TAUSCHER BLASTS REDISTRICT PLAN - THE DEMOCRAT CLAIMS CURRENT SCHEME REMOVING LAMORINDA FROM HER DISTRICT ARE POLITICAL RETRIBUTION

Daniel Borenstein
Contra Costa Times
August 3, 2001

Rep. Ellen Tauscher's new congressional district would stretch from Livermore to Solano County and possibly lose contributor-rich Lamorinda constituents under the Democrats' still-secret redistricting plan.

Tauscher on Thursday blasted the plan as retribution by state Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, for their split in an intraparty congressional leadership battle.

"Do you think the people of Contra Costa County want a member of Congress who spends time in three counties?" Tauscher said. "I'm not going to allow my district to be threatened or me to be threatened because I took a principled decision in an inside-baseball leadership race back in Washington."

"She's full of (expletive)," Burton shot back. "She ought to quit whining about what's going to happen to her district because something is going to happen to everybody's district."

Attaching Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda to a district based in Oakland and Berkeley would resurrect an alignment that existed before the 1990s. That district displeased Lamorinda residents then and is not likely to sit well this time.

"I think you make it very cumbersome to be effective," said Orinda City Councilwoman Laura Abrams, a Tauscher supporter. "You set up a district that is going to be very difficult to represent. That defeats the purpose of redistricting."

The move is also likely to draw opposition from Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, the only African-American representative from Northern California. Her campaign chairman, H. Lee Halterman, said appending the heavily white suburban area would raise concerns about weakening the voting strength of minorities.

Lee's district "ought to remain an urban district and ought to remain on this side of the tunnel," Halterman said.

Michael Harris, assistant director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, said his group might consider filing a lawsuit to block the plan.

"We'd be very concerned if that's what's going to happen," Harris said. "The inevitable result of that would be to dilute the voting strength of the African-American population that's currently in (Lee's) district."

The furor stems from the decennial redrawing of political boundaries to adjust for population changes. The tentative plans are expected to be unveiled later this month and subjected to public scrutiny. The state Legislature and the governor must approve the new congressional lines.

Democrats have said they plan to draw lines to protect their 32 congressional incumbents and Republicans' 20 while still meeting legal requirements that so-called communities of interest be preserved. A new 53rd seat allocated to the state because of population shifts is expected to be drawn for a Democratic candidate.

Tauscher represents one of the most competitive districts in the state, which currently includes the Livermore Valley in Alameda County and much of central and east Contra Costa.

State Sen. Don Perata, D-Alameda, chairman of the Senate committee drawing the new lines, said the tentative plans call for beefing up Democratic registration in her district.

"We are completely and unequivocally committed to redistricting a seat for Ellen Tauscher that she can win as long as she chooses to run and another Democrat could win after her," Perata said. "What we want is a solid Democratic seat."

The future of the Lamorinda area remains uncertain, but it will either go in Tauscher's or Lee's district, Perata said. The Tauscher district will continue to include the Lawrence Livermore Lab on the south end and would stretch across the water north of the Contra Costa shoreline.

In order to add Democrats to the district, Perata said, "the likely place to head will be across the Carquinez Strait. I don't know how far yet."

The redistricting comes at a time when party strength in a handful of seats across the country could determine control of the House of Representatives after the 2002 elections. In California, Democrats are looking to preserve their current domination of the state's delegation.

Internal party politics are not a factor, said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco. "Nothing is more important to us than getting control of the House."

Coincidentally, congressional Democrats are also choosing sides in a battle for the next party whip the No. 2 leadership position in the party between Pelosi and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md. Pelosi and Burton are close political allies.

First elected in 1987, Pelosi took over the seat once held by Burton's late brother, Phil Burton, and later by the late congressman's widow, Sala Burton. If elected, Pelosi would be the first woman in a top Democratic leadership post.

While Pelosi is a traditional liberal politician, Tauscher is a leader of centrist Democrats and, in a meeting with reporters last summer, declared her support for Hoyer.

Burton disapproves. "I have no idea why she would be voting against the best interest of the state by voting for someone from Maryland," he said Thursday.

But he and Perata insisted the whip contest would not affect redistricting. "Nancy Pelosi is like family to John," Perata said. "But John is a pro. John knows we're not in this to remedy personal beefs."

Tauscher said that's exactly what's going on. She said she wanted to keep the Lamorinda area. She has run well there and 20 percent of her donations have come from the region. "Instead, they're going to move me to a county I've never represented," she said.