|
2008
Gerrymandering The Vote: How A “Dirty
Dozen” States Suppress As Many As 9 Million Voters
Democratic Leadership Council
June 2008
Editorial: Perata's Power Play
San Francisco Chronicle
June 30, 2008
Democrats Fear Redistricting Measure Would
Curb Their Power In State
San Francisco Chronicle
June 27, 2008
Election-Map Initiative Helps Voters, State
Progress
Sacramento Bee
June 27, 2008
Politics And California Redistricting
CaliforniaProgressReport.com
June 27, 2008
Millions On Line In Ballot Drives
Sacramento Bee
June 24, 2008
Democratic Leaders Accused Of Pressuring
Supporters Of Redistricting Measure
Contra Costa Times Sacramento Bureau
June 21, 2008
California Is Branded Among A 'Dirty
Dozen' On Gerrymandering
Los Angeles Times
June 19, 2008
Redistricting In California: Control or
Democracy?
CaliorniaProgressReport.com
June 19, 2008
Changing Method Of Redistricting Makes
Ballot
San Francisco Chronicle
June 18, 2008
Government Reformer Down On Redistricting
Initiative
PolitickerCA.com
June 18, 2008
Redistricting Initiative Makes California
Ballot
San Jose Mercury News
June 17, 2008
Democratic Party Takes Stands On Ballot
Measures
CaliforninaMajorityReport.com
June 17, 2008
Cavala: Republicans Kill Reform Bill That
Hurts GOP Chances While Democrats Support 'Reform' That Hurts Their Chances
CaliforniaProgressReport.com
June 9, 2008
Speaking With The New Speaker
Los Angeles Times
June 2, 2008
Two Plans Created To Reform Districts
Modesto Bee
May 19, 2008
New Speaker Should Focus On Public
Interest
Los Angeles Daily News
May 13, 2008
Why Schwarzenegger's Redistricting Plan
Won't Work
California Majority Report.com
May 13, 2008
Tony Quinn: Redistricting Reform OK, But
It's Only A Start
Sacramento Bee
May 11, 2008
Governor May Face Donor Fatigue
Contra Costa Times
May 11, 2008
California Redistricting Plan Faces Hurdles
Capitol Weekly
May 7, 2008
Dan Walters: Competing Proposals For Remap
Sacramento Bee
May 7, 2008
Initiative On Redistricting Closer To
Ballot
San Francisco Chronicle
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Nunez Pushes Ethics Plan As Rival Petitions
Are Filed
Sacramento Bee
May 7, 2008
To Get Leadership Reform, We First Need
Redistricting
Los Angeles Daily News
May 1, 2008
Good Intentions Could Harm Redistricting
Ballot Measure
Los Angeles Times
April 28, 2008
Redistricting On Track To Qualify,
Consultant Says
New America Foundation.com
April 23, 2008
Why Are GOP Contributors Putting Big Money
Into Redistricting Reform?
California Progress Report.com
April 19, 2008
Gov's
Giving To Remap Measure Tops $1 million
Sacramento Bee Capital Alert
April 21, 2008
‘Due
Process’ Democrats Have Their Heads Buried in the California Sand
California Progress Report.com
April 20, 2008
Opinion: Seeing The Light
Los Angeles Daily News
April 19, 2008
California
Voters FIRST Presents A Balanced And Bipartisan Effort For Redistricting
Reform
California Progress Report.com
April 17, 2008
Schwarzenegger's
Redistricting Plan Comes Under Fire
Contra Costa Times
April 17, 2008
Group Says Plan Will Put A Stop To
Gerrymandering
The Simi Valley Acron
April 4, 2008
The Need For Redistricting Reform From
This California Democrat’s Perspective
California Progress Report.com
April 4, 2008
Labor Says No To
Schwarzenegger/Republican/Common Cause Redistricting Measure
The California Majority Report.com
April 02, 2008
Revenge In Attack On Legislative
Redistricting?
California Progress Report.com
March 31, 2008
Weintraub: Governor Gets Another Shot At
Redistricting Reform
Sacramento Bee
March 30, 2008
Editorial: Can't Legislature Do Better Than
Bills On Dogs, Donkeys?
The Fresno Bee
March 30, 2008
Walters: Voters Irate At Budget Posturing
Sacramento Bee
March 28, 2008
New Foundation To Campaign For More Efficient
California Government
Sacramento Bee
March 27, 2008
Editorial: California Voters Should Support
Redistricting Ballot Measure
Fresno Bee
March 24, 2008
Editorial: Redraw the Map
Los Angeles Daily News
March 22, 2008
Walters: Court Ruling Offers Hope to
Dysfunctional California Politics
Sacramento Bee
March 19, 2008
Supreme Court to Hear Major Redistricting
Case
The Thicket at State Legislatures (ncsl.com)
March 18, 2008
Editorial: Let Citizens Redraw the Map
The Torrance Daily Breeze
March 17, 2008
Walters: Redistrict Reformers Miss Mark
Sacramento Bee
March 10, 2008
Let Citizens
Redraw Map
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
March 9, 2008
Governor Proposes Redistricting Ballot
Measure
North County Times
March 8, 2008
Redistricting Initiative Has Strong
Republican Backing
San Jose Mercury News
March 6, 2008
Governor Gathers Signatures to Qualify
Redistricting Measure
San Jose Mercury News
March 4, 2008
Manipulative Lawmakers Playing To The Crowd
Fresno Bee
February 14, 2008
State Voters Need To Do What Lawmakers
Won't
Los Angeles Daily News
February 14, 2008
Editorial: What We Need In Sacramento,
Redistricting, Not Retaliation
San Jose Mercury News
February 14, 2008
Redistricting Reform, Not Longer Terms, Is
The Answer
California Republic.org
February 12, 2008
The Buzz: A Hardball Tactic Could Ricochet
Sacramento Bee
February 11, 2008
Wake Up, Sacramento Media! Wake Up! Wake
Up! Wake Up!
San Diego Union Tribune
February 8, 2008
Editorial: Passive Aggressive Lawmakers
Just Play to the Crowd
Fresno Bee
February 8, 2008
Nunez Takes Blame For Prop. 93 Loss
Los Angeles Daily News
February 7, 2008
Weingand: Voters Got A Whiff and Said 'No'
Sacramento Bee
February 7, 2008
Lawmakers Believe In Term Limits But
Oppose The Measure
North County Times
February 4, 2008
Good For Us
Los Angeles Times
February 4, 2008
Commentary: A Conversation with Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger
Sacramento Bee
January 20, 2008
Walters: Two Party Structure Under Fire
Sacramento Bee
January 18, 2008
Walters: Governor's Brownian Flip-Flops
Sacramento Bee
January 16, 2008
Editorial: Corruption of a Good Idea
San Francisco Chronicle
January 15, 2008
Governor Supports Term Limit Measure
Sacramento Bee
January 15, 2008
A Deceptive Prop. 93
San Francisco Chronicle
January 10, 2008
Use Prop. 93 To Say 'No"
dailybreeze.com
January 3, 2008
more
|
 |
Editorial: Passive-Aggressive Lawmakers Just
Play to the Crowd
By Jim Boren
The Fresno Bee
February 8, 2008
Now that the term-limits scam has blown up in California lawmakers'
faces, maybe they should try reforming something that would improve
the Legislature.
The corrupt system lawmakers use to determine legislative
district boundaries has taken the competition out of elections. It's
time to fix it. Doing the right thing for once might even divert
attention from lawmakers' most recent attempt to manipulate the
public's will on term limits.
There would be a lot of people who would cheer a good-faith
effort to have an independent commission draw the lines of
legislative and congressional districts. It would be easy to reform
the redistricting system, but legislators, led by the Democrats,
don't have it in them to get it done.
They aren't honest about their opposition to redistricting
reform, so they won't even vote to kill it. They prefer the
passive-aggressive route. They'll promise reform and then introduce
several competing reform plans. They'll pick them apart, and the
next thing you know, the legislative session has ended and nothing
has changed.
Legislative leaders will hold a news conference to say they
tried, but couldn't reach a final agreement to put a redistricting
reform measure on the ballot. The truth is they never intended to
fix the problem. They were just playing to the crowd.
The biggest abusers are Assembly Speaker Fabián Núñez and
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata. But they are doing the dirty
work for the rest of the Legislature.
These guys can get very creative when they want to get something
done.
Take the state's term-limits law. They don't like it so they got
their special-interest pals to put an initiative on Tuesday's ballot
that would "modify" term limits. Of course it included a
little clause that would let them serve longer, even though they
were termed out.
This was a very tricky scam, and to make it all work, they had to
change the date of California's presidential primary. Sure, it was
brazen opportunism, but Núñez/Perata and the rest didn't flinch at
costing taxpayers an additional $80 million for the election. They
almost got away with the maneuver.
But the one thing they couldn't control was the California
electorate. They misled and distorted the issue with a
multimillion-dollar advertising campaign that said they were
tightening up term limits. It was a lie.
They even got Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to go along with the
scam, even after he said he would not support it unless the
Legislature also put a redistricting reform measure on the ballot.
The outsider who got elected in 2003 to reform Sacramento had
become part of the conspiracy to protect the status quo. He even has
become pals with Núñez, doing everything he could to keep the Los
Angeles Democrat in office.
But voters refused to swallow Proposition 93 and all the baloney
they were being fed by the Núñez/Perata/Schwarzenegger political
operation. The measure to change term limits was soundly defeated on
Tuesday.
The governor offered this election analysis to the Associated
Press after the vote: "I think it's very clear that the people
felt the legislators have not performed well enough (to) deserve a
change there."
Talk about stating the obvious. Pick an issue and the Legislature
has ducked it, from health care reform to fixing the state's prison
system. There's a $14 billion budget deficit because the state
regularly spends more money than it takes in. By any measurement,
this Legislature has been awful.
Núñez belatedly admitted that Proposition 93 failed because it
was not paired with a redistricting reform proposal. It wasn't like
he wasn't warned. Now Núñez's once-promising political career has
been shattered. But it was Núñez's own arrogance that got him in
this fix.
There soon will be new Democratic leaders elected in the Assembly
and the Senate. Maybe they will have learned the lessons of this
election.
Now Núñez, Perata and the other lame ducks have a chance to
show they can rise above their political pettiness by putting a
balanced redistricting reform measure on the ballot before their
terms end.
We will learn how serious lawmakers are about winning the
public's trust by the seriousness they show in offering a plan that
would have an independent commission draw legislative and
congressional district lines.
If they start making excuses for not fixing redistricting, it
will be clear that they are the same old tired politicians who have
been running the Legislature for a generation.
|
