Gerrymander Jerry

Back in 2008, my Congressman was Jerry McNerney. He lived in Pleasanton.

Let that sink in for a moment. Pleasanton is about 50 miles from Brumby Road, and in a completely different universe. Pleasanton is dot.coms and lattes and consciousness raising seminars. Brumby Road is orchards and sprayers and taco trucks during cherry season.

But somehow the California State Legislature managed to put a small sliver of eastern San Joaquin county into the Bay Area for purposes of diluting Republican votes and maximizing the number of Democrat congresspeople representing the Golden State.

Those California Congressional District lines from 2008 look like a 3 year old on a sugar high went bonkers with a set of crayons. And they made about as much sense.

The process was so crazy that in 2008 a ballot proposition created an independent commission to draw lines, but conveniently exempted congressional districts from their authority. That changed in 2010:

In 2010, physicist and political reformer Charles Munger Jr. helped lead the successful campaign for Proposition 20, the Voters First Act for Congress, adding congressional districts to the CCRC’s responsibilities.

This commission was set up to be bipartisan and non-political, sort of. There are provisions for equal representation of the two major parties, and spots for others not affiliated with either. And there are rules which, if followed, would bring a little sanity to setting district boundaries.

As an independent, citizen commission, commissioners are prohibited from an extensive list of political positions and activities for ten years before applying and five to ten years after selection.

Under California Law, the State Legislature now has no authority to draw congressional districts. Texas Law in not California Law. Thus we have a new war between the states brewing.

Republican legislators in Texas are trying to use their legal authority to redraw districts and gain seats. Texas Democrat legislators don’t have the votes to stop them, so they decamped to Illinois to deny the Republicans a quorum. They were welcomed with open arms by Illinois Governor Pritzker, who knows a little something about gerrymandering himself. Take a look…

Illinois has 14 Democrat congresspersons and 3 Republicans. In a state where 44% of the voters chose Trump. Well done, Governor!

Here in California, Governor Newsom has vowed to fight back. He wants the legislature to claw back the 5 seats Texas is trying to flip. Except the legislature lacks the authority to do so.

But the Governor has a plan. First get the legislature to pass an amendment to the California constitution suspending the CCRC’s authority to draw the maps until after the 2030 election cycle. This needs a 2/3 vote in the California statehouse, which is no problem in this bluest of blue states.

But that is not enough. A vote of the people is required, and the next statewide election isn’t until 2026. So Newsom wants to call a special election to pass what will probably be called the “Voter Fairness and Diversity Act” which will promise to do everything from eliminating fossil fuels to completing the bullet train, with reparations and free trans surgeries thrown in.

The cost of this election is estimated at $250 million, which is enough to complete about 500 meters of bullet train track. Well worth the price to put Texas in its place.