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Amidst all the occupy posts one might think nothing else is happening in the world of politics. Not true. Read on.
In 2008 the California voters, tired of our State Legislature’s gerrymandered districts that were orchestrated to make each district skewed either Republican or Democrat, voted for Proposition 208. This Proposition stripped the State Legislature of the authority to draw the legislative district boundaries and instead created a California Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw the district boundaries. The theory being that such a Commission would lack any kind of partisan agenda, and in following the mandate of Proposition 208 would draw district boundaries that were more cohesive and made more sense.
The Commission produced a redistricting map for California earlier this year. Republican groups immediately decided the new boundaries would benefit Democrats, and filed suit. On October 26 the California Supreme Court rejected those suits. So, it appears the Republicans have lost another battle.
But wait – the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported on Thursday that a coalition “largely backed b the Republican Party” has launched a signature gathering effort to qualify a Referendum for the November, 2012 ballot. Concurrently, it is expected that Republican interests will seek a court ruling that the new district boundaries should not be implemented until the voters decide the issue in that November, 2012 election.
You thought the voters decided this in 2008? Well, maybe yes. And maybe no.
Thanks for covering this. I had meant to do so, given that I had been following such events closely over the course of the year, but that preoccupation was pre-Occupation.
I would leave out that “maybe” in the title, as I give the initiative attempt little hope of success. People are sick of going thru this redistricting again and again, and recognize poor sportsmanship when they see it. It’s only Republicans – and not even all of them – that are unhappy with the new lines. Will take more than that to pass an initiative in a November general election.
Their nefarious game here is not to win the initiative in Nov. 2012. It’s simply to qualify the initiative, allowing them to argue that the new districts should not go into effect pending the voters’ weighing in on them. Because the new districts are viewed to be slanted towards Democrats, what this would do is buy them two more years of unrepresentative districts — and denying Democrats a 2/3 majority in the State Senate that could help Gov. Brown solve the state’s problems. That is their contemplated victory. Of course, the Supreme Court could say “OK, in the meantime, we’re using the Commission’s districts” (at least substantially.)
No, the 2001 senate districts remain in effect if the state senate map is pending referendum. And why didn’t the commission nest assembly districts anyway?