LINCOLN- The first visible whiff of political party engagement in the Legislature’s redistricting process surfaced Wednesday along with battle lines forming over a rural strategy that opponents warn could lead to a court test.

This year’s redistricting plot thickened during a committee hearing in Lincoln, the second of three public airings of competing legislative and congressional redistricting plans in advance of consideration by the nonpartisan Legislature.

Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward, whose District 24 — composed of York, Seward and Polk Counties — would be moved to Sarpy County under a plan supported by the five Republican members of the Redistricting Committee, said the Nebraska Republican Party is actively engaged in the redistricting process.

Kolterman, a Republican, pointed to an email from Ryan Hamilton, executive director of the Nebraska Republican Party, urging Republicans to “show up and support (the) fair and evenhanded” proposals crafted by Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, the committee chairwoman, and the committee majority.

“Nebraska is a conservative state with conservative values ... and our people deserve a map that enables them to have their beliefs reflected in government,” Hamilton wrote in the email.

Kolterman said Hamilton’s “full-throated endorsement of one of the legislative proposals to reflect ‘conservative values’ raises serious concerns that the proposal is neither fair nor evenhanded.”

“I’m disappointed,” he told the committee. “I didn’t take an oath to serve the Republican Party. Partisanship has no place in this process.

“Don’t tear my district apart,” Kolterman said.

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