Watching the Democrats play redistricting this year has been like watching an episode of Survivor…they all keep voting each other off of the island. With a small revolving cast of lawyers representing Democrats and their liberal special interest backers filing all sorts of maps, the one thing all the various delineations and designs have in common is the screwing of different Democrats.

Redistricting is the biennial process of redrawing Colorado's seven Congressional district boundaries to reflect population changes identified in the Census. Originally meant to be resolved by a bipartisan commission who was to submit maps to the State Legislature to approve, the rapacious ambition of Senate President and now CD4 candidate Brandon Shaffer caused Democrats to actually filibuster their own redistricting map, thus forcing the issue to the courts. The case is now set to be heard in October.

Throughout the process, the Democrats’ machinations have looked more and more like one of the original reality TV shows. 

Let's take a look at the Democrat Tribal Council and how many of their own they have decided to vote off the electoral island in one iteration of their redistricting map or another:

We’ve got Democrat maps that throw Ed Perlmutter under the bus, putting him in a sprawling district with Grand Junction and Cortez.

We’ve got Democrat maps that back the bus over Sal Pace, putting Pueblo in with Colorado Springs.

There have been a bunch of maps that screw Brandon Shaffer.

Now we’ve got a map from Pueblo DA Bill Thiebault that takes aim at Diana DeGette by putting her in a district that includes all of Douglas County and western Arapahoe.

How do you think that DeGette feels about being in a competitive district overnight? She might make a good witness for the Republicans on keeping Denver whole. 

The only Democrat who hasn’t been targeted by his own party has been Jared Polis of Boulder — the city that Coloradans across the state begged not to be stuck with. Conspiracy theorists might even postulate that it has something to do with Polis having been a member of the vast left wing conspiracy (i.e. Pat Stryker, Al Yates, et al) who are pulling the puppet strings on redistricting for the Democrats. 

Democrats haven't just voted off their own party members through their various redistricting maps, they've also tried to play some strategic games. Attentive readers might have noticed this quote from the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association's lead attorney to The Denver Post:

“What we tried to do is not reinvent the wheel,” said Gina Rodriguez, one of the attorneys for the two Latino groups.  

She said their map borrows upon state Senate seats currently being drawn by a bipartisan commission. [Peak emphasis]

Interesting she'd mention the state Senate maps, as they were drawn entirely by the Democrats on the Reapportionment Commission, the state legislative cousin to redistricting.

Guess who the Chair of the Public Policy Committee at the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association is? Scott Martinez. The same Scott Martinez who is the lead attorney for the Democrats on reapportionment. 

Scott Martinez is the human conflict of interest in this sordid liberal saga, representing leftist stakeholders near and far. If there is a map being drawn by liberal special interests, Martinez is never far away.

Maybe the State House Democrats should have hired him too, instead of relying on Pat Stryker and Al Yates to look out for their interests. Perhaps as the former Executive Director of the Colorado Democrat Party, Martinez had a soft spot for the upper chamber where Democrats have had more electoral luck. 

The other map that has been submitted was drafted by Pueblo DA Bill Thiebaut. In his email to The Denver Post's Lynn Bartels, Thiebaut calls himself a "citizen lawyer" who is just trying to offer some non-biased information. 

What he forgets to mention is he was the Democrat Senate Majority Leader last time redistricting occurred 10 years ago, which drew a map that is strikingly similar to the one drafted by Republicans this go-round.

He also had a lawyer for his redistricting map court filing: Stan Matsunaka. Matsunaka was a Democrat Senate President and unsuccessfully ran for Congress in CD4 in 2002 and 2004. 

Who do Democrats think they're fooling? Flooding the zone on redistricting with Democrat proposals in all but name is a pretty obvious and poorly played move. 

Maybe the Democrats should stick to voting off their own members in Tribal Council — they're certainly not in the running for Survivor All Stars. 

Democrat Survivor – Colorado.  Outwit, Outplay, Outlast…Your Own Party.