Fifteen years ago, I helped make the case for what becameCalifornia’s Citizens Redistricting Commission.
It was a first-of-its-kind body of 14 ordinary Californians, neither politicians nor their appointees.
It was balanced with equal Democratic and Republican representation,charged with drawing fair districtsafter the 2010 Census.
The argument was simple, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put it: “Gerrymandering has created an absurd reality, where politicians now pick their voters instead of the voters picking their politicians.”
In this effort I often partnered with a type of Democrat one rarely sees these days: the reform-minded Democrat.
For over a decade, the commission worked. It wasn’t perfect. No democratic institution is. But it represented something important, a genuine attempt to remove the most self-interested actors from a process that shapes the fairness of every election that follows.
Earlier this year,California voters passed Proposition 50, effectively suspending the Citizens Redistricting Commission from acting until the 2030 Census, and returning its powers to the state legislature.
Gov. Gavin Newsom championed the measureas a necessary counter to what Republicans were doing in Texas to help preserve their control of the House of Representatives.
The proposition’s language does include a provision to restore the commission after 2030, but I think that promise is flimsy at best.
California is projected to lose between three and five congressional seats by that census, and the political pressure to protect Democratic incumbents will be intense.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
