When it comes to gerrymandering legislative districts, old habits die hard.

Partisan Democrats on the Champaign County Board made it clear from the start that they hate the idea of drawing a non-partisan political map for the new 11-district board to be elected in 2012.

So it's no big surprise that they're expressing objections to the work of the independent redistricting commission appointed by the board to draw the district boundary lines.

What is surprising is how weak the substance of their objections are.

The most unconvincing is county board member Tom Betz's claim that all 22 of the proposed maps prepared by the staff of the regional planning commission favor Republicans over Democrats. Really all 22 of them?

Betz is not alone. Another Democrat, Ralph Langenheim, asserts Democrats are being victimized by the effort to draw a map that is not biased in favor of either party.

What they really mean is that by not being biased against the GOP, the proposed maps are, in effect, biased against Democrats.

In their mind, that is inherently unfair because they come from the political school that says the majority party is entitled to draw political maps to benefit the majority party and penalize the minority.

Notice how that admittedly sincere view ignores the public interest in having competitive elections offering voters viable choices.

These objections, although selfish and shallow, should not be ignored. Democrats control the county board, and Betz would like nothing better than to substitute whatever map the commission recommends with a gerrymandered version that guarantees Democrats majority control for the next 10 years.

Independent-minded county board Democrats and Republicans can't let that happen.

Partisan Democrats also have been doing opposition research, and they claim the majority of independent members of the non-partisan commission have voted in Republican primaries.

Even if true, they were selected to serve on the commission by board chairman Pius Weibel, a Democrat. How likely is it that he would have appointed partisan hacks from the other party to serve? Not very.

They also object to Rick Winkel, a former GOP state legislator, being redistricting commission chairman because he's too partisan. Do they oppose Esther Patt, a former Democratic member of the Urbana City Council, being vice-chairwoman?

Don't kid yourself about the merits of these claims. The critics are acting solely out of political self-interest.

They want a map that guarantees them easy re-elections and a Democratic board. Both goals are legitimate, but the would-be gerrymanderers should be required to win them at the polling place on Election Day, not in some back room by manipulating district boundary lines.