Urgent call for help:
Common Cause, inexplicably, has endorsed Schwarzenegger's proposal for a ballot initiative to redistrict (gerrymander) California! DEMS will lose Congressional and Legislative seats if we don't act now.
As Media Chair for DFA in San Diego, I called Common Cause in Washington DC to make sure this wasn't a hoax e-mail. Unfortunately, it's true. I then asked what safeguards had been made to prevent Arnold from stacking the so-called nonpartisan panel by appointing right-wing judges under the guise of nonpartisanship.
The reply was dead silence, followed by a stammer, then an admission that "We haven't worked that out." In other words, CC wants Californians to trust in Arnold's good nature!
If you don't want CA to go red, call Common Cause and send them an Email now! Urge them to revoke their support of this awful measure. Tell them you'll cancel membership/never join or support them again if they support this proposal.
Here's the confirmation, right off the Common Cause website:
(
http://www.commoncause.org)
Common Cause, Gov. Schwarzenegger Team Up to Fix "Broken System"
February 17, 2005: Common Cause and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announce that they are joining forces to put an end to California's failed system for drawing congressional and state legislative boundaries, a process known as redistricting. Gov. Schwarzenegger and Common Cause President Chellie Pingree called on California legislators to support a plan to establish an independent redistricting panel of nonpartisan judges and to create fair criteria that will lead to more electoral competition and more accountability to the voters.
"This system is democracy turned on its head," Pingree said. "We can't have fair districts when elected officials choose the voters that they want to represent. It's supposed to work the other way around, where voters choose those they want to represent them. The results in California, where elected officials are virtually assured of re-election, show that the system is broken. We need to put the power to draw political lines in California, and across the country, in the hands of truly independent commissions and we need to put the power of the vote back in the hands of the voter."
"In the November elections, 153 California Congressional and Legislative seats were up for grabs, and not one changed parties, that is not a democracy," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "It is time to make our representatives more responsive to the people who elect them. I welcome the support of Common Cause and look forward to working with them to put trust and fairness back into our elections."
For Common Cause, the partnership with Gov. Schwarzenegger and the California reform effort mark the beginning of a national campaign to take the redistricting process out of the hands of state legislators and to entrust independent commissions with the task. As the New York Times noted last week, redistricting legislation and ballot initiatives have been introduced or have come under consideration in at least a dozen states. And Common Cause is aggressively pushing for reform in several states in addition to California, including, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Texas.
Our work on redistricting is guided by the following principles:
The Creation of Nonpartisan Independent Redistricting Commissions
Fair Criteria for Congressional and Legislative Districts
Public Participation and Transparency
Frequency
Judicial Review
Voters know there is a problem. Astute political figures, like Governor Schwarzenegger know there is a problem. And in a Monday editorial, USA Today called on the states to create similar commissions and to establish fair criteria for drawing district lines.
By pushing for truly independent commissions and taking other steps to ensure that the redistricting process is fair, we can create legislative and congressional districts that are representative of the population and districting plans that result in more competitive congressional and legislative elections.
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