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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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Steve Wiegand: Cleanup Effort Has Its Limits
By Steve Wiegand, Bee Columnist
Sacramento Bee
December 8, 2007
So, this guy walks into a cannibal's butcher shop and begins to
peruse the wares in the display cases.
He notices that plumbers are selling for $4.99 a pound, teachers
for $5.79 a pound, and politicians for $27.99 a pound.
"Hey," he asks the butcher, "why so much for the
politicians?"
The butcher sighs and replies: "You ever try to clean
one?"
This old joke came to mind more than once this week, as it seemed
a whole bunch of people were trying to clean California's
legislators – or at least clean up their acts:
• The chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission
proposed new regulations that would require state elected officials
to reveal more details about how they spend the campaign
contributions they collect. The proposal comes in the wake of news
stories about how Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez has spent tens of
thousands of campaign dollars on trips to Europe, lavish
entertaining and expensive gifts.
• Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he'll lead a pack of
groups ranging from Common Cause to the L.A. Chamber of Commerce to
qualify an initiative to wrest control of redistricting from
legislators. The guv's announcement comes in the wake of at least
six redistricting reform measures dying in the Legislature in the
past two years.
• Frustrated by legislative inertia, an alliance of farm and
business interests began a drive to qualify an initiative for $11.7
billion in water bonds. The announcement came as a special
legislative session on the state's troubled water system slogged
through its 12th week with no discernible progress.
Somewhat fittingly, the attempts to reform legislators' behavior
or do their jobs for them also came in a week when a panel of
legislative old-timers offered suggestions on how the current crop
could improve their act, a Bay Area think tank released a 24-page
report on options to reform the Legislature, and most lawmakers
began taking a 2.75 percent pay increase.
Now, one would think with all this going on that legislators
might have been chagrined to learn that not everyone is happy with
their performance. (Did I mention the September poll that found only
a third of Californians approve of the job the Legislature is
doing?)
And they might have, had not the Senate Democrats been in Sonoma
at a retreat, the Senate and Assembly Republicans in San Diego at a
retreat and several Assembly Democrats in Cuba studying that
country's medical system. (Did I mention that the special
legislative session on health insurance reform is also now in its
12th thrill-packed week?)
Not everyone was out of town. Speaker Núñez dropped by the
aforementioned old-timers' forum, sponsored by the Public Policy
Institute of California.
The speaker suggested lawmakers were getting something of a bad
rap in the newspapers. He also suggested it was not because the
Legislature's performance this year has been abysmal, but because
the newspaper industry is in the tank, and reporting critically
about legislators would somehow sell papers.
If only it were that easy, Mr. Speaker.
Notwithstanding Núñez's Nixonian whining, and the old-timers'
nostalgia about the Good Old Days being full of harmony and
productivity, the fact is the California Legislature has always had
its share of inefficiency, skulduggery, sloth and avarice – just
like any other collective human endeavor.
Democracy is a messy business, and there's something to be said
for cleaning up the process once in a while.
But no matter how hard we scrub, the Legislature is never going
to be spotless. That's not really a big deal, as long as it works.
If only this one would.
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