http://inlandpolitics.com/blog/2010/01/18/sacbee-dan-walters-ballot-fights-loom-on-california-redistricting/ Politics, Government and Business in Southern California's Inland Empire Thu, 17 May 2012 21:50:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://inlandpolitics.com/blog/2010/01/18/sacbee-dan-walters-ballot-fights-loom-on-california-redistricting/comment-page-1/#comment-21248 November's Ballotapalooza | Capital Notes -- From KQED's John Myers Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:12:47 +0000 http://inlandpolitics.com/blog/?p=1636#comment-21248 [...] Two years ago, voters narrowly approved the initiative that stripped legislators of their long-standing power to draw their own political districts and those for members of Congress. The new map drawers will be 14 citizens chosen through a long and complicated process that hasn't even come close to completion. And now, voters will be asked to again wade into the arcane but politically powerful world of redistricting. Prop 20 seeks to close an exception in the original measure that was the price of keeping powerful California members of Congress from killing it: having the commission add congressional maps to its marching orders. And knowing that Prop 20 was in the pipeline and well funded, the state's congressional Democrats decided to muddy the waters this fall with Prop 27, a measure to scrap the citizens commission altogether. The Democratic pols won't shed tears if Prop 27 fails... as long as voters also reject Prop 20, a 'voters say no to both' strategy. The real question is whether other critics of the independent redistricting process, one that's produced a pool of potential commissioners closely scrutinized, will step forward to be the face of Prop 27... while supporters of Prop 20 will probably focus their ire on one congressman in particular: Rep. Howard Berman, the veteran Democrat from LA who apparently played a key behind-the-scenes role in putting the anti-redistricting commission on the ballot. [...] [...] Two years ago, voters narrowly approved the initiative that stripped legislators of their long-standing power to draw their own political districts and those for members of Congress. The new map drawers will be 14 citizens chosen through a long and complicated process that hasn't even come close to completion. And now, voters will be asked to again wade into the arcane but politically powerful world of redistricting. Prop 20 seeks to close an exception in the original measure that was the price of keeping powerful California members of Congress from killing it: having the commission add congressional maps to its marching orders. And knowing that Prop 20 was in the pipeline and well funded, the state's congressional Democrats decided to muddy the waters this fall with Prop 27, a measure to scrap the citizens commission altogether. The Democratic pols won't shed tears if Prop 27 fails… as long as voters also reject Prop 20, a 'voters say no to both' strategy. The real question is whether other critics of the independent redistricting process, one that's produced a pool of potential commissioners closely scrutinized, will step forward to be the face of Prop 27… while supporters of Prop 20 will probably focus their ire on one congressman in particular: Rep. Howard Berman, the veteran Democrat from LA who apparently played a key behind-the-scenes role in putting the anti-redistricting commission on the ballot. [...]

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