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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
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Walters: Dem Anger On Measure
Misplaced
By Dan Walters - Bee Columnist
Sacramento Bee
September 24, 2007
Democrats have been working themselves into a lather of righteous
indignation over a Republican-backed ballot measure that would, if
enacted next year, change the way California allocates its
presidential electoral votes.
One Democratic radio ad campaign denounced it as a "partisan
power grab," and the state's Democratic leaders have been
echoing that line for weeks. Democratic National Committee Chairman
Howard Dean has pledged "whatever it takes within legal
boundaries" to defeat the measure.
Currently, the candidate with the largest popular vote is awarded
all of the state's 55 electoral votes, the same system used in 47
other states.
The proposed ballot measure would award one electoral vote to the
popular vote winner in each of the state's 53 congressional
districts, and the two remaining votes to whichever candidate is the
top vote-getter statewide.
The universal assumption is that under the current system, next
year's Democratic candidate would be assured of all 55 electoral
votes, a fifth of those needed to win the White House, but that
under the proposed change, the Democrat could expect about 35 votes
with the other 20 or so going to the Republican candidate, based on
recent voting patterns.
That would be a 40-vote marginal swing, with the 20 shifted votes
being the equivalent of those in a fairly large state such as Ohio
or Pennsylvania, and perhaps enough to deny the White House to the
Democrats.
To hear Democratic leaders describe it, the measure is a dirty
trick, a despicable theft that undermines democracy and rigs the
election.
Actually, it's a pretty straightforward, albeit partisan,
maneuver, and may be nothing more than a feint to force Democrats to
spend big money. It may even be unconstitutional, since the U.S.
Constitution says that electors are to be chosen by a state "in
such manner as the legislature thereof may direct" and it's
possible that courts would not allow a ballot measure to usurp that
authority.
That said, if enacted, it would be fairer than the present
winner-take-all system, although a better solution to the
quadrennial electoral vote game would be to get rid of it and go to
a straight popular vote. And it's more than a little hypocritical
for California Democrats to complain about distorting the election
process when they do it on a regular basis.
They -- sometimes in conjunction with Republicans, sometimes on
their own -- are forever dreaming up schemes to preordain elections.
There's a long history, for example, of making life difficult for
minority parties, treating independent voters like pariahs and not
cleaning up voter registration rolls.
The prime example of fixing elections is the decennial redrawing
of legislative and congressional districts. Six years ago, Democrats
and Republicans agreed to freeze the status quo through a bipartisan
gerrymander, effectively denying millions of Californians the right
to say which party should represent them in the Legislature and in
Congress and disenfranchising independent voters.
Ironically, it's that gerrymander that would make the Republican
electoral vote measure effective. Congressional districts are so
locked into one party or the other that the presidential proclivity
of each is very predictable.
Moreover, if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has her way, Democrats
will be able to do another gerrymander after the 2010 census, if she
needs four or five additional seats from California to retain her
majority in Congress. She insisted that Congress be exempted were
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to reform
redistricting with an independent commission -- and reform died on
the last day of the legislative session.
Fixing elections?
It depends on who's doing it, one supposes.
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