Fresno Bee's bizarre logic on Prop 93

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Disclosure: I do some work for Yes on 93.

In today's Fresno Bee, the editorial board takes a whack at Prop 93. Fair enough, I can handle a little criticism. But I'd like to go through this a little bit.

Term limits should be changed. They haven't worked as well as voters once hoped. The net effect of term limits has been to reduce the experience level of those who serve in Sacramento, elevate the role of special interests and their lobbyists, and turn electoral cycles into an unending marathon on fundraising and focusing on the next job, rather than on California's increasingly serious problems.(Fresno Bee 12.3.07)

Now that's something I can agree with, and something that I'm guessing most progressives would agree with. So, a reasonable start there. But then they get into their hang up: redistricting. Why are term limits and redistricting related? Why because the governor said so of course! Silly Californians.  And boy are these guys angry about the lack of movement on redistricting!

If it is passed, N??ez, Perata and many other incumbents could run for re-election in the June primary. Many of them would still be around when the time comes, after the 2010 census, to draw the legislative boundaries again. That's a recipe for preserving the gerrymandering that currently makes a mockery of state elections.

But this message is a bizarre one. Basically they want to keep the merry go round spinning until they find a group of legislators that wants to, I don't know, bend to their superior logic or something. What evidence do they have that any new set of legislators would get with the Fresno Bee program? Well, none, and furthermore Speaker Nunez wasn't even in the legislature when the current lines were drawn. They present no evidence that anything would change if we have new leadership, and it's doubtful that it would. But, they don't like N??ez and Perata, so boo to them, and boo to Prop 93.

But ultimately Prop 93 isn't about N??ez, Perata, or any other current legislator. It's about trying to get a system that will work better for the state of California.  The Bee decries the current system, but when somebody tries to change it, they get blasted for not towing to some other random issue.  

So, the question for the Bee is this: Would you really have supported Prop 93 if there was a redistricting proposal? Would that have made everything all hunky dory, or would there have been some other issue? I guess we'll never know, but I have my ideas on the subject.