The California Republican Assembly has officially endorsed the Voters FIRST Redistricting initiative. The vote was nearly unanimous, with only a single dissenting vote.
The Initiative, which is due to begin circulating petitions shortly, takes the drawing of legislative district lines out of the hands of the legislature and gives it to an Independent Commission composed of Republicans, Democrats and Independents randomly selected from a pre-qualified list of volunteers.
I know people are wondering how CRA can support an initiative endorsed by the Governor and Common Cause. Clearly, CRA is no fan of these two or some of the other groups supporting the initiative.
Some of the criticisms from a few Republicans include that it doesn’t include Congress. I wish it did. The reality is this is the only initiative on the topic that might qualify and pass out there. It isn’t perfect but it is a step in the right direction.
Want proof?
The initiative has drawn heavy fire from Democrat party activists like Bill Cavala, who predicted it could cost Democrats 6 Assembly seats and 2 Senate seats, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’s spokesman Steve Maviglio, who is among those leading the opposition.
That’s good enough for the CRA Board and me.
December 13th, 2007 at 12:00 am
I must admit that I am a little surprised to see someone who considers himself a conservative supporting giving significant power to an unelected body that is directly answerable to no one. Perhaps Mike can explain it to me.
December 13th, 2007 at 12:00 am
The Speaker has not said he is opposed to it; he said there’s problems with it. You might want to check in with some of the Republican legislators who attacked it for not including Congress.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:00 am
Simply clarifying the initive’s impact: the Commission is indeed accountable: the initiative specificially states that the plans adopted are subject to referendum by the voters of California.
The plans also are subject to legal challenge if they fail to follow the criteria, violate the public process rules, or otherwise fail to conform to the law. Given the time-sensitive nature of redistricting, challenges to the plans go direct to the Supreme Court.
(These provisions are taken almost verbatim from similar provisions in the Costa initiative.)