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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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Commentary:
Redistricting A Democratic Supermajority
The
next chance they get, Democrats in Sacramento will redraw the
state's districts to swing several seats from Republicans.
By Tony Quinn
Los Angeles Times
September 30, 2007
Redistricting reform is almost certainly dead for the rest of this
decade. After all the hype that this was the year that Sacramento
lawmakers would finally relinquish their power to draw the state's
congressional and legislative districts -- and hand that role over
to a nonpartisan entity -- the politicians surrendered nothing.
Certainly, a change in the current system is long overdue. Thanks to
the 2001 redistricting by the Legislature, not a single legislative
district changed parties in the 2004 and 2006 elections, and only
one congressional district did. Now, however, it looks like
noncompetitive elections may be with us for a long time to come.
The Democrats were initially pushing for change. They were willing
to relinquish their redistricting power for two reasons. First,
there is no chance that Republicans will win a majority in either
house of the Legislature in the foreseeable future because the state
is so heavily Democratic. And second, reform was part of a larger
deal that would include relaxing term limits; the two were bundled
together as a legislative proposal with the strong backing of Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But Democratic legislative leaders came to see that the surest route
to longer stays in Sacramento was not through the Legislature but
the ballot box. So they wrote an initiative, which will appear on
the February ballot, that will allow them an additional term in the
Assembly and in the Senate. In doing so, they removed the incentive
to pursue redistricting reform, which died at the end of the
legislative session.
The question is whether the next scheduled redistricting in 2011
will be a compromise between Republicans and Democrats, as in 2001,
or highly partisan, as in the 1980s.
The answer is pretty clear. Democrats will use their mapmaking power
to try to achieve a two-thirds majority in both houses of the
Legislature, thus wiping out the ability of Republicans to influence
budget and tax legislation, which require a supermajority to pass.
Currently, the Democrats are two seats short of that vote threshold
in the Senate and six in the Assembly.
Many Democrats feel that they were too generous in 2001 when they
agreed to leave all incumbent legislators in place and create 20
safe congressional districts for the GOP while, elsewhere in the
country, Republicans eviscerated Democrats in states where they
controlled redistricting. For instance, former House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay engineered a mid-decade gerrymander in Texas that gave the
GOP six new congressional districts in 2004.
So Democrats have an incentive to reduce the GOP's presence in state
and congressional politics, especially after 15 Senate Republicans
held up passage of this year's budget for nearly two months.
But can Democrats really gain two-thirds control of both chambers
through a partisan gerrymander?
Yes, with a little luck. The first step would be the election of a
Democratic president in 2008, who would decide how the U.S. Census
Bureau conducts the decennial count in 2010-11.
In 2001, the question was whether the Census Bureau should adjust
upward the count to reflect the true population in areas with high
numbers of illegal immigrants because, in theory at least, these
immigrants had avoided the census-takers. The Republicans, who
controlled the census, refused such an adjustment in part because it
would have increased the population count in Democratic voting
areas.
A Democratic president is sure to order an upward census adjustment
because counting more people in the central cities means that
Democratic mapmakers can more easily disperse Democratic voters into
other districts. Districts must be equally populated -- currently
847,000 for a Senate district and 423,000 for an Assembly one. With
more population to work with, they can draw lines that move
Democratic voters into suburban Republican districts, making them
more Democratic and compacting the GOP districts.
So a quick tweak of political lines could erase the slim Republican
voter edge in the district held by state Sen. Abel Maldonado
(R-Santa Maria) and significantly boost the number of Democratic
voters in the district of state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand
Oaks), thus giving the Democrats the two seats they need to achieve
a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
The six seats the Democrats need in the Assembly to claim a
supermajority would present more of a challenge but would be far
from impossible. Two GOP-held seats, one in San Diego and one in
Riverside and Imperial counties, were initially drawn in 2001 to be
Democratic, so a partisan gerrymander could easily return them to
the Democratic fold.
Coming up with a second Democratic seat in Orange County would not
be difficult, nor drawing new Democratic seats in the San Gabriel
and San Fernando valleys, especially if the population in Democratic
areas is adjusted upward. Democratic mapmakers would just have to
project fingers of urban Democratic voters outward to eliminate or
combine Republican seats in the suburbs.
Democrats controlled more than two-thirds of the Assembly from 1974
to 1978, and California was far less Democratic then. Republicans
still held districts in such places as Burbank and Glendale. Carving
out two-thirds of the seats for themselves in both houses of the
Legislature in 2011 would be easy by comparison.
By then, Schwarzenegger will be gone, probably replaced by a
Democrat. And in the long run, the Republican Party as a force in
the state Capitol -- and the idea of two-party government in
California -- also may be history.
Tony Quinn is co-editor of the California Target Book, a
nonpartisan analysis of legislative and congressional elections.
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