[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

The Sycuan Band of Native Americans, former Assemblyman Fred Keeley and Leon Panetta, also a former Congressman are all Democrats who support the Governor’s redistricting scheme. The California Democratic Party – the legal body representing the
16,123,787 voters registered as Democrats – opposes that scheme.

Will the press corps seize upon the half dozen or so big-name Democratic supporters of the Governor’s scheme to label it “bi-partisan”? You betcha.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Sunday's New York Times Magazine had an amazing article titled, "Vote Like Thy Neighbor," which pinpoints exactly why the Governor and his band of merry do-gooders are wrong in thinking redistricting reform will foster political competition.

"You are less likely to live near someone whose politics differ from your own," the writers, William Galson and Pietro Nivola, editors of "Red and Blue Nation," discovered. "When counties become more homogeneous, it becomes harder to use redistricting to create more competitive Congressional districts."

The authors point out that in 1976, only 27 percent of voters lived in "landslide" counties where one candidate prevailed by 20 points or more. By 2004, 48 percent of voters lived in such counties.

The article goes on to say that "once a tipping point is reached, majorities tend to become supermajorities." That's exactly what's happened in the Bay Area, where Republicans are an endangered species. Nearly all of the legislative districts in the Bay Area have shifted to Democrats; the holdout being the 15th Assembly district held by Assemblymember Guy Houston that may well go Democratic this Fall.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

My first boss in the Legislature was Budget Chair under Speaker Unruh, and his particular interest was in the State’s program for crippled children.

When Ronald Reagan ended 8 years of Pat Brown in 1966, that program was gutted to save money. Dozens of kids died for lack of care. Thousands more were beset with the emotional problems that occur when teased by their peers for the inability to speak with a cleft palate. I learned of their situations individually, by answering letters from anguished parents for my boss.

It showed me that there was a difference between Democrats and Republicans. A difference worth fighting for.

And, it demonstrated to my satisfaction that, when you lost, a lot of people paid the consequences.

So when I read the tepid arguments of due process Democrats who would sacrifice the election advantages provided by partisan redistricting in the name of “fairness” or “due process”, I feel disgust. Such people view politics as a game where the outcomes matter less than ‘how the game is played’. Matter less to themselves, I’m sure. But not to those whose lives – or quality of life – is directly dependent on political outcomes.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

The Republicans have enlisted Common Cause and the League of Women Voters in their campaign to take control of the Legislature through redistricting.

The Governor has endorsed this plan – and the money behind it is almost entirely Republican. They use the rhetoric of reform, but be clear: this GOP money has one aim and intent, and that is GOP control. Fellow-traveling Reformers would have you focus on the process and not the product – but it’s the product that is important. And that product is a passel more of Republican seats. Enough GOP gains that the Democrats would have to sweep the table of the marginal seats to maintain their majority.

Let’s look at the product, seat by seat.

Assembly District 1. Following the Constitution, the Legislature began in the upper left hand side of California with Del Norte. Then, running down the coast, added counties (Humboldt, Mendocino) until reaching Sonoma where the liberal areas around the Russian River made it a Democratic seat. Lake County, heavy in retired seniors, and Trinity, insignificant in population, were also added.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

In the highlight reel this morning is this story from the Contra Costa Times, which picks up on several of my recent posts here on the California Majority Report exposing the heavy Republican donations to the so-called "bipartisan" redistricting effort being put forward by Governor Schwarzenegger and other big Republican donors.

The fact that the mainstream media is picking up on the story is significant in itself. Redistricting has gotten more positive press than Obama in the early days; this is the first article that goes beyond the concept of redistricting and focuses on the flawed nature and motivations of the "Voters First" initiative.

The article notes the heavy contributions by Schwarzenegger contributions and big name Republicans.

If they don't fix that, they're in trouble," Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at Sacramento State University who has served on the Voices of Reform board advocating redistricting reform, said in the article. "If Democrats don't start contributing, people will say who's this helping, and whose ox is being gored?"

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

The good government group California Common Cause has just issued a statement indicating they are urging a yes vote on Proposition 93 on that would reduce the amount of time legislators can serve from 14 years overall to 12 years in one house of the California State legislature with a transition period for current legislators.

This is what they had to say:

“California Common Cause today announced its endorsement of Proposition 93, a measure that will reform California’s term limits. “While we strongly condemn legislative leaders’ failure to adhere to their agreement to place a redistricting reform measure on the ballot along with the term limits proposition,” said California Common Cause Vice-Chair Roy Ulrich, “Common Cause has long believed that term limits arbitrarily limit the right of voters to elect their representatives from among the most qualified candidates while at the same time giving more power and influence to special interest lobbyists.”

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Editorial writers across the state -- no matter what the ideology of the newspaper -- have done cartwheels promoting redistricting initiatives over the past couple of years. No matter how absurdly partisan or unworkable.

That's why I stood up and took notice when the Common Cause "Voters First" initiative got a rare slap from the long-time political editorial writer of the Fresno Bee, Jim Boren, over the weekend. Boren, one of the state's most ardent redistricting reform champions, dumped on Schwarzenegger-backed initiative hard:

"I cheered this effort until I read the details of this initiative in my favorite newspaper. The measure would create a system so confusing that voters may never figure out what they are voting for. That usually means they'll cast a "No" vote if the redistricting initiative gets on the November ballot. This measure has other problems. It gives a pass to the state's congressional delegation, making this a "political initiative" instead of a "good-government initiative." ... I normally wouldn't go into these details in this column, but this ham-fisted selection process needs to be explained.

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