It’s hard to have much respect for a redistricting process that is so completely guided by political motives.

Are we in the 2nd District or the 3rd District  or maybe a little bit of both?

The status of Lawrence and Douglas County seems to change with almost every new map gaining attention in the Kansas Legislature. The map approved by the interim joint committee put much of Lawrence in the 2nd District but reached deeply into the city limits to extract Kansas University and preserve it in the 3rd District.

A new map approved by the Senate Reapportionment Committee on Monday puts all of Douglas County into the 2nd District, along with Manhattan. About the only map that keeps all of Lawrence in the 3rd District is a plan being promoted by Democratic leaders in the Senate.

But, even though local leaders agree that being in the 3rd District is the most beneficial plan for Lawrence, that plan has no chance of passing. Why? Because it’s the Democratic plan, the Democrats represent only a small minority of the Kansas Legislature, and this is all about politics.

Lawrence residents were warned from the beginning that redistricting is a highly political process, but we were told that legislators drawing the district would strongly consider other factors, such as making districts contiguous and compact and respecting “communities of interest” such as the ties Lawrence and KU have to the Kansas City area. Local leaders made the case that KU’s campuses in Lawrence and Kansas City, as well as the business ties along the Kansas Highway 10 made it logical for Lawrence to be maintained in the 3rd District.

The only problem is that redistricting isn’t logical; it’s political. It’s purely political, and no matter what lip service is given to communities of interest and other considerations, none of those factors matter. It’s political, period.

This is a painful realization for Lawrence, which is a key bargaining chip in this debate. Keeping Lawrence in the 3rd District apparently is out of the question because, to balance population among the districts, it would be necessary to cut rural sections of Wyandotte or Johnson counties out of the district. Johnson County Republicans don’t want Johnson County split; the governor doesn’t want Wyandotte County split. That’s that.

So what happens to Lawrence? Democrat Dennis Moore, who represents the 3rd District, and Republican Jim Ryun, who represents the 2nd District, would be perfectly happy to split Lawrence in two. Moore can’t have all of Lawrence in his district but he wouldn’t mind hanging onto the more Democratic eastern part of the city. Ryun certainly doesn’t want all those Douglas County Democrats in his district, but he wouldn’t mind having the more Republican western part of the city.

Who’s going to stand up for Lawrence? Local leaders fought to keep Lawrence in the 3rd, but the main issue in the Legislature now seems to be whether to put Lawrence wholly in the 2nd District or split it between the two.

A redistricting map must be passed by the end of the current legislative session and signed by the governor. It then must pass muster with the courts before it is enacted. One map is on its way to the full Kansas Senate, but it is far from a done deal. There is plenty more work to be done and many questions to be asked. Amid all the political posturing, there’s one question legislators might do well to ask themselves: “Does anyone care what’s best for Lawrence?”