Fairness, unity in districting

The Lompoc Record
April 21, 2011

Government moves in mysterious ways, and because mystery so often breeds unrest and distrust, it’s small wonder policy and lawmaking can be so downright frustrating. 

American politics is in an awkward era at this moment. Nobody, it seems, trusts the other guy, and big problems are always someone else’s fault. 

Reading and watching the news doesn’t help with the lack of trust in our elected leaders, because we’ve lost faith in their ability to lead, and we can only shake our fists in anger at the degree of dysfunction at just about every level of government, from special districts to the White House and Congress — and nearly every stop in between. 

There are good reasons for such angst. For years, citizens sat by, idly, as elected officials were allowed to draw up their own voting districts. During those years of public disengagement, this process morphed into a network of what are, essentially, designer voting districts, gerrymandered to the point that, viewed as a map, they look more like random paint splotches than political subdivisions. 

To make matters worse, whichever political party happened to have majority control tended to redraw voting districts so the “ins” were more or less assured of staying in, thanks to loading each district with voters from their own party. 

This is most certainly not what the nation’s founding fathers had in mind while creating a more perfect union, nor does gerrymandering best represent the interests of voters and other constituents. 

So, that’s why the California Citizens Redistricting Commission came to be. Our elected leaders didn’t want to give up this responsibility — which turned into more of a job perk — but had little choice when voters were finally allowed to make the decision. 

Commission members and staff are in the process of holding meetings in each of California’s 53 congressional districts, to hear what voters have to say about how district lines should be redrawn. The first of these hearings was held in San Luis Obispo last week, and it’s safe to say commission members got an earful. 

For one thing, voters do not want their geographical regions to be carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey. The common refrain from dozens of speakers at last week’s hearing was — keep us whole. More to the point, folks want their counties kept intact. 

It’s a logical, understandable request. Like-minded people seem to be drawn to specific regions. In the case of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties that means folks bound together by the need to escape a big city. There also is some common ground in agriculture and tourism. 

It’s a reasonable request, but it will be difficult to fully protect the geographical integrity in those new districts. For one thing, neither SLO nor Santa Barbara counties has the requisite 702,905 of population to make a county a stand-alone district. So, to some extent, the laws of redistricting dictate a certain degree of gerrymandering, like it or not. 

Having said that, we also have faith that the citizens’ commission will be much more balanced in its redrawing of district lines than its lawmaker predecessors. 

It’s impossible to keep all political biases out of the mix, but at least with a diverse group of presumed non-politicians drawing the boundaries, we are less likely to have a district intentionally weighted heavily in favor of one party or the other. 

In other words, we probably can’t escape a bit of gerrymandering — but at least it will be done by citizens who aren’t benefiting or profiting directly from the outcome.