Prop. 11 ads aim to deceive Politicians, special interests want to keep redistricting from happening

Published: 10/30/08

The politicians who have led the state into gridlock are running misleading television advertisements against Proposition 11, the redistricting reform measure on Tuesday's ballot. They don't want the system to change because they get taxpayer-funded goodies and we get state budget deficits that regularly run into the billions.

Here's one thing you can count on. If state Senate leader Don Perata, the prison guards union and other labor groups are against Proposition 11, you should be for it. They don't want California residents to have control over the Legislature because they would lose their hefty influence in Sacramento.

Proposition 11 would take the power to draw legislative district lines from legislators and give it to an independent commission. That would return fairness to legislative elections and make senators and Assembly members more accountable to voters.

But the politicians and the special interests who fund them don't want to lose that power. They can't win this debate on its merits so they are again using deceptive tactics to sink Proposition 11.

Perhaps you've seen the opposition's television ads that feature a pointy-headed professor complaining that Proposition 11 is complicated. He's right. It's complicated by design.

To prevent one or another political party from hijacking the process, Proposition 11 would allow citizens of every stripe to apply for the redistricting commission. The state auditor would screen this pool of applicants (eliminating lobbyists and former legislators), then recommend 60 finalists. Legislative leaders would then have the authority to strike 24 applicants deemed biased or unqualified.

From the remaining 36, the auditor would then randomly pick eight commission members (three Democrats, three Republicans and two others), and those eight would select the other six members.

In their television ad, the opponents make the false suggestion that all 14 commissioners could come from a single place, such as Lone Pine. This claim not only insults the fine people of Lone Pine, it ignores provisions in the initiative that ensure that no single region or ethnic group could dominate the proceedings.

The "No on 11" ad also suggests that Proposition 11 would hit people in the pocketbook. "No taxation without representation," says a woman in the ad. Again, that's a false claim.

Don't allow these special interest to block real reform. Vote "yes" on Proposition 11.