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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
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Weintraub: Governor Gets Another Shot At
Redistricting Reform
By Daniel Weintraub, Bee Columnist
Sacramento Bee
March 30, 2008
The greatest irony in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election
debacle in 2005 was that, while he was accused of veering to the
conservative right, the governor was backing an initiative that was
bitterly opposed by the national leadership of the Republican Party
and a majority of Republican members in California's congressional
delegation.
That measure – Proposition 77 – would have taken the power to
draw political district boundaries away from the Legislature and
future governors, and given it to an independent commission.
The change would have ended the most egregious conflict of
interest at the heart of our electoral system – a power that lets
politicians pick their voters rather than the other way around. And
that's exactly why so many politicians from both major parties
opposed it.
Schwarzenegger thus found himself in a political crossfire. Even
as Democratic legislators were telling their constituents that the
governor's measure was a partisan power grab, Republican politicians
were telling their voters the same thing. Somehow, the governor's
reform was going to help Republicans and Democrats steal elections
at the same time.
That message made no sense. But skillfully delivered, it was a
powerful one. Their campaign – coupled with a $100 million effort
funded by the public employee labor unions – played into voter
distrust of the governor and helped sink all of his ballot measures,
including Proposition 77.
But Schwarzenegger's goal was noble: To end a system controlled
by political insiders that has helped polarize the Legislature into
warring camps of liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans.
With district lines drawn to create safe seats for members of both
parties, candidates for the Legislature merely have to win over
their party faithful in the primaries and then glide to an easy
general election in the fall. Almost no one serving in the
Legislature today has ever had to run a campaign appealing to
independent voters or independent-minded members of the opposite
party.
Now the governor is trying again. After waiting in vain for two
years for legislative leaders to make good on their pledge to reform
the system themselves, he has endorsed a new measure drafted by a
coalition of political reform groups and, possibly, headed for the
November ballot.
The new proposal would create a 14-member citizens commission to
draw district lines for the state Legislature and the Board of
Equalization, while leaving with the Legislature the job of drawing
congressional boundaries. The drafters made that compromise to avoid
opposition from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who
would have raised and spent millions of dollars to kill a measure
that in any way threatened her base of power.
The commission would include five Democrats, five Republicans and
four people who are members of neither major party. The applicants
would be screened by the state auditor and could have no recent ties
to either major party or to legislative or federal officeholders. As
part of the winnowing process, legislative leaders would be allowed
to strike from the list applicants they believe would be biased for
the other side.
Once selected, the commissioners would be required to comply with
the federal Voting Rights Act and draw boundaries respecting the
geographic integrity of cities, counties and neighborhoods. Those
lines could also reflect what are known as "communities of
interest" – a nebulous term of political art that leaves open
the possibility for mischief if the commission's members are unduly
influenced by party activists or interest groups.
The fate of this measure, like similar proposals that have gone
before it, will ultimately depend on the level of opposition it
attracts from the political parties – especially the Democrats.
Nationwide experience has shown that no attempt to change the way
district lines are drawn can succeed at the ballot box if it is
strongly opposed by a state's majority party.
But if the Democrats (and the Republicans) are divided, and they
and their interest-group allies stand down, this proposal might have
a chance. Last week, it picked up the endorsement of a new reform
group known as California Forward that is led by a moderate
Democrat, former Rep. Leon Panetta of Monterey, and a moderate
Republican, Orange County businessman Thomas McKernan.
Both men acknowledged that reforming the way political lines are
drawn would be only the first step in ending the dysfunction in
Sacramento. But Panetta said he hoped it would reduce the
"trench warfare" that now substitutes for genuine debate.
And McKernan said it would force at least a handful of legislators
to respond to the political center, where many voters are stranded
without representation.
Panetta, who served as then- President Bill Clinton's chief of
staff after leaving Congress, said his Central Coast district was
competitive when he was first elected.
"That made me a better representative," he said,
"because I had to deal with constituents on all sides."
Imagine that.
The measure Panetta and McKernan are backing is flawed. But it
would probably be better than the status quo. If you get a chance,
sign the petition to put it on the ballot. That would at least give
Californians a chance to debate the issue one more time in November.
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