Districting Commission to Try to Choose Chair Thursday

The newly appointed Districting and Apportionment Commission will meet Thursday in Helena to try to settle on a presiding officer for the group.

The meeting will be at 9 a.m. by conference call. The public may attend in Room 102 of the State Capitol. The meeting also will be broadcast live online at www.leg.mt.gov.

Under the state Constitution, legislative leaders every 10 years appoint four members to a bipartisan commission to draw legislative and congressional district boundaries using population data from the most recent U.S. Census.

The commission must select a fifth member to serve as its presiding officer. If the current commission can't agree at the Thursday meeting, the Montana Supreme Court will be responsible for making the selection.

Nominees for presiding officer are:

• Holly Kaleczyc, executive director of the Friendship Center in Helena
• Jeffrey Greene, professor of political science at the University of Montana in Missoula
• Jim Lopach, chair of the political science department at the University of Montana in Missoula
• Robert Person, retired executive director of the Legislative Services Division
• Joe Roberts, lobbyist and former legislator from Helena
• Craig Wilson, political science professor at MSU-Billings
• Scott Wyckman, retired justice of the peace in Gallatin County

Kaleczyc was nominated by Democratic legislative leaders, while Greene, Lopach, Roberts, Wilson, and Wyckman were nominated by Republican leaders. Person submitted his own name for consideration.

Resumes of the nominees are posted on the legislative Web site at www.leg.mt.gov/districting. The public is invited to comment on the nominees by e-mailing rweiss@mt.gov. Copies of correspondence will be distributed to all commission members.

For more information, contact Rachel Weiss, legislative research analyst, at 406-444-5367.