Reps. Sam Farr and Anna Eshoo are among a handful of
congressional Democrats putting up big money to do away with
California’s new citizens redistricting commission
– a blow to many Californians pushing for government reform.
By Kurtis Alexander
Reps. Sam Farr and Anna Eshoo are among a handful of congressional Democrats putting up big money to do away with California’s new citizens redistricting commission – a blow to many Californians pushing for government reform.
Financial filings submitted last week to the secretary of state show both House members, who represent parts of Santa Cruz County, contributed $10,000 apiece to a campaign backing a November ballot measure that would ax the redistricting panel.
The panel, approved by California voters two years ago, is billed as a means toward better state government. Instead of having lawmakers redraw state legislative districts, as they always have, the 14-member citizens commission will assume that power, removing the opportunity for the Legislature to draw the lines for political gain.
Critics of the panel, however, have raised red flags. Among them are that commission members will lack accountability, may not reflect the state’s ethnic diversity and simply won’t be qualified for the far-reaching task of redesigning the state’s balance of power.
“I have never been entirely comfortable with the redistricting commission concept,” Farr said in an e-mail to the Sentinel. “I think it is an unfair indictment of an established process that has worked in the past to the state’s benefit. … I think we need to take a time-out on this commission stuff and return to basics.”
But the agenda of Eshoo, Farr and nearly a dozen other congressional
Democrats who have contributed at least $130,000 to repeal the commission may not be so benign, political observers say. Their interest, observers say, may rest in another pending November ballot measure: one that would extend the power of the redistricting commission from crafting state political lines to congressional lines as well.
“For Sam Farr and others, they would much rather have their colleagues draw the districts for them,” said attorney Matt Rexroad, a Yolo County supervisor and state political strategist. “They just want to make sure they have nice, safe districts. It’s self-interest.”
Backers of the commission blame the lack of competitiveness in state and congressional elections on the gerrymandering of districts by incumbents. Many say the Legislature’s efforts have allowed more extreme candidates to remain in office and have prompted the partisan gridlock that prevails today.
Per state law, redistricting is done every 10 years to accommodate population shifts. Next year is slated to be the first year the exercise would be done outside the Legislature, unless the opposition measure succeeds.
The Fair Accountability in Redistricting Act, or FAIR, would scrap the panel just before it is scheduled to begin work.
The Yes on FAIR campaign, which was recently set up, did not return calls from the Sentinel. Eshoo also did not respond a request for comment.
Santa Cruz County Treasurer Fred Keeley, a co-author of the ballot measure that created the commission, knocked the Yes on FAIR campaign and its latest financial supporters.
“The establishment politicians still don’t get it, that being elected to Congress doesn’t put them in charge of every single action in the world,” Keeley said. “Voters took an action to take some power out of the hands of the politicians. This opposition is insulting to the electorate.”
Voter records show that Santa Cruz County supported Proposition 11, the measure that created the redistricting commission, but only by a one-point margin. Eshoo’s district supported the measure by 10 points. Farr’s, though, voted against it by four points.
The deadline to apply for the new redistricting commission passed this week, with more than 30,000 people submitting their name. The state Auditor’s Office, per the terms of Proposition 11, is expected to whittle the candidate list to the final 14 by the end of the year.
