Jan. 27, 2012 — FRANKFORT - Three Republican lawmakers and two private citizens filed suit Thursday in Franklin Circuit Court to have the House legislative redistricting plan declared unconstitutional.

The plan is a “blatant power play by Rep. (Greg) Stumbo and his constituents,” said Anthony Gaydos of Vanceburg, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. “It is unconstitutional to split our county three ways to bring in three Democrats to represent us.”

The plan, passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Steve Beshear, reflects the partisan advantage of the Democratic-controlled House map and the Republican-controlled Senate map. Minorities in both chambers have cried foul, but House Republicans have said for several days they expected to challenge the plan in court.

They contend the plan violates the state constitution by splitting more than the minimum number of counties and also deviates from a standard of plus or minus 5 percent population deviation from the average district population, a standard set out in a previous court ruling over re-districting resulting from an earlier suit filed by, Rep. Joe Fischer, R-Ft. Thomas, who is also a plaintiff in the latest suit.

The suit asks for an injunction to stop implementation of the plan and a hearing on that request has been scheduled for Monday at 10:30 a.m. before Franklin Circuit Judge Phil Shepherd.

The other plaintiffs are Republican House members Jeff Hoover, Jamestown; Kim King, Harrodsburg;  and Frey Todd, the Mayor Eubank in Pulaski County. Pulaski County, Republican in registration, was split four ways and Gaydos’ Lewis County, also heavily Republican, was split three ways. Previously represented by Republican Jill York of Grayson, the county is now represented by three Democrats.

“I just feel like Lewis County is being targeted unfairly, especially with the splitting of our county,” said Gaydos, who operates Gaydos Funeral Home in Vanceburg and is a registered Republican. “I believe we are being targeted simply because we are such a committed Republican county and they are denying us the representation of Jill York.”

Hoover said the plan passed by Democrats is “not only unfair, it’s not only disenfranchises voters, but it is unconstitutional.” He and Fischer say the plan fails three tests: it splits more than the minimum number of counties; it deviates from court imposed population guidelines for districts; and it includes districts which are not contiguous.

The last is a reference to Pulaski County where Democrats drew a very narrow strip of the county, including Eubank, in order to connect Casey County to Rockcastle County, the home of Republican Whip Danny Ford of Mt. Vernon. Ford has already announced he won’t seek re-election in his new district which he describes as looking like “a horseshoe with a leash.”

Hoover declined to say who is paying for the suit except that private citizens have expressed a desire to determine the plan’s constitutionality and are willing to pay for it. He said no tax dollars will be involved.

Gaydos said he is not financing the suit and he said he was not approached by Hoover or the party about joining it. He said it was mostly his idea but spurred by requests from local Lewis County Republicans who wanted to fight dividing the Republican county among three Democrats.

Democrats, the minority in the Senate, suffered a similar fate to House Republicans. The Republican Senate majority placed Democratic incumbents in districts with others and Sen. Kath Stein, D-Lexington, saw her district moved outside of Fayette County and replaced by a re-numbered district which won’t be on the ballot this year. That means she can’t even run for re-election.

She said Thursday she’s reviewing the suit filed by House Republicans.

“I think the chances are very good that we will seek to intervene in the matter,” Stein said. She said she’s likely to file such a motion before Monday.

Stumbo, the primary architect of the House plan, said he’s briefly reviewed the Republican complaint but thinks the re-districting plan will withstand court challenge. He doesn’t think Shepherd is likely to order an injunction Monday.

“An injunction is predicated on a finding that the law is unconstitutional,” Stumbo said. “Without that type of finding, then the injunctive relief of that kind, in my judgment, is unwarranted. And I don’t think the court can make that finding without a trial of the merit of the case.

RONNIE_ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.