusch, Loren Jean, Ed Naile, Anthony Lozeau and state Rep. Neal Kirk (R-Weare)).