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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

New redistricters sworn in, have first unanimous vote - on co-chairs

Idaho's new bipartisan citizen redistricting commission is sworn in on Wednesday morning. (Betsy Russell)
Idaho's new bipartisan citizen redistricting commission is sworn in on Wednesday morning. (Betsy Russell)

Idaho's new citizen redistricting commission has been sworn in by Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, who greeted the six new commissioners, saying, "Good morning, all of you, welcome. I facetiously was telling some of you that I thought you were smarter than this, to be on this commission." He said, "You have a daunting task in front of you. ... It may be unfair to you, but time is of the essence. ... We need to have a plan in place as quickly as we can, a legally defensible plan. ... I commend you for your willingess to serve."

The six commissioners then unanimously elected their new co-chairs: Dolores Crow from the Republican side, and Ron Beitelspacher from the Democratic side. Both are former longtime state legislators. "See how easy it is to get a unanimous vote?" asked Legislative Services Director Jeff Youtz.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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