As redistricting looms large over state politics leaders of the two teams charged with drawing the new legislative map are sparring over public input on the process.
In a letter to Democratic State Committee Chairman John Wisniewski, newly resigned Republican State Committee Chairman asked Wisniewski and the Democratic team to attend four public hearings set by the GOP team.
“As you are aware, since I designated our Republican Commissioners in November, we have made it clear that we consider public input in this process a vital element of the Apportionment Commission’s work,” Webber wrote. “From the beginning, our Commissioners have been eager to hold multiple public hearings to listen to New Jerseyans’ views on this once-a-decade event, and we believe those hearings have been delayed long enough.”
In a response, Wisniewski told Webber the Democrats share the commitment to public input, but plan instead to attend a session hosted by former Director of the New Jersey Project at the Eagleton Institute for Politics Ingrid Reed to establish an agenda and structure for the public meetings.
“Ms. Reed specifically cautioned against avoiding mistakes of the past in which public redistricting hearings were set up without any structure, without any agenda and without any explanation of the process,” Wisniewski said, adding that the public hearings held in 2001 were less productive than they could have been, in large part because they were called without an agreed upon structure.
Wisniewski urged Webber to attend the session called for by Reed. Webber told PolitickerNJ, the GOP has no plans to attend the meeting.
Webber’s letter can be read here.
The full text of Wisniewski’s letter is below.
