Our View: Redistricting Commission must work for the people

San Gabriel Valley Tribune
November 20, 2010

They are the state's most important public servants, eight ordinary citizens chosen on Thursday as part of a soon-to-be-completed 14-member California Citizens Redistricting Commission.

In a few weeks, these eight, picked at random from a larger pool of screened candidates, will choose six more from the pool to form the full commission, which will then get to work re-drawing 80 state Assembly, 40 state Senate and four Board of Equalization districts. Later, as a result of voters on Nov. 2 passing Prop. 20, they will also re-configure California's congressional districts. There isn't a group in California with a more critical task with such long-lasting implications. They deserve our full support.

So far, we like what we see.

Some groups early in the process were criticizing the make-up of the first 30,000 names as too white and worried that new boundaries would disenfranchise minority voters. Not to worry. The eight so far include four Asian Americans, one African American, one Latino and two whites. For those with a quota mindset, in fact there are a disproportionate number of Asian Americans on the commission for their population of California, which is about 12 percent. Of the first eight, three are Democrats, three Republicans and two not registered with either major party.

Locally, the San Gabriel Valley can claim two members: Republican Peter Yao, a City Council member from Claremont who is a retired engineer; and Jeanne Raya, a Democrat, owner of Raya Insurance Agency, and an attorney. Raya was recommended for the commission by former San Gabriel Mayor Harry Baldwin, who called her "a woman of integrity with a strong moral compass." She's served as an advisor to Las Casa de San Gabriel, a family outreach program, and also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Ramona Convent Secondary School. Raya also is a former president of the San Gabriel Chamber of Commerce.

Soon, both will join the full commission in fulfilling the most important work of our democracy this year. When voters approved Prop. 11 in 2008, new hope was breathed into the 2012 elections. Work that was routinely left to the Legislature after each Census and decided in smoke-filled rooms will soon become a thing of the past. Deals cut by party bosses that would guarantee "safe seats" for heavily favored incumbents - or, when termed out, their aides or someone else from the party machine - will soon be turned over to the citizens. A bastardized democracy that made a mockery of elections by turning them into party coronations will move a step closer to the real thing.

Instead of districts created for politicians, the commission should create districts for the citizens that keep communities together and attempt to approximate registered voters when possible. This could help the people of Whittier, currently carved up among three assemblymen: Tony Mendoza, Charles Calderon and Curt Hagman. Also, something must be done about the 59th Assembly District, one of the most nonsensical, gerrymandered messes in the state. Today, the district stretches from the foothills of Monrovia east to Claremont, makes a sharp turn north into Apple Valley and the high desert, Lake Arrowhead and other resort communities in the San Bernardino Mountains. The result is a disparate constituency spread out over towering mountains and two counties.

A lot of hope is riding on this commission. As they take their next step - choosing the final members - and begin forming new state office and congressional district boundaries, may they always keep in mind this mandate: They are working for the people