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| Dems on the run in California! |
| 2005-06-29 |
| Headline: âDems offer redistricting plan to counter governor's plan, GOP says it leaves Legislature with too much power.â For those of you who donât follow left coast politics I will make this brief. Currently elected officials get to draw the lines on their congressional district. The current state population shows roughly a 55/45 split between Democrats and Republicans. The legislature is 70/30 split because of the way districts are carved out of the state. The current legislature enjoyed a 20-25% approval rating BEFORE the last election and EVERY incumbent won re-election. Arnold has had a hard time pushing his agenda through the Democrat heavy legislature. So Arnold proposed that maybe we need a better way to choose those people. In November the PEOPLE are going to vote on a state amendment that will drastically (and hopefully) change the way districts are redrawn and take it out of the hand of elected officials. The Democrats sensing danger labeled Arnold a Nazi at first, denounce the special election second, and now offer their own plan to fix a problem they caused. I have lived in California for many years and I really sense that the Dems are running scared after they saw the proposals and special elections were going to actually happen. Despite the negative press and howling on against this election this proposal really has support on the left and the right. You can tell they are scared because they are offering a counter proposal because the if measure passes the Dems are likely to lose absolute control and have to bargain with and REPRESENT a large minority of California citizens. One legislature admits as much in the article. Good show Arnold! |
| Posted by:Cyber Sarge |
| #9 I think a non-geographic repesentation system won't work. It will lead to the most well known candidate getting the lion's share of votes. Then marginal, but well organized, minorities can then elect the candidate of their choice in the remaining districts. I'd like to see an objective criteria used for redistricting (e.g. equal population, contiguous districts such that the all districts minimize the total circumference) and allow any citizen, not just the dominant political party, to submit district maps. May the best proposal win. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-06-29 20:19 |
| #8 Most of you have no idea how bad this state is. The Tarnished State is going down for the count if something isn't done soon. As for me, I'm moving. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2005-06-29 19:57 |
| #7 I'd prefer a looser, non-geographic system. After all, where you live/work is probably the least important thing when it comes to representation. How about if they had an open system, with people able to give their proxy (as it were) to whomever thay like. If that person gets enough proxies, s/he's a representative of that group. |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-06-29 17:30 |
| #6 Rather than a 50%/%50 split I'd like them to actually push it as close to 100% as possible. Let folks be lumped together with like thinking voters so they can get a politician to represent their interests rather than sticking 49% of the country being represented by someone they are oppossed to. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-06-29 15:42 |
| #5 LOL, Mrs. D. That smarts. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-06-29 14:38 |
| #4 Xb, You need a minimum amount of Republicans to have a contested legislature. Caliphornia is a one party state by Gerrymander, Massachusetts by choice. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-06-29 14:15 |
| #3 I'm in Mass. Can we borrow your Gov for a few? I'd love to get our Dems running scared. |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2005-06-29 13:57 |
| #2 I would hope they redistrict so that there is approximately a 50 50 split between dems and GOP. Then those damned pieces of furniture in Sacto would actually have to please a constituency. Maybe we could vote out some of the communists and the "Lets become part of Mexico" crowd. |
| Posted by: SockPuppetofDoom2 2005-06-29 13:30 |
| #1 I rather have whatever party is in control |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-06-29 13:07 |