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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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Tony Quinn: Redistricting Reform
OK, But It's Only A Start
By Tony Quinn - Special to The Bee
Sacramento Bee
May 11, 2008
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and reform groups deserve credit for once
again tackling the Gordian knot of redistricting reform. A proposal
to remove the drawing of legislative districts from the Legislature
and give the task to a nonpartisan commission will probably appear
on the November ballot.
But redistricting reform is being oversold as a way to achieve
funda- mental change in the Legislature – by both its supporters
and opponents. In fact, a Legislature elected in commission-drawn
districts will not look much different than the Legislature we have
today. Real reform will have to go beyond simply redrawing district
lines.
Fairly drawn districts will not markedly change the partisan
makeup we have. Democratic opponents of reform claim Democrats could
lose up to 10 Assembly seats under the governor's plan. That's
nonsense; the Democrats actually elected more legislators in 2000,
under the last year of state Supreme Court's masters-drawn
legislative plan, than they have in this decade. The 2001 bipartisan
gerrymander has actually kept Republicans at an artificial high
while the state has become more Democratic.
Reform will not bring about the nirvana of thoughtful moderates
from marginal districts supporters hope for, either. That's because
even non-legislative redistricting in 2011 will create far fewer
marginal districts than we had in the 1990s, the last time
California enjoyed non-gerrymandered districts.
The reason is voter self-selection into similar-voting
communities, a phenomenon a number of scholars have noted in recent
years. The American Enterprise Institute recently cited a number of
demographic trends to watch for in the 2008 and future elections.
Among them were: "Increased geographic clustering of people
with similar ideology and partisanship, the decline of the white
working class and the rise of a mass upper-middle class, and the
twin increase of highly observant Christian evangelical
denominations as well as the secular, the nonobservant and those
with nontraditional religious practices."
All these trends are apparent in California. Democratic areas are
becoming more Democratic, Republican areas are hardening in their
Republicanism because of the clustering of people with similar
ideologies.
The white working class that was open to voting Republican has
been replaced by a Latino working class that is not. Church
attendance rises in Republican areas, drawing together people of
similar religious views, while secular values have drawn people of
more diverse lifestyles to Democratic areas. All this has a direct
political impact.
As an example, the California Target Book in its analysis of 2008
Assembly elections found that Republicans may lose their last
Assembly district in the Bay Area, the 15th Assembly District in the
East Bay suburbs, while Democrats may lose their last rural Central
Valley district, the 30th Assembly District running from Fresno to
Bakersfield. California simply has less politically marginal
territory.
Redistricting reform will result in more-logical districts with a
less-brutal hacking-up of the political map than the current
gerrymandered plans. But it is very unlikely to result in many more
politically marginal districts. We will simply reaggregate Democrats
in Democratic areas and Republicans in Republican areas in a more
rational manner.
Does this mean Schwarzenegger and the reformers should abandon
redistricting reform? Not at all. It is an important step in the
direction of making a more responsible Legislature. But it should be
only the first step. To effect real change in how legislators
behave, we need to change the dynamics within each district.
California tried that in 1996 by adopting the "blanket
primary" that allowed voters to choose any candidate in a party
primary. The two cycles in which the blanket primary was in effect,
1998 and 2000, saw voters crossing over and legislators more in tune
with all the voters in their districts. But the parties hated the
blanket primary and got the U.S. Supreme Court to throw it out.
However, the Supreme Court left an opening, and said a state
could enact a blanket primary in which there would be no party
nominee in the general election, just a runoff of the two top
vote-getters in the primary. It would work like this: Everyone would
run on the same ballot in the primary. Candidates' parties would be
shown on the ballot, but Democrats could vote for a Republican and
Republicans could vote for a Democrat.
But in the general election, the top two candidates would run,
even if they both belonged to the same party – as would probably
happen in districts dominated by a single party. The runoff of the
top two candidates would be akin to how we elect local officials in
California today, with the difference being that the candidates'
political party would be shown on the ballot.
Following the model laid out by the Supreme Court, the state of
Washington enacted a top-two runoff. In a 7-2 ruling this spring,
the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the
Washington plan.
This means California could enact a similar plan, and we had a
proposal to do this on the 2004 ballot, although it was defeated.
But now the approach has passed constitutional muster. This revised
blanket primary should be the next reform after redistricting is
fixed.
This would shift decision-making from the low-turnout primary
election in June to the high-turnout general election in November.
Next month, California will nominate candidates for 100 legislative
districts in a turnout that is expected to be historically low. Less
than a half-dozen of these districts will see November races.
But a top-two runoff would see serious contests in dozens of
districts because in safe, one-party districts the runoff will
involve two candidates of the same party. In most districts, once
the primary is done the election is over. With the modified blanket
primary and top-two runoff, voters will have a broader choice in the
primary and a real choice in the November election.
The political establishment hates the blanket primary –
politicians want fewer voters, not more. But the blanket primary
with a top-two runoff will force politicians to campaign to all the
voters in their districts, not just ideological seat mates, as is
the case now.
Combined with rational districts drawn other than in back-room
deals, the blanket primary could give California what it so
desperately lacks, a Legislature in which politicians answer to all
the voters in their districts and are forced to legislate in the
public interest, or be replaced.
Tony Quinn is co-editor of the California Target Book, a nonpartisan
analysis of legislative and congressional elections.
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