Ad watch: Disgusted senior is center of ad backing Prop. 77

Sacramento Bee ^ | 10/15/5 | Jim Sanders

[SmithL]

Redistrict California, a committee supporting Proposition 77, will launch a $2 million television advertising campaign Monday. Its commercial will air for one week on both cable and network stations statewide.

The 30-second spot features a professional actress, Sacramento-area resident Golden Henning, who portrays a disgusted elderly voter belittling the Legislature outside her home.

The following is the text and an analysis by Jim Sanders of The Bee Capitol Bureau.

WOMAN: Legislature, ha, ha. I wouldn't. ... They're a bunch of. ... Well, never mind.

VOICE-OVER: Legislators draw their own districts, so they can't lose.

WOMAN: I wouldn't give you 2 cents for the whole bunch of 'em.

Sell It Yourself VOICE-OVER: Proposition 77 has independent judges draw district lines, not the politicians.

WOMAN: They rig the election; they rig everything. And what do you get for it? Nothing. All they do is money, money, money.

VOICE-OVER: Stop the politicians. Yes on 77.

ANALYSIS: The offbeat TV spot - with a feisty, cane-waving "voter" - attempts to tap into a deep vein of dissatisfaction with legislators and big-money politics to solicit support for Proposition 77, which would change how political boundaries are drawn.

Indeed, the Legislature has a dismal approval rating, which has fallen from 51 percent in January 2001 to 27 percent in late August of this year, according to the Field Poll.

[elbucko]

If your a Californian and have a high regard for your rights as a US Citizen, you'll vote "yes" on Prop 77.

[Amerigomag]

Proposition 77 has independent judges draw district lines, not the politicians.

Redistrict California has rightly assumed that few voters actually read the Official Voter Information Guide they receive. If they had they would have read (inside a bold box):

1) The judges must not have ... Changed their party affiliation since their judicial appointment
2) The four legislative leaders ...nominate judges with party affiliations different than their own

As always the generally misinformed electorate deserve their misinformed decisions.

[John Jorsett]

I notice that the "analysis" gives the details of how redistricting would work, but omits a few important items: the judges have to abide by strict rules for drawing the boundaries, and would be forbidden to consult certain demographic data such as party registration, voting frequency, etc. in creating those districts. Also, the panel must hold public hearings and can receive competing plans from outside groups like the public and legislature.

[CATravelAgent]

Just received my copy of Marin County's free newspaper, the Pacific Sun. Their "considered opinion" was NO on all initiatives.

**Sigh** My read on this is that the libs prefer to keep the status quo. I sure hope we can keep them from voting twice.

[elbucko]

Their "considered opinion" was NO on all initiatives.

I expect that from most of CA's newspapers, since their staff often have Merlot with the public union lobbyists. However, these papers would sing a different tune if they had a "Bud" with the thugs that run these unions.

[jiggyboy]

I don't understand your objection, or if your post is indeed an objection to Prop 77.

Since pols from the top two leading parties pick judges' names (that are later drawn from a hat), you don't want them to be able to bribe somebody to switch parties just before they are to be picked for redistricting duty.

[Amerigomag]

if your post is indeed an objection to Prop 77.

It isn't. Just an observation.

The observation was intended to illustrate just how skewed the campaign rhetoric has become because the California electorate is unprepared to separate fact from fiction. In this case the allusion that judges are non partisan and their apolitical status can cure what ails California.

While I have no reasoned rancor for Prop 77 it can't "fix" what ails California. In this specific instance the problems weren't fundamentally created by a corrupt legislature or rapidly shifting demographies or the rise of organized labor in California's immigrant and public employee sectors but rather the Federal Voting Rights Act which encourages, promotes and mandates gerrymandering.