Potts Vows Fight Over County Commissioner Redistricting Not Over

Redistricting for Oakland County commissioners won approval in the Legislature and the endorsement of County Executive L. Brooks Patterson last week. But one commissioner faced with a potentially difficult re-election said he will seek court intervention before the campaign starts.

David Potts (R-Birmingham) said he intends to appeal a recent ruling by an appellate court that dismissed claims of gerrymandering to create partisan districts.

"The case will be appealed to the state Supreme Court, and there are some interesting things coming," Potts told the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees at its final meeting of the year last week.

He may have been referring to the walkout by seven of 10 Democrat commissioners at Thursday's meeting. According to the Detroit News, the walkout came after a resolution that opposed the redistricting failed to gain any traction on the Republican-dominated board.

A package of bills introduced Nov. 29 by state Rep. Brad Jacobsen (R-46th District), a former Oakland County commissioner, moved out of the House Government Operations Committee on Dec. 7. It passed through the state House 58-50 the next day and was approved 20-17 Wednesday in the state Senate.

The changes include cutting the number of commissioners from 25 to 21 and nullifying a redistricting map that was drafted by a bipartisan committee. Only Oakland County is affected, because the bill targets counties with a population of more than 1 million and an optional unified form of government with an elected county executive. Wayne County meets the population threshold but has a charter form of government.

The move would save the county roughly $500,000 by 2013 and at least $2.5 million by the 2020 census, which drew support from Patterson.

"There is no need for Oakland or any other county to elect and pay for more than 21 elected commissioners," Patterson said in a written statement.

He also said he supports the bill because it shifts authority over the redistricting process to local elected officials and away from unelected party operatives who currently have that responsibility.

"Officials who perform redistricting should be accountable to voters," he said. "Having the local elected commission stand accountable for the district they create is a superior means to achieve this objective."

Potts to redraw the county districts. The proposal would pit him against fellow Republican incumbent Shelley Goodman Taub (R-16th District) for re-election.

The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the proposed boundaries in a ruling issued last month.

Potts, a practicing attorney based in Bloomfield Hills, didn't mince words when he presented an update to the Bloomfield Township officials.

"I read the decision and, frankly, a first-year law student could have written it," he said. "They could have read it and probably could understood the issues more."