The Honorable John Tanner
United States House of Representatives
1226 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Tanner:
On behalf of the 350,000 members of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write in support of your bill, H.R. 2642, the Fairness and Independence in Redistricting Act of 2005. If passed into law, this legislation would go a long way toward creating more competitive races for the United States House of Representatives.
Although it does not appear to be an issue of specific interest to taxpayers at first glance, NTU and our members believe that more competition is a positive influence whether the issue is education, trade, or politics. Unfortunately, although the process of drawing lines on a map to preserve political power has a long history in this country, the use of computers and other modern technologies has created a situation in which there are only 25 or so truly competitive races for 435 seats nationwide. Current conditions only exacerbate the problems associated with incumbency and the tendencies of career politicians to grow ever more generous with taxpayer dollars as they spend more time in office.
Having competitive races is important for a healthy democracy. Closer contests bring voters to the booth as they recognize their vote makes a difference. Texas, which had both competitive and non-competitive House races in 2004, provides a perfect illustration of this principle in action. In that state, the House races with winners who secured 55 percent of the vote or less had turnouts five points higher than the races that were not close.
As a taxpayer group representing Americans concerned with out-of-control spending in Washington and the ever-increasing influence of special interests, we support genuine efforts to bring accountability to the political system. We do hope (and would actively support language to ensure) that should this bill become law, the $64.2 million cost over 10 years will be taken from existing redistricting funds or offset with miniscule cuts in other government programs. Nonetheless, NTU looks forward to working with you in support of this necessary reform measure.
Sincerely,
Paul J. Gessing
Director of Government Affairs