Judging the Redistricting Commission

Abstract

THE CALIFORNIA Journal of Politics & Policy Commentary Judging the Redistricting Commission Tony Quinn, Co-editor, California Target Book California’s first redistricting commission is now his- tory. After six months of work, it has certified four maps for the next 10 years to the secretary of state for Congress, the Assembly and Senate, and the Board of Equalization. While much will be written about the commission’s work as we head into the 2012 election cycle and beyond, this is a good time for at least a preliminary review of the com- mission product. Did they do the kind of redrawing of the political maps of California the voters wanted when they passed Proposition 11 in 2008 and Proposition 20 in 2010? The notion of an independent commission to redraw district lines was originally opposed by California Demo- crats and supported by California Republicans, including Copyright © 2011 The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved. www.bepress.com/cjpp Volume 3, Issue 3, 2011 former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Democrats saw this as an attempt to deny them, as the majority party, the pow- er to draw districts. Republicans saw the commission as the one way to keep the Democrats from gerrymandering the state for themselves. As the commission process unfolded earlier this year the Democrats were pleasantly surprised. The Democratic members of the commission were much stronger than the Republican members. Over GOP opposition, the commis- sion hired Berkeley demographers as their line drawers who had ties to the Democrats, and a staff made up almost entirely of Democrats. Republicans loudly squawked and began preparing for the worst. In the end, the results were mixed. The commission was supposed to ignore incumbents and political data, but everyone knew that was fiction. The more sophisticated commission members were well aware of the needs of in- cumbent politicians and often responded to them. African- *Tony Quinn is co-editor of California Target Book.