Redistricting needs redo

San Gabriel Valley Tribune
September 26, 2002

BLAME for California's dramatic decline in voter participation cannot be laid entirely at the feet of voters themselves. Partisan politics must share a large part.

Take last year's political redistricting, which managed to trump sausage as the world's least appetizing process to witness. It took what was once a somewhat logical exercise creating political boundaries based on some sense of geography and community and turned it into an ugly, divisive, partisan battle. Districts were hacked, carved and sliced to benefit particular politicians and political parties, with no concern whatsoever for voters and communities.

While some politicians are enjoying the spoils of that fight, the state's voters and residents are left to suffer the tragic consequences.

Examples locally are scattered across the political landscape. In the race for the 59th Assembly seat in the foothills, ultra- conservative Dennis Mountjoy of Monrovia, who barely won a tight primary race in 2000, was given 10 percent more registered Republicans than Democrats, making it a safe Republican seat for the son of former seat holder, patriarch Richard Mountjoy. Partisan map-makers sliced off Democratic areas of the San Gabriel Valley and added Republican-dominated Apple Valley. What does Duarte have in common with Hesperia? The insiders in Sacramento never asked that question.

In Whittier, a new Congressional district was purposely drawn to elect a Latino Democrat by adding Latino cities but splitting Whittier down the middle.

Assemblyman Robert Pacheco, R-Walnut, elected in an almost even Republican-Democrat district, should win easily thanks to redistricting that added mostly GOP voters from Orange County. The east San Gabriel Valley will not have a single voice, splitting issues and attention with other regions.

Analysis of local races in the upcoming November elections shows more insidious fallout from the 2001 redistricting. Because the new congressional and legislative districts were geared so heavily toward one party or another, all the upcoming races are virtual slam- dunks. Victories for Republicans in Republican districts and for Democrats in Democratic districts are all but certain Nov. 5. There is no competition or real choice.

With voter apathy at an all- time high, the state has managed to give voters another reason to stay home. Why should people bother to vote in a race whose outcome has already been decided in the primaries?

The new districts have made it almost impossible for a political newcomer to challenge an entrenched incumbent in the general elections. Democrat Richard Waldron will need to move mountains to beat Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, in the gerrymandered 42nd District that spans three counties. The district's Republican registration has a 20-point edge over Dems, making it safe for the incumbent.

This is an absurd way to elect our leaders.

California must explore, as some other states have, redistricting that is handled by an independent panel or committee beholden to no particular political entity. The state's dominant political parties have clearly abused their redistricting responsibilities and should have them stripped.

The state's system of political redistricting has produced a disaster. Voter participation, local representation and democracy itself will be weaker because of it.