HELENA - One of Montana's key battles for political control looks as if it will be trench warfare, again, as the commission redrawing state legislative districts kicked off its four-year journey by refusing to agree on a chairman.

Whether this political sword fight bodes well for Montana residents is an open question. Politics is a form of battle, and it's not always pretty, but so what?

The process of drawing up districts goes to the fundamental fairness of our democracy, meant to uphold the principle of one person, one vote or equal representation at the Legislature.

It's important that we have a fair process and result.

So far, both sides seem to be more concerned about squeezing whatever political advantage and angle they can from the process, which will culminate in new House and Senate districts for the 2014 election.

Let's start with the Democrats. Last Thursday, as the Districting and Apportionment Commission's four appointed members met to choose a fifth member/chairman, Democrats Joe Lamson and Pat Smith voted against all five of the possible chairs nominated by the panel's two Republican members.

Lamson and Smith rejected candidates who seem ideal for the job: Two of the most respected and well-known political scientists in Montana, James Lopach and Craig Wilson, with reputations for nonpartisanship, and Bob Person, the former chief of the Legislature's nonpartisan research staff.

The only candidate of-fered up by the Democrats, Holly Kaleczyc, has an established political record as a Democrat. The Republican members of the panel understandably opposed her.

Lamson said Kaleczyc was the only one who had the skills of a "consensus builder."

Really? A long-standing Democratic partisan, rather than nonpartisan political science professors?

Hmmmm.

A more plausible explanation for the Democrats' refusal to accept anyone but their own nominee is that the choice now goes to the Montana Supreme Court, where the chief justice is Mike McGrath, a former Democratic attorney general, and the court majority is moderate-to-liberal.

Nothing against the court, but it seems clear that Democrats think they might get a chairman more closely aligned with their political persuasion, potentially giving them a 3-2 majority on the Districting and Apportionment Commission.

Ten years ago, the Democrats got their 3-2 majority on that commission by court appointment of the chair and used that majority to draw up districts more to their liking.

Yet, here's where the Republicans dish out some of their own political hyperbole on redistricting.

The GOP in Montana has complained constantly about that 1999 commission's work, saying the districts that took effect in 2004 gave Democrats an unfair advantage to end Republican majorities at the Legislature.

Jon Bennion, one of two Republican members of the current commission, regurgitated this dubious claim again last week, calling the 1999 commission "the most partisan that the state has ever seen."

Yes, districts drawn by that commission are more advantageous for Democrats than the 1994-2002 districts. And, yes, the commission often packed more people into Republican-leaning districts, somewhat diluting their vote - although the plan complied with all legal standards.

But let's look back to the 1989 commission, and the electoral results following the work of it and the 1999 commission.

Republicans held a 3-2 majority on the 1989 commission, which drew the 1994-2002 districts, and one of the two Democrats later declared himself to be a Republican.

In 1994, the first year those districts took effect, Republicans won 25 additional seats in House and Senate races, seizing and expanding huge majorities in the Legislature. The GOP kept those majorities in both houses for the entire 10 years that those districts stood.

In 2004, the first year of districts by the "most partisan … ever" commission, Democrats picked up a grand total of nine seats, winning control of the state Senate and forging a 50-50 tie in the House.

In the two elections since then, Montana Democrats have failed to win control of either the House or Senate - while winning almost every statewide race for office. They did end up with a 26-24 Senate majority in 2007, but only after incumbent Republican Sam Kitzenberg switched parties, post-election.

So, by any measure, the current districts are hardly the Democratic gerrymander that Republicans would have you believe. Rather, they seem to accurately reflect a state that is closely divided between Democrats and Republicans.

With any luck, the current commission will achieve results continuing to reflect this political reality in Montana - despite its members' proclivities for partisan warfare.

Mike Dennison is a reporter for the Gazette State Bureau in Helena. Reach him at 800-525-4920 or 406-443-4920.