Schwarzenegger Ends Gerrymandering!

Schwarzenegger's Prop 11, the redistricting plan taking control away from elected representatives and putting it into the hands of a bipartisan panel, is celebrating a victory with a 200 000-vote lead. The governor, frustrated by partisan divide in the capital has encouraged more competition in legislative elections, in hopes of bringing moderates from both ends of the spectrum into legislation. His philosophy is that this “will make it easier to reach agreements on budget reform and other state issues”. The passage is good for the governor because such legislation is something he's “been talking about since day 1 and it will be an important part of his legacy”.

Currently, Legislature draws the districts its members represent, which leads to efforts to “marginalize the minority party and to draw districts that favor incumbents of both parties. Schwarzenegger explains that when this happens “you have politicians picking votes rather than voters picking politicians”. The changes could bring increased competition for legislative seats across the state. The new rules of redistricting, which will start with the 2010 census, require a 14-member committee composed of multi-partisan individuals who will draw the congressional boundaries for the Assembly, the State Senate and Board of Equalization. The new rules do not allow space for “considering incumbent politicians or party registration numbers”. Instead they will create “communities of interest” and the districts will be composed of neighborhoods.

Prop 11, however will lead to changes not favorable to Democrats. The Democrats believe “as long as they control the redistricting gerrymander, they'll never loose control of the Legislature”. But, the reason why Prop 11 passed, in contrast to similar reform measures, such as Prop 77 in 2005, is that the Democrats did not fund the opposition team as strongly as they had in the past. Instead, Schwarzenegger put in his own $3million to support the measure, and good government groups, such as the AARP, Common Cause and League of Women Voters, raised $15million to support the bill, overshadowing the opposition's $10million. In addition, all the other important measures on the ballot allowed redistricting initiatives to “[fall] by the wayside in this month's election, overshadowed by the presidential race and Proposition 8. So because of the Democrats “other priorities”, their Congressional seats may not be as stable as they once were. Yet we all know the power of the incumbency and so I don't foresee massive changes in our legislature. But nonetheless, congratulations to the governor for his long sought victory, and may be have a more effective legislature in the future!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!