Redistricting reform is on governor's 2007 agenda He says he may introduce another ballot initiative

Juliet Williams
Ventura County Star
November 11, 2006

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is signaling that he will push strongly for redistricting reform next year to change California's gerrymandered election process, relying on the same bipartisan course he steered successfully this year.

Voters rejected the governor's redistricting ballot initiative in last year's special election. Legislative leaders were unable to work out a deal in time for this November's vote, but there appears to be renewed interest from both parties to fix a flawed system.

On a trade mission in Mexico this week, Schwarzenegger said he would like to put a redistricting initiative before voters in 2008.

"Every one of the (legislative) leaders said to me that we've got to continue working on that. Every one of them mentioned to me, ‘Let's get going again in January about redistricting,' " Schwarzenegger told reporters Thursday in Mexico City.

"We will start now from scratch again, I'm sure, because what we had the last time didn't pass."

Most of the state's legislative and congressional seats stayed comfortably in the same party's hands during Tuesday's midterm election. That is just as they were intended to under a 2001 plan drawn up in the California Legislature, which secured 33 House seats that are typically safe for Democrats and 20 that are considered safe Republican.

One notable exception this year was in the 11th Congressional District, where political newcomer Jerry McNerney, a Democrat, unseated incumbent Republican Richard Pombo. In a neighboring district, an 18-point Republican registration advantage helped Republican Rep. John Doolittle of Rocklin ward off an unexpectedly close Democratic challenge.

But in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Doolittle disagreed that his district is among the gerrymandered areas in need of reform. He said it would be nearly impossible to achieve a truly nonpartisan plan for California. "There's no nobility when it comes to redistricting. Either the Democrats are trying to do it for Democrats or Republicans are trying to do it for Republicans," he said.

Doolittle rejected any approach that would involve retired judges, such as Schwarzenegger's failed initiative from a year ago, Proposition 77. Under that plan, a panel of three retired judges would have drawn new districts.

Other proposed schemes involve commissions of voters chosen at random by the secretary of state's office or panels comprised of partisans and independents.

All those ideas are up for discussion in the next legislative session, said David Lesher, head of the New America Foundation's California program, which has lobbied for reforms. But, he said, even with the most nonpartisan deal, it's likely that only 10 to 15 percent of California's legislative and congressional seats would be competitive.

"California's so Balkanized, with concentrations of Democrats in urban areas and concentrations of Republicans in rural areas, there will always be seats like Doolittle's in California," he said.

Still, he added, "I think here are still far too many seats that should be more competitive than they are."

Assemblyman Mike Villines, R-Clovis, who was chosen as Assembly minority leader on Thursday, said a change in the makeup of electoral districts would be one of the most fundamental steps politicians could take to give voters a greater stake in the political process.