By Laura Weber, MPRN News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-962814.mp3
LANSING, MI – State lawmakers are about to begin redrawing Michigan's political maps. A state House panel will open up hearings on how new US Census data will affect redistricting.
Republican state Representative Pete Lund is chairman of the House Redistricting and Elections Committee. He says partisan politics won't have a big effect on the district lines.
"This isn't Pete Lund drawing the lines, this is a committee of the House of Representatives, it'll be a committee from the Senate, and we're going to follow the laws that have been created," says Lund. "And if we get to the point where we are doing things that are wrong, the courts will step in and correct it."
All branches of state government are controlled by Republicans. Many Democrats worry that the GOP will draw district lines that will hurt or eliminate a Democratic seat in Congress. Michigan is set to lose one seat in Congress in 2012.