Most Active Stories
- CA-32: The field gets more crowded
- CA-31: Becerra To Join Cabinet After All?
- Prop 8 Voting Patterns Analyzed
- Arnold Schwarzenegger - Assclown of the Year
- On That Prop 8 Equality Summit Media Access Kerfuffle...
- Oscar Grant Shooting Protests In Oakland
- Leon Panetta Selected As CIA Director
- Monday Open Thread
- Bigger, Faster, Stronger, Cleaner: Post-Sprawl, Post-Downturn Economics
- Schwarzenegger names new Air Board member
- Alan Keyes files suit over Obama citizenship question
- Sheehan claims her campaign against Pelosi is being sabotaged
- Former L.A. Mayor crosses party lines, endorses Obama
- Bay Area transportation chief under consideration for Obama Administration post
- Key Californians in line for presidential appointments
- California in contempt? Figuring out the constitutionality of Proposition 8
- Redwood Middle School marching band invited to Inaugural Parade
- State air board investigating its own scientist
- CA Nurses Association airs McCain/Palin ad in battleground states
- Newsom acknowledges 'failures' of San Francisco's 'sanctuary city' policies
Recent Press Releases
- January 5, 2009
- December 31, 2008
- December 31, 2008
- December 31, 2008
- December 31, 2008
Top Tags
PolitickerCA Partners
August 19, 2008 - 1:20pm
News
Boxer opposes redistricting measure
By Ben van der Meer, PolitickerCA.com Senior ReporterDemocratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California has added her name to those opposing Proposition 11, a redistricting initiative.
A press release from the anti-11 group Citizens for Accountability quoted Boxer as saying in a letter to the group that she was concerned that the measure would put too much power in the hands of too few unaccountable people.
"And as you have pointed out, there are no guarantees that the commissioners will be representative of our diverse and dynamic state," Boxer wrote in the letter.
If approved, Proposition 11 would create a 14-member commission to redraw state legislative districts after the 2010 U.S. Census. The commission's members would be chosen by an independent panel of state auditors, and be comprised of Democrats, Republicans and non-affiliated citizens, all of them largely outside of party politics.
The commission would draw districts according to criteria that emphasized geographic continuity rather than voter makeup within a certain area. California congressional districts would be redrawn by legislators using the same criteria.
Proposition 11 is supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and California Common Cause, a government reform advocacy group. Opposition has largely come from Democrats and some civil rights groups that fear redrawn districts could hurt representation of minorities in public office.
The pro-11 side has raised considerable amounts of money, including $75,000 in donations reported late Monday.
Citizens for Accountability has reported almost no money raised in comparison.
Syndicate
Boxer Opposes Redistricting Measure
Senator Barbara Boxer claims to oppose Proposition 11 because it "gives too much power to unelected commissioners who are appointed by state bureaucrats and not accountable to the public." She goes on to write that "there are no guarantees that the commissioners will be representative of our diverse and dynamic state." It boggles the mind that in one very short paragraph Senator Boxer can make no less than four egregious errors that are flatly contradicted by the language of the proposition. One is forced to the conclusion that Senator Boxer has not even read the text.
First, the commissioners that draw the political boundaries under Proposition 11 have less power than those bureaucrats that draw them in the present system of redistricting. In fact, under the present system we don't even know who those bureaucrats are! They are certainly not the members of the state legislature, who merely approve on political grounds the boundaries that are presented to them.
Second, The commissioners are not "appointed by state bureaucrats." A panel of three state auditors -- non-political civil servants -- select the initial pool of 60 potential commissioners, but the actual commission of 14 is chosen through a process of random selection during which the leaders of the State Legislature can eliminate candidates for any reasons including conflicts of interest.
Third, The commissioners are accountable to the public. Proposition 11 requires that the commissioners take public input, that their meetings are open to the public, and their proposed boundaries are approved by the public in a referendum.
Fourth, The Proposition requires that the pool of commissioners be selected with "an appreciation for California's diverse demographics and geography" as stated explicitly in the Proposition.
As a lifelong Democrat who has supported Senator Boxer, worked for her election, was thrilled at her victories, and generally support her stands on issues, I am profoundly disappointed that she has put the narrow, short term perceived interests of the Democratic Party, which now controls the redistricting process, above considerations of democracy and of the long term interests of the state and its people.
Post new comment