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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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Dan Walters: Governor's New
Go at Redistricting
By Dan Walters, Bee Columnist
Sacramento Bee
December 4, 2007
The sad saga of redistricting reform opened a new chapter Monday
when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged to lead a ballot measure
campaign to create an independent commission to redraw legislative
districts after each decennial census.
Schwarzenegger called it "the best shot at restoring power
to the people," but even with the support of a popular
governor, taking redistricting – the single most important factor
in determining who wins an election – away from lawmakers faces an
uphill battle.
Schwarzenegger has been there before, failing repeatedly to
persuade legislators to give up the power and seeing his reform
initiative shot down by voters two years ago. And that was just the
last of many failed attempts at redistricting reform in the
Legislature and at the ballot box.
The latest Schwarzenegger-led reform effort is called
"California Voters First" and would, if enacted, give
redistricting to a 14-member commission created by a convoluted
process managed by the state auditor, an obscure official who's
appointed by the governor and the Legislature. Applications to
serve, random drawings, vetoes by legislators and other steps would
be used to create a commission that would be balanced among
Democrats, Republicans and independents with gender and ethnic
representation.
Schwarzenegger and civic and political reform groups say the
selection process, coupled with guidelines for redrawing districts,
would create a Legislature with more competitive seats and more
centrist, compromise-minded members. Perhaps it would, and perhaps
one could argue that any commission would be better than having
lawmakers draft new maps behind closed doors with predictable
effects on parties and individual politicians, as the 2001
bipartisan gerrymander did. But there are no guarantees.
The essential problem with redistricting reform is that the cure
can be worse than the disease. It is fundamentally a very arcane
business that's of direct interest to only a relative handful of
politicians and interest groups and is fully understood by a tiny
number of experts. Finding commission members or staff advisers who
have enough interest and sophistication to produce a workable plan,
but also don't have blatant partisan or personal interests at stake,
is very difficult.
There is a model that has worked in California in two of the past
four redistricting cycles. After the 1970 and 1990 censuses,
Democratic Legislatures and Republican governors deadlocked on
redistricting legislation and the state Supreme Court assumed the
task, assigning it to special panels of "masters" who
hired knowledgeable staff to do the work. The districts that emerged
from both were fair to both the parties and to the communities
involved, while fully complying with the federal Voting Rights Act
and other outside limits. The Supreme Court has made it clear that
it really doesn't want the job, but a real reform measure would give
it to them anyway.
One final note: The reform measure that Schwarzenegger endorsed
Monday purposely leaves out congressional districts, meaning that
even were it to pass next November, state legislators and whoever is
elected governor in 2010 would still be carving up the state's
congressional delegation.
Why the omission? Schwarzenegger said he wants Congress placed
under the commission as well, but drafters of the measure left
Congress out to dampen the potential opposition from House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders. That raises two
specters: congressional seats being gerrymandered to benefit
incumbents or state legislators yearning for congressional seats,
and/or a Democratic Legislature and a Democratic governor swiping
five or six seats in California for the 2012 elections to solidify
their party's hold on Congress.
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