[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

The people have imposed qualifications on public office to make sure that those who run and win have the ability to do the job. Thus you must be an attorney to run for judge or district attorney. And all candidates must be registered voters, a fact that establishes citizenship and residency in a district. Candidates for partisan office must have been registered in their party for a year, and so on.

The latest redistricting initiative – backed by Republican Governor Schwarzenegger – takes the opposite tack. It would have a Commission draw political districts that has no qualifications. Rather, it would exclude everyone who had qualifications.

Commissioners would be chosen by three randomly selected certified auditors, none of whom would have any experience or knowledge of the redistricting process.

These unqualified screeners would then pick a pool of people chosen from those with no experience and with no relations with experience – going back 10 years.

These unqualified voters would be randomly reduced to 14. Ideologically extreme Minority Party Members or indifferent unaligned voters would hold the balance of power on the Commission. This group would choose the staff.