Redistricting Undone--by Schwarzenegger?

[Helga Scow Stern]

Boy, this sure would shake up the CA power structure, and the way they have been behaving in this Shelley matter.... I guess it all depends on who is on that committee of retired judges that he proposes.


States See Growing Campaign to Change Redistricting Laws
By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Published: February 7, 2005

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 - The politically charged methods that states use to draw Congressional districts are under attack by citizens groups, state legislators and the governor of California, all of whom are concerned that increasingly sophisticated map-drawing has created a class of entrenched incumbents, stifled electoral competition and caused governmental gridlock.

Largely uncoordinated campaigns stretching from California to Massachusetts are pushing to end, or at least minimize, a time-honored staple of American politics: lawmakers drawing Congressional and legislative district maps in geographically convoluted ways to ensure the re-election of an incumbent or the dominance of a party.

Last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, a state that has historically been at the forefront of political reform movements, proposed putting retired judges in charge of redistricting, taking it out of the hands of the Legislature. Common Cause, one of the nonpartisan groups championing changes in the system, said campaigns to overhaul redistricting were under way in at least eight states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

--snip


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/07/politics/07reform.html?oref=login

[anaxarchos]

1. This is THE racket....

It's not sexy, not rapid, not noisy, but it undermines Democracy in the most relentless way possible. It also drags local Republicans into the most cynical and corrupt practices imaginable. It is the foundation of election fraud and the place where Frist and Blackwell, to name two, come from...

If there was only a way to focus enough attention on jerrymandering...

[Helga Scow Stern]

2. It seems to have made some Dems in CA pretty corrupt too...

that doesn't mean we want to just switch them all to Republicans, however.

[anaxarchos]

4. There is a long "tradition" of Dems using redistricting...

...for obviously corrupt purposes. In addition, seven out of ten times the Republicans need to find local Democrats to go along with their particular scheme. The difference is that for the Democrats it is not a "strategy", let alone a National Strategy.

[Helga Scow Stern]

3. I was very suspicious of the way this article was worded...

making Schwarz look like the heroic avenger, putting his name in the same paragraph with Common Cause. There is no speculation about how the resdistricting would be done, whom it would benefit. Just makes it a given that it would be an improvement--that makes me very suspicious.

[L. Coyote]

5. In a predominately Democrat state, redistricting could benefit underdogs

I would look at the motivation. It may be a scheme to try to unseat Democrat Congressional incumbents by making their districts more competitive.

[Peace Patriot]

6. This is very, very, very, very bad...

1. Schwarzenegger was chosen by Geo. Schultz, Kenneth Lay and other BushCons at a meeting in Los Angeles about a year before the phony Recall (see Greg Palast), to,

a) prevent Calif. from ever recovering the $10 billion that Enron & co. stole--our entire budget surplus;

b) take that $10 billion out of the hides of CA state pensioners, the poor and middle class--just as Bush plans to take Iraq war profiteering costs out of Soc Sec pensioners' hides, and the hides of other poor folk, and to add to the riches of the rich, in addition to their tax cuts;

c) implement the complete Texification, Dieboldisation and Bushification of California, starting with the removal of Sec of State Kevin Shelley (enemy of Diebold).


2. The only thing that stands in Schwarz's and the BushCons' way is the progressive Calif. legislature, which is the result, not of redistricting, but of the relatively honest elections in Calif. Calif. is a very progressive state. Its legislature reflects the views of the majority of Californians. They've been fighting Schwarz on many fronts--very strongly.


3. So, in addition to getting rid of Kevin Shelley, they are going to get rid of the progressive legislature.

It seems very obvious to me. I'm a native Californian, lived here, voted here, have been politically active here all my adult life (since age 16--Gov. Edm. G. Brown Sr. and JFK campaign, 1960). I'm not crazy about jerrymandering, but that is not the issue. The issue is the BUSHCON PLAN FOR CALIFORNIA: loot it; get rid of its honest Sec of State; keep control of secret source code electronic voting machines; and disempower and redistrict its progressive legislature.

Jerrymandering goes on all over the U.S. and it is typically (in the past) a Dem/Repub political struggle, let the chips fall where they may.

But Repubs have gotten damn ugly about this business--in Texas particularly. Usually, it's a political struggle. In Texas, it became a HOMELAND SECURITY struggle--quite literally. Dems resisting Repub new redistricting, when Texas had JUST BEEN redistricted, and they are supposed to do it only every ten years. So Dems rebelled and fled over the border to prevent a quorum in the state legislature--the only protest they could mount against what they considered an ILLEGAL redistricting, and the BushCons called Homeland Security and sent an airplane after them, to see where they were going. Totally inappropriate and illegal.

Jerrymandering also hurts third parties--and it'll be interesting to see where the Greens come into the picture. God, I hope they are smart about this. It threatens to be a frigging disaster--rightwing nuts stealing elections throughout Calif.

Combine BushCon-led redistricting--no safe seats for Dems--with Diebold, and that's what you have. A friggin train wreck.

It used to be "as California goes, so goes the nation." Now it's the other way around. As the nation goes fascist, so goes California--if these fascists succeed.

WE. MUST. NOT. LET. THEM. SUCCEED.

WRITE TO California legislators. Warn them! Educate them! Here's a start...

LETTER OF THE WEEK #4: Kevin Shelley, Diebold & Election Fraud

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x319613

This is a sample draft letter that, 1) defends Shelley, recommends preserving his reforms, and recommends appointment of someone up to his high standard of vigilance; 2) warns California of what this could mean--the Dieboldisation and Bushification of California; 3) educates (with summaries of studies, and urls to others) on 2004 Election Fraud.

It's aimed at CA legislators--and the post provides link to CA legislator contact info. It's a DRAFT LETTER, a bit too long, but a start...

[Helga Scow Stern]

8. It could be a good thing if handled in the right way....

http://www.cgs.org/projects/politicalreform/redistricting.html

And I give the link above because we need to investigate.

[WHAT]

11. Another thing I've noticed...

(I'm from Wa.) is that there seems to be a correlation between governor and SoS. It seems like mating the governor and secretary of state in common cause is one of the tools used to determine the election along with gerrymandering to control the legislature. I'm not politically astute enough to understand all of the ramifications...maybe it's just a strategy to allow the synergy to set-up an agenda?. In Wa. the Sos is now being challenged.

I wish someone who was knowledgeable could tie this all together because I definitely feel there is a connection. I think the GOP in Wa. is going to fight tooth and nail for governor because it is important in taking the state...and representing the people has nothing to do with it.

Governor and SoS seem to go hand-in-glove with this stratergy...

[flyarm]

7. I READ ABOUT THIS MONTHS AGO IN LA TIMES I THINK

be wary be very wary..thisis how they got away with the crap here in fla..the gerrymandering is absurd here!! the repugs hand picked all the wealthy areas..beach areas...with scientology and wealth..and all the poor areas are all ripped apart...its a great way to screw up the minorities on election day!! they have no clue where to go..

watch out calif..stand hard about this and do not let it happen!!
pay attention..this is what they love to sneak in !!

fly

[Bill Bored]

9. How many more seats in Congress would CA get if it were redistricted?

Presumably, they'd be Dem seats, to offset the crap DeLay pulled in TX. Do I have this right, or is the state population declining?

I think if you can do what DeLay did, do it! THEN and only then, can there be any meaningful reform.

[Helga Scow Stern]

10. Wouldn't that be cool....more Dem seats. I wonder if that's what

Schwarz has in mind......