Common Cause, two other groups back redistricting measure

Bakersfield Californian ^ | October 5th, 2005

[calcowgirl]

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Common Cause and two other political reform groups on Wednesday endorsed Proposition 77, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to take the power to draw legislative and congressional districts away from the Legislature.

"The current system, where self-interested politicians are responsible for drawing political boundaries, is rotten to the core," said Chellie Pingree, national president of Washington, D.C.-based Common Cause. "It's time to get the fox out of the henhouse and to put an end to California's rigged system of elections." Proposition 77, one of eight measures on California's Nov. 8 special election ballot, would give the power to draw districts for the Legislature, the state's delegation to the House of Representatives and a state tax board to a panel of three retired judges.

The ex-judges would attempt to draw new districts in time for the 2006 elections instead of waiting until a new federal census in 2010.

The proposal also was endorsed by the California Public Interest Research Group and TheRestofUs.org, which has criticized Schwarzenegger's campaign fundraising.

Common Cause endorsed legislation similar to Proposition 77 in February, but the measure, also backed by Schwarzenegger, didn't make it out of the Legislature.

Paul Hefner, a spokesman for Proposition 77 opponents, said several other groups that have been critical of the current system of drawing districts oppose the ballot measure. He said it is an attempt by the governor to elect more Republicans.

"There certainly is an appetite for change and reform, but what there is not an appetite for is a political power grab," he said.

[starfish923]

I hope this proposition passes.
If it does, the Golden State might to RED

[NormsRevenge]

Politics makes for strange bedfellows , indeed.