Recent News
Lawsuit Challenging Missouri House of Representatives Districts
Published on Monday, January 23, 2012
By Jeff Cox
Along with a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, I today filed a lawsuit with the Missouri Supreme Court challenging the map setting forth the State of Missouri's 163 House of Representatives legislative seats. The suit, filed against Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, seeks to prohibit the Secretary from making any use of the New House Map in connection with the candidate filings for the 2012 primary or general elections.
I feel that the new districts are legally questionable on a number of points, and, if implemented, would be harmful to the citizens of Raymore and Cass County.
The New House Map divides Raymore into three separate seats. The northern section of Raymore is placed into a Grandview-based district (Number 37), the majority of which is in Jackson County. The far west side of Raymore is placed into a Belton-based district (Number 56), which also stretches into Jackson County. The remaining southern portion of Raymore is put into a central Cass County-based district (Number 55). To my knowledge, this is the first time Raymore has been divided into more than one House seat, let alone into three.
With a population of under 20,000 people, I see no legitimate reason that the citizens of Raymore could not have been kept together in the same House district, the ideal population of which is over 37,000 people. I consider the citizens of Raymore to be a community of interest, and believe that splitting us up into three separate districts will have a detrimental affect on our voice in State government.
Similarly, Cass County is now split up into five different seats, with a number of them being shared with surrounding counties. The County's population could have very well been drawn into a fewer number of districts that would not have the affect of diluting the voice of Cass Countians in Jefferson City.
There are a total of fourteen bi-partisan plaintiffs in this suit. Two of the plaintiffs are former state senators (one from each party), two of them are current state representatives (one from each party), and three of them (myself included) are attorneys.
While I certainly do not take lightly the participation in any sort of litigation against the State, I feel that the present circumstances dictate a duty for me to stand up for my hometown and home county, and combat the mentality in Jefferson City which places partisan politics above the welfare of our local communities.
The lawsuit's case number is SC92282. Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns.
Jeff Cox
Raymore City Councilman
