by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I've found myself wistful over the demise of health care reform in California, if only because it was so painful to watch.  It was fairly glaring from the start that the resources and the budget structure weren't there to manage such a big issue.  The lesson learned should be that a broader consensus has to be reached, but also that you have to work within the narrow structures forced by the state's processes, or else work to change them.  Such is also the case with prison reform, which is actually a far less insurmountable a goal.

About a week ago we heard about a potential "deal" on solving the prison crisis, where the state would settle the lawsuits that are forcing the possibility of a dramatic release of prisoners.  But notice how this is being done.  It's a "deal" without reform.

over..

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

The premise behind this sound bite is that because Republicans tend to vote for Republican candidates and Democrats to vote for Democratic candidates, mapping them into districts in unequal numbers is wrong.

Democrats now control the partisan offices in all of California’s major cities. The higher proportion of voters from ethnic minority groups tells part of that story. Culture explains a lot of the remainder. But whatever the reason, it comes down to this: Republicans, in general, don’t congregate their residences in the same place as Democrats.

California is segregated by political party.

Of course, there are Democrats everywhere and Republicans everywhere. But in most of the state you are either in an area where Republicans are dominant or where Democrats are dominant

Voters, not politicians, made that choice. The choice of where to live.

The result of this is a set of districts dominated by Republicans in the rural and suburban areas of the State – and a set of districts dominated by Democrats in the urban areas of the state, along most of California’s coast, and in our cities.