This afternoon, Governor Schwarzenegger endorsed a redistricting reform measure that has been put forward by Common Cause of California, AARP, the League of Women Voters and the Los Angeles County Chamber of Commerce.  They call is California Voters First (a summary of the initiative is here). This clearly is a big boost for this initiative, which presumably will target appearing on the ballot next November.  
 
I’ve not taken a formal position on this measure, and must now give it a more in-depth review.  On the natural, anything that is promoted by Common Cause, AARP or the League of Voters would have me opposing it, and requiring convincing me to move me towards support.  With the triple-crown of these "we love big government" groups all together on this one, it really makes a conservative like myself want to oppose it on its face.
 
Still, the Governor’s endorsement is significant, and so we’ll all have to give this a closer look.  Right off of the bad, I am pretty frustrated that the place excludes taking the redrawing of U.S. House districts away from the legislature.  Our California House lines are terrible now, with some California Districts being used as classic examples of gerrymandering.
 
And as for having lines drawn by an "independent" commission — well, I’ve attached a summary of this measure so that you can try for yourself to figure this thing out.  The way that the Redistricting Commission is selected under this plan is quite confusing.  Although I note with some dismay that people apply to be on the commission, as opposed to being random selected.  Any who does the selecting?  It would appear to be the State Auditor who has the biggest say.
 
I don’t know Elaine Howle, the "Independent Auditor" for California (pictured to the left).  But I do know that she is just a human being, like the rest of us, and no doubt has established relationships with the ‘priviledged class’ in Sacramento.  It seems odd to go through the effort to have an redraw of the lines that is free from the interference of politicians, and then vest so much authority into this position.  It also begs the question of what happens if between now and redistricting, Howle, a 23 year veteran of state government, retires.  Who would choose her replacement?  What kind of mischief might go into that.
 
Now I don’t want to let the ‘perfect be the enemy of the good’, but this is important stuff and does require our strict attention. While the system set up in this California Voters First Initiative can’t be worse than what we currently have, there is an "opportunity cost" of using up the ‘cache’ of voter-interest to reform redistricting.  Once they approve this, it is likely they will not approve anything else for a long time.  Then again, there’s no saying that they will approve this plan either.  Though the Governor’s support sure helps move this measure into the Major Leagues.

[I invite proponents and skeptics of this initiative to reach out to me, as I try to sort out this issue – Flash]

This entry was posted on Monday, December 3rd, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.