Redistricting panel's critics should give it a chance
The Sacramento Bee
April 3, 2011
California's redistricting commission is getting assaulted from all sides.
None of it is warranted, at least not yet.
The 14-member commission is made up of Democrats, Republicans and people who decline to state a party preference. They're not neophytes. Nor are they party hacks. They are like most Californians. They care about their state, see that aspects of it are broken, and want to help repair it.
The commission is a creature of initiatives duly approved by voters in 2008 and in November. The ballot measures seek to end the insiders' once-a-decade game ofredistricting , and stripping legislators of their power to draw legislative district lines.
Instead, a panel of citizens, chosen for their independence, is taking responsibility for redistricting . It should come as no surprise that partisan players, who hate the idea of ceding power, are squawking.
In recent days, Republican Party leaders and insiders have criticized the commission for choosing as a consultant a firm that has a minority owner who years ago advised Democrats on redistricting matters.
No matter that the minority owner is UC Berkeley professor Bruce Cain, one of the nation's top political scientists. Nor does it sway critics that Cain signed a letter promising that he would not get involved in this latest effort.
Democratic activists also are stooping low to undermine the commission. One appeared on public radio last week and criticized the commission for, get this, making decisions in secret.
The commission has had an extraordinarily open process. Commissioners have gone out of their way to involve the public, seeking press coverage, inviting the public to hearings and webcasting them.
How different it was in the past, when party leaders and their trusty consultants huddled in back rooms, and gerrymandered lines that all but ensured that Democratic seats would remain in Democratic hands and Republican seats would remain in Republican control.
They judged their success not by whether boundaries they drew were fair to voters, but whether they protected themselves and their friends.
The attacks of the past several days have the unmistakable sound of sore losers who are laying the foundation for a lawsuit if the boundaries are drawn in a way they think may place their candidates at a disadvantage.
These party leaders need to back off, and let the commission do its job. Unlike past efforts when insiders drew their crooked lines, at least now they'll be able to watch the process unfold.
The Bee's past stands
"The California politicians who control how legislative districts are drawn don't want to lose that power. Thus, they are again using deceptive tactics to derail an initiative that would hand the job of redistricting to an independent commission."
-- Oct. 20, 2008