OUR VIEWS // Fair districts?

March 8, 2008

By The Press-Enterprise

The redistricting plan Gov. Schwarzenegger has endorsed this year lacks the simple elegance of his 2005 proposal, which let retired judges draw legislative maps. If this year's proposal makes it onto the ballot and passes, California voters will take on redistricting duties themselves.

Whatever the fate of this measure, the governor's instincts are right: Districts drawn by legislators too often place incumbent protection and partisan advantage above the public interest.

Schwarzenegger and former state Controller Steve Westly, co-chairmen of the California Voters First campaign, circulated petitions last week asking voters to place a redistricting reform measure on the November ballot. The proposal would put a citizen commission in charge of the decennial job of drawing new political districts.

Any California voter, with restrictions on those active in politics, could apply. A complicated selection process would winnow the field of applicants down to a 14-member panel, which would create the new political maps. For the full procedure, see www.voters firstca.com.

Partisan advantage is the most distinct feature of maps drawn by the Legislature. That's been standard procedure for most states for most of the nation's history. But especially since the 1990 census, computer mapping software and census data with nearly street-address-level precision have turned redistricting into an anti-democratic science.

Too many legislative elections, with districts drawn to ensure control by one party or the other, are no longer competitive. Candidates are therefore free to tailor their campaigns to simply win a majority in their party's primary. That has the polarizing effect of sending to Sacramento legislators more partisan than the population as a whole. Districts drawn by a citizen panel should result in campaigns that appeal to a broader spectrum of voters.

Uncompetitive elections also make legislators less accountable for their performance in office. Legislators should have to defend their records, not skate through a campaign barely challenged by token opponents.

How one-sided are California's elections? In November 2006, winners of state Senate seats received an average of 70 percent of the vote. Of the 19 Senate elections, just one could be termed competitive.

There's nothing wrong with popular politicians winning big victories. But the Legislature's approval rating in the Field Poll before the election was 27 percent. That figure wouldn't normally translate into voters swooning over the people who fill the seats.

That's what California gets when the Legislature controls its own fate. Citizen-drawn districts would make incumbents less secure. Those who want landslide wins would have to actually earn them.