Editorial: Proposition 11 an easy choice

By Chico Enterprise-Record

October 14, 2008

As our state is being mismanaged into the ground, there's one easy fix — vote all incumbents out of office.

That will never happen, however, because of the way legislative districts are drawn. Even with termed-out legislators, there's very little chance the incumbent party will be tossed out in any district in California.

That's because the parties draw up their own districts and create safe seats, like a monarchy.

Redistricting occurs every 10 years, after the census.

Since the lines were last drawn by the politicians in 2001, there have been 459 legislative and congressional elections.

Only one incumbent has lost, and only one seat has changed parties.

There's a chance to fix that broken system on Nov. 4. Proposition 11 will take redistricting out of the Legislature's hands and hand it to an independent commission.

There is no more important proposition on the ballot.

The redistricting reform measure is behind pushed by three diverse groups — the League of Women Voters, California Common Cause and AARP of California.

The co-chairs of the campaign are a moderate Republican and a moderate Democrat — Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steve Westly. Former Gov. Gray Davis also supports it.

The proposition has been in the works for four years. It was stalled at one point because legislators promised to craft their own redistricting legislation and fix the problem themselves. They never acted. Surprise, surprise. So the three groups started the process of getting petitions signed.

The selection process for the 14-person panel is complicated.

In short, the rules seek to ensure that politicians, campaign donors, political appointees and lobbyists are not eligible.

Legislative leaders would have some veto power over the selections. In the end, five Democrats, five Republicans and four "others" — including decline-to-state voters — will be selected.

Opponents will nitpick, saying it's not a perfect system. Perhaps not. But it's certainly better than the system we have now, which admittedly isn't saying much.

Legislative districts should be drawn so they make geographic sense.

Instead, we have crooked districts that are drawn to give one party or the other a safe seat. The two Assembly districts that split Butte County, for example, are reliably Republican. That means the Republican primary is more of a contest than the general election.

The winner of the primary has a cakewalk in November. And because only Republicans vote in the primary, that means it's a contest to see who is the most conservative.

In the end, Sacramento is filled with the most liberal Democrats and the most conservative Republicans, ideologues all.

Moderates need not apply.

That's why we see constant gridlock, such as a budget that's 85 days late and no permanent solutions to critical issues like water and health care.

Proposition 11 at least gives the hope that districts would be drawn fairly and races would be more competitive.

Once again, it has to be better than what we have now.

Here's all you need to know about the proposition: The most outspoken opponents of Proposition 11 are the politicians in power and the unions and lobbyists that have bought them.

Vote yes on Proposition 11. It's the easiest choice you'll have to make on Election Day.