NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Democrat State Rep. Jason Probst notes that the statehouse maps showed more collaboration than the congressional maps that the Kansas Supreme Court allowed to stand.
"Generally, I felt, for the minority party, I felt the majority worked with us pretty well," Probst said. "Again, not so much on the congressional maps, but on the house maps. Also, less in the Senate. The Senate maps were a little wonky, but the House, we seemed to work together pretty well and we came up with maps that I thought were reasonably fair. These things are going to last for 10 years. I think it's important that they are done in good faith and they are done in the right way."
Probst served on the house committee that helped draw the maps and was present for the town hall meeting in Hutchinson toward the beginning of the map process. His issues still lie with the way the Congressional districts were divided.
"Lawrence did not want to be in the First District," Probst said. "There was really no explanation for that. Very clearly, the people in Wyandotte County did not feel, they believed, that their community should be broken apart. To be fair, Johnson County has experienced such growth that there was going to have to be a split in that Johnson and Wyandotte County somewhere, but to do it in a way that carved out the biggest portion of minority population and put them in to a different district seemed to be a problem to me, but the court has ruled on that and so it is what it is."
Probst has filed to run for re-election in House District 102 by petition. The signatures are still being verified.