Utah set to dash for that 4th seat

After some initial reluctance, Utah lawmakers decided in party caucuses Wednesday to pull out all the stops for a new, fourth seat in the U.S. House.

First, public hearings on at least two versions of a four-seat redistricting plan will be convened throughout the state. Then, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will call lawmakers into special session in early December to approve a plan to present to Congress.

The final decision, though, will rest with the lame-duck session of Congress — which may or may not even consider the issue before adjourning to make way for a new, Democratic-controlled U.S. House and Senate. If the lame-duck Congress doesn't act, then, Huntsman says, Utah is out of luck and probably won't get a fourth seat until after the 2010 Census.

"We've been assured by the governor that this will be a fair process with a fair result or he will veto it," said state House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake. He said minority Democrats will agree to a special session.

Huntsman's spokesman, Mike Mower, said the governor personally pitched the Senate GOP caucus Wednesday on the need for quick action. "We're pleased the Legislature is moving forward," Mower said.

While lawmakers finally agreed to deal with the issue now, one trouble spot has already surfaced. Senate Republicans will agree to the statewide hearings and special session only if the original 2001 four-seat plan is on the table.

"It was important to the caucus to use the earlier map as an alternative," said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, because that proposal has already been the subject of months of public hearings.

Lawmakers drew up a four-seat plan in 2001 while their challenge to North Carolina getting the extra seat proceeded through the courts. When the U.S. Supreme Court denied Utah its fourth seat, that particular four-seat plan died.

The original four-seat plan split Salt Lake County three ways and was much derided by Democrats.

House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said it has been made clear to state leaders that four-seat redistricting plan must create a "Democratic, safe seat" for U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, the only Democrat in the Utah delegation, or the proposal will have little chance of passing in the lame-duck Congress, scheduled to take up bills Dec. 4. and run for two weeks.