Appointments to Wichita redistricting board generate political heat — and more appointments

A nonpartisan commission set up to help redraw Wichita’s City Council district boundaries is generating political heat before it has its first meeting.

In addition, the mayor says he plans to appoint four more members this week to correct what he calls a gender imbalance on the commission of electors.

Most City Council members appointed one commission member each last week. Although the council is also nonpartisan, it has grown more political, and the appointments reflect that.

“I’m honestly embarrassed,” Mayor Brandon Whipple tweeted after the appointments. “Our city of Wichita redistricting committee has more people who have spent their professional lives working against LGBTQ rights than any other board.”

Whipple, a Democrat, was referring to three appointees — former Republican state legislator and current businessman and talk show host John Whitmer, Republican state Rep. Patrick Penn and Joseph Dozier, who worked for the Texas GOP.

“These are Republican legislators who, frankly, have a vested interest in destroying civil rights, specifically the work we’ve done with our local level non-discriminatory ordinance,” Whipple said. “I think it is worrisome if the committee isn’t reflective of the values of the community.”

Whitmer said Whipple’s tweet did not surprise him.

“The mayor has an agenda that he wanted to try to get accomplished,” Whitmer, who was appointed by Jeff Blubaugh, said. “I think he wants to grow the size of the City Council, he wants to add two City Council seats and I think he wants to use the redistricting committee to do that ... I think that it’s unfortunate that he’s trying to attack people who he disagrees with politically. He attacked the Republican appointees, calling us unqualified.”

Whipple said adding more City Council members would mean more community members are represented.

District 1 council member Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, also got criticism on Twitter from various accounts for appointing Dozier.

“I think people, when you make a decision like that, some people will like it and appreciate it and others won’t,” Johnson said. “Ultimately I was elected to make the best decisions I could to represent District 1, and I do and sometimes I get criticized for it and other times I don’t.”

Johnson said Dozier, who chairs the District 1 advisory board, is the perfect fit.

“He’s been a really great representative of the community on the district advisory board, and always challenges folks to think things through and make the right decisions … I believe he was the individual who made the motion to get the current map approved on the county level,” Johnson said.

“Sad to see Mayor Whipple working to discredit and delegitimize the city redistricting committee before it even meets for a first time,” Dozier said in an email to The Eagle. “We need public servants, especially locally, who don’t stereotype and discount the contributions and insights of others just because a person comes from a different background or political party.”

Typically, each council member appoints one member to the commission of electors and the mayor appoints the seventh member, who serves as the chair.

Whipple said in order to make the commission more representative of the city, he would appoint more members on Tuesday. The commission now has five men and one woman. Whipple said he plans to appoint four more women and expects Mike Hoheisel, the only council member yet to make an appointment, to appoint a woman as well.

This would make the gender balance, Whipple said, since Wichita is 61% women. Wichita is 51% female, according to U.S. Census data.

City Council district boundaries are redrawn every 10 years after the Census to ensure equal representation between council districts.

For some city residents, redrawing district lines could mean they will have a different council member representing them. The council makes decisions on streets, safety, business incentives and other issues that affect people who live or work in Wichita.

The population of each district must fall between 62,942 and 69,568 people. As of the 2020 Census, District 2 in northeast Wichita falls above that and District 3 in southeast Wichita falls just below it. The rest are in range.

Here are the appointments so far:

• Lamont Anderson, appointed by council member Bryan Frye. Anderson served on the county task force to review the death of Cedric Lofton. Last year, he served on the county redistricting committee.

• Dozier, appointed by Johnson. Dozier worked as a Republican campaign consultant through his firm, JTD Strategies, and also served on the county redistricting committee last year.

• Whitmer, appointed by Blubaugh. Whitmer hosts a talk show called the “John Whitmer Show” on KNSS radio. He previously served on the House elections committee for two years.

• Penn, appointed by Becky Tuttle. Penn served as chair of the county redistricting board last year.

• Javan Gonzalez, appointed by Maggie Ballard. Gonzalez serves on the District 6 advisory board and has been a precinct committeeman since 2020.

• Marcey Gregory, who will serve as the chair, was appointed by Whipple. Gregory is the former mayor of Goddard and ran against Penn for Kansas House in 2020.

The commission of electors must provide revisions of the district boundaries by Aug. 31. The City Council will make a decision on the boundaries by Dec. 31.