November election

[jweinberg]

OK. I have done a lot of research and this is how I'm voting on November 8:

Prop 73 - No
Prop 74 - No
Prop 75 - No
Prop 76 - No
Prop 77 - Yes
Prop 78 - No
Prop 79 - Yes
Prop 80 - No

Discussion welcomed.

Comments

Prop 77 - part II

[jweinberg]

The November general election means nothing in such districts. The majority-party candidate is assured of victory. Instead, what’s important is the primary contest. And how do you win a partisan primary? By appealing to activist and loyalist elements within your party. So candidates in primaries accuse each other of not being “true Republicans,” or of being too willing to compromise on core Democratic issues like the environment. Typically, moderates lose these primaries to hardliners. The nominees are then rubber-stamped in November, even if there’s significant independent and crossover vote for moderate minority-party nominees, because the district registration is so heavily tilted. The result is a Legislature (and Congress) full of extreme partisans, responsive only to the members of their own party, with no incentive to compromise or back down from obstructionist tactics.

The solution is to replace the current, single-party, distended districts with more compact districts that reflect the true political diversity of each area. These will encourage legislators to be responsive to all constituents, since they’ll presumably need at least some independent and crossover support to win November general elections.

Will the Legislature ever give us unrigged districts? Of course not-it would endanger too many legislators’ seats. To end single-party districts-to end the polarization and acrimony-we must take redistricting out of the Legislature’s hands. It’s as simple as that.

Prop 77 will give a panel of three retired judges the task of drawing Congressional, State Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization districts. The judges would represent both major parties, and any plan would have to be approved unanimously.

The selection process for the judges would make Rube Goldberg proud. From a list of retired judges willing to serve, 12 Democrats and 12 Republicans are chosen at random. These 24 are placed in a large birdcage suspended over a crocodile-filled moat by a rope being burnt slowly by a candle. In turn each of the four legislative leaders (Assembly and Senate majority and minority leaders) gleefully yanks a lever, causing a mechanical boot to kick four of the other party’s judges into the moat, where they meet their doom. By the time the rope burns through, only eight retired judges are left: four from each party. The cage falls into the moat, bounces off the crocodiles’ full bellies, and lands on a clothesline where mother’s nightgown is drying. A family of squirrels, mistaking the judge-filled birdcage for an exercise wheel, jumps onto the cage and starts running, causing the cage to tumble like an oversize Bingo ball hopper. The hanger for mother’s nightgown gets tangled and unlocks the door of the spinning cage. The door swings open, and out tumble three judges at random (but at least one from each party). These three retired, dizzy judges become the redistricting panel.

If you followed that, you’ll see there’s at least a 50% chance a party you despise will land a majority of seats on the panel. Could this be bad? Unlikely. Plans must be approved unanimously, and since each major party is guaranteed a seat, each has a veto. Also, since the eight most partisan judges from the each side are fed to the crocodiles, at worst you’ll be facing the ninth and tenth smarmiest retired judges from either party. Finally, the panel is required to get comments from the Legislature before it approves a plan. You can be sure the legislators will make it abundantly clear to their representative(s) on the panel if a proposed plan gives the other party an advantage.

- continued -

Re: Prop 77 - part II

[eastbayted]

Thanks for taking the time to write this all up. I am most intrigued by how crocodiles play into this process (and to a lesser degree, the birdcages and squirrels). In fact, if the selection process was to happen as you describe, this thing would pass by a landslide.

Whatever the case, consider me swayed on the issue.