Today we all are treated to the next chapter of "Tales of Incredible Hubris, Starring Fabian Nunez" — as the Speaker introduces his version of redistricting "reform" in the form of Assembly Constitutional Amendment One.
You’ll never guess who would have 100% authority to draw the boundaries for State and Federal legislative, as well as Board of Equalization districts?
Care to take a guess?
POLITICAL INSIDERS.
That’s right — in a blatent rejection of the idea that a fair drawing of districts requires constituting a group of folks who are not beholdin’ to the Sacramento and Washington, D.C., power structures — Nunez has said that the members of the California "Little Hoover" Commission (LHC) should draw the lines, minus it’s legislative members.
Is this wasn’t such a serious matter, I would really be laughing at this proposal.
Just a consideration of the way that the LHC is constituted should be a clear billboard reading CONFLICT. Nunez calls for the nine "public" members of the Commission to draw the lines. But just to get onto the Commission, you had to be appointed by the Governor, or appointed by Legislative leaders. So right out of the gate, every member of the LHC owes their appointment to the Sacramento insiders, and is not only subject to their lobbying efforts for "sweethart districts" and such, but most of the Commissioners have a long history of ‘inside baseball’ connections.
Here are a few great examples.
- Marilyn Brewer is a former member of the State Assembly. Could she have any bias? (By the way, she is a Republican, but that doesn’t make it any better).
- Or how about Democrat Martin Helmke, who spent TWENTY TWO YEARS working for the legislature?
- Then there is Republican Loren Kaye, who served in the administrations of two Republican Governors (at the Cabinet level I might add) and was appointed by a third to this Commission.
- Moving on, we have Eugene Mitchell. Do you know what Mitchell does for a living? He’s a political/government affairs man for San Diego Gas & Electric. I don’t know Mitchell, but think about THAT conflict. Power companies are regulated by whom? Federal and State Governments. I can’t imagine that Mitchell would be turning down all of the calls from his ‘friends’ Congress and in Sacramento, as they ply him for cushy legislative districts in which to run for re-election.
- Meet Ryan Brooks. Another member of the Little Hoover Commission. Check out this excerpt from his biography — remember Willie Brown? The Ayatollah of the Assembly, who reigned as Speaker forever, and was the posterchild for term limits?
Brooks is such a partisan Democrat that he even includes on his resume on the State of California website that he is, "..an active member in the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and serves to recruit new members into the organization." [Note, I added the link.]
Of course, this represents just a couple of minutes of looking into some of these folks. I’m sure that much more scrutiny will be paid.
I think I will end by reprinting the statement made by Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, which couldn’t be more on the mark:
“Following months of inaction and empty rhetoric, Assembly Democrats today proposed changes to California’s redistricting process that are anything but an honest effort to reform a broken system. Turning redistricting powers over to a commission that is comprised of partisan political appointees, including former lawmakers and political insiders, will do nothing to restore a healthy democracy in California. After reading their plan, I must ask the question: Why are Democrats fighting so hard to prevent hard-working citizens from drawing district lines?
“Assembly Republicans have been very clear where we stand on all aspects of redistricting reform. We will continue to demand that the powers to draw district lines be taken away from politicians and restored to the people in the form of an independent commission.”
Nunez audacity truly makes me shake my head. He really does think that he rules by divine right…