Thursday, August 18, 2005
The Best News...
...That I have read since returning that happened while I was on vacation is this
Those of us that have had to deal with Sacramento as a part of our professional duties know the place to be a zoo. My exposure is minimal, but others, including SoCal ally Hedgehog, have far more experience. Hedgehog quotes a great column by Jill Stewart, then says this:
Districting in California is beyond gerrymandering, it's the establishment of fiefdoms, and it has got to stop. This may be the best decision ever made by the California Supreme Court. Now all we have to do is win the campaign.
The California Supreme Court ordered that Proposition 77, a ballot initiative involving political redistricting, should appear on the ballot in the special state election to be held on November 8, 2005. (Costa v. Superior Court (Lockyer), S136294).Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had this to say about the decision:
When these columns criticized his move, Mr. Lockyer sent us a letter suggesting he was merely trying to protect voters from devious populists. Well, not quite, said the state's high court. "We conclude that it would not be appropriate to deny the electorate the opportunity to vote on Proposition 77 on Nov. 8, 2005, on the basis of such discrepancies," said the court in a 4-2 decision. Mr. Lockyer's antics underscore the desperation of politicians out to prevent competitive elections.That's just about the editorial equivalent of a raspberry, and I love it!
Those of us that have had to deal with Sacramento as a part of our professional duties know the place to be a zoo. My exposure is minimal, but others, including SoCal ally Hedgehog, have far more experience. Hedgehog quotes a great column by Jill Stewart, then says this:
The resulting process is ugly. As a general rule, in our legislature policy is not made, it is brokered. Here's how it works: Interest groups write the bills and agree on them, then take the agreed-on product to legislative a sponsor. Once the sponsor is certain that the bill, as written, has the support of the right interest groups (meaning the ones that donate substantially to him or her) , Legislative Counsel polishes the language, the bill is introduced, and it is voted into law. Depressing, but true.I've said it here before, and I will say it again -- I live in a small valley, population around 20,000-30,000, a solidly conservative neighborhood. It is broken into 4 Assembly Districts and 3 Senate Districts. I vote with people living worlds away as the political landscape flies. It is simply idiotic, the part of the district in my neighborhood is literally a few blocks.
The old saw is that "lovers of law and sausage should never know how either one is made." True enough. But in California we'd like to at least have something to say about who is making them. Prop 77 would at least give us a chance.
Districting in California is beyond gerrymandering, it's the establishment of fiefdoms, and it has got to stop. This may be the best decision ever made by the California Supreme Court. Now all we have to do is win the campaign.
