Disenchanted with state? Apply here

James E. Canales
February 8, 2010

Voters are disenchanted. They’re alienated from a government that too seldom consults them and is struggling to adequately provide the services that we used to take for granted. But Californians are also ready to respond if they know their contribution will count. A historic opportunity is before them. This year, for the first time in California, citizens will control a process at the core of representative government.

Redistricting, a long-cherished prerogative of the Legislature and partisan insiders, has been turned over to California’s voters. The maps that define the 40 Senate and 80 Assembly districts will be prepared by an independent panel of 14 members, the Citizens Redistricting Commission. Instead of creating partisan clusters or designing safe seats for favored incumbents, the commissioners will strive for districts that respect communities and enhance their voices in Sacramento.

The commission will be chosen from a pool of public-spirited applicants who enlist in the cause of reform. They need not be experts in geography or demographics, just thoughtful citizens willing to devote time and energy to making government work for all of us. They should come from all walks of life, all parts of the state, all ethnic backgrounds.

Many have stepped forward already, but more candidates are needed – particularly from communities that often have been underrepresented at the state policymaking table.

Proposition 11, passed in November 2008, rewrote the redistricting rules. Now, for the commission to justify the faith of the voters, it must not only be politically independent, it must also be broadly representative.

Unfortunately, as the Friday application deadline approaches, the pool of candidates is looking a lot like California government in years gone by – too few women and minorities.

While fewer than half the state’s residents are white, nearly three quarters of the applicants are. Seventy percent of applicants are men. Just over 10 percent are Latinos, who are more than a third of California’s population. Asians are less than 5 percent of applicants and 12 percent of residents. Among nonwhites, only African Americans have been applying in proportion to their share of the population.

For Southern California, there’s a worrisome geographic disparity as well. Fifty-five percent of the state’s residents live in the six southernmost counties, but fewer than 40 percent of the applicants do. San Diego County is represented by only 6 percent of the applicant pool even though it is home to 8 percent of the state’s residents.

Proposition 11 contains only one numerical formula for the panel’s composition: five Democrats , five Republicans and four others not registered with the two major parties. But it also calls for the panel to reflect the state’s ethnic, geographic and gender diversity.

Why is this so vital? Certainly not so that members can play a new version of the old partisan game of “split the spoils,” along ethnic and geographic lines. Rather, as the commission makes difficult decisions about how to group neighborhoods, towns and cities into districts, the wisest course will emerge from hearing the widest range of perspectives.

The James Irvine Foundation has made grants to civic groups across the state to conduct outreach to those who have traditionally been underrepresented. Once the commission is selected, grants from Irvine will assist Californians who want to evaluate redistricting proposals and to offer their own. The grants further our mission of promoting effective governance and enhancing public trust in how government operates.

A position on the commission is not for everyone. The rules that guard against partisan influence are strict. These rules are explained and one can apply at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov. Additional information can be found at www.redistrictingca.org. For a year starting in November 2010, the job is likely to be time consuming, though it does pay $300 a day, plus expenses.

The pay, of course, is not the reward. That lies in realizing this extraordinary opportunity to inject integrity back into a democratic process that has been corroded, and to set an example for the rest of the nation.

For those who believe that partisan politics has smothered the voice of the people, here is the megaphone to make it heard again.

For those who stay home on Election Day because gerrymandered safe seats have preordained the outcome, here is the pen to draw more competitive districts.

For those who have felt ignored and marginalized, here is a place at the table where decisions are made that will resonate through the Legislature and across the state.

Californians, it is time to stop despairing about what’s broken in our state and start participating in fixing it. Apply for the commission. Seize this once-a-decade opportunity to revitalize California for the decades to come.

Canales is president and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation, a private grantmaking foundation dedicated to expanding opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, successful, and inclusive society.