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SACRAMENTO (AP) - Two months after voters rejected Proposition 77, supporters of the redistricting measure announced a new initiative campaign Wednesday to take the power to draw legislative and congressional districts away from lawmakers. "I think there is broad agreement across the political spectrum that our current political system is broken, and that one of the reasons it is broken is that we have politicians drawing their own political boundaries," said Derek Cressman, director of TheRestofUs.org, a political watchdog group. "Democrats, Republicans, independents - everyone agrees that is an inherently corrupt process and it must be changed." The new initiative...

LOS ANGELES - California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George opened the arguments on Proposition 77 Wednesday by saying the debate may seem like "life after death" for the redistricting initiative voters defeated Nov. 8. But George said the justices wanted to settle "important questions of law" to provide guidance for future cases, even though the decision would have had no effect on Proposition 77. At issue were the differences in the wording in the Proposition 77 petitions circulated for signatures and the measure submitted to the state attorney general for placement on the ballot. Two lower courts ruled...

WASHINGTON - Congressional incumbents and Capitol Hill alumni rallied 'round in the final week of the fight against California's redistricting overhaul. The well-placed Proposition 77 opponents came from many states, and with their checkbooks wide open. Amid California's most expensive election ever, the far-flung lawmakers helped pump up the forces defeating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's agenda. "There are a number of members of Congress who don't want to face the voters," Tulare Republican Rep. Devin Nunes said Friday, "and Prop. 77 would have made that happen." At least 53 House members contributed to the anti-Proposition 77 effort between Halloween and Tuesday's...

Dear Governor: November 9, 2005 06:19 AM EST There is no such thing as a fusion candidate, no such thing as a bipartisan campaign or a non-partisan issue, and come election night, there are just two parties, one at the GOP HQ and one at the Dem HQ. There's a winners' party and a losers' party. Last night you were speaking to the losers' party. I didn't go. Why bother? The polls had shown for a few days that only Prop 75 had a chance (the measure to stop public employee unions from deducting political dues from their members' paychecks...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Despite voters' rejection of Proposition 77, the Legislature's top leaders are promising to try to get a new plan on the ballot as early as next June that would strip lawmakers of the powerful job of drawing legislative and congressional districts. "I'm more than open to a redistricting effort which takes the power to draw boundaries from the Legislature and gives it to a truly independent group," Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said Wednesday. He wouldn't discuss details but said a fresh proposal would be unveiled shortly. Proposition 77, one of four initiatives on Tuesday's...

TODAY, Californians are heading to the polls to vote on several major propositions that shall dramatically affect both the political and economic future of our state. We are following the activity and will report the results. California Propositions 2.8% of precincts reporting as of Nov 08 08:13 PM PST Results: http://www.sfgate.com/election/

CA Propositions 75, 76, 77 Defeated; Propositions 73, 74 Could Go Either Way: On the Eve of a Special Election, California voters defeat Propositions 75, 76 and 77, but divide on Propositions 73 and 74, according to a final SurveyUSA tracking poll. Support for Propositions 73, 74, 75, and 77 continues to erode. (Proposition 76 is addressed separately in the next box.) Proposition 73, on parental notification for abortions on minors, led by 11 points 1 week ago, and leads today by 4 points. It may hang-on and win, but if so, by the narrowest of margins. Extending the trend...

The John Ziegler Show on KFI has revealed the identify of the questioners of last night's state-wide broadcast forum on NBC and Telemundo. The forum included Arnold, Barbar Kerr (teacher's union) and Fabian Nunez (Dem legislator). Two of the questioners for Arnold are members Democrat central committees and one is a Democrat Congressional candidate! This forum allegedly included an independently selected balanced audience.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Voters in California and Ohio will decide next week whether to strip state politicians of the right to draw their own legislative district lines, the first public tests of a national effort to increase electoral competition and reduce the power of incumbency. The two ballot initiatives, California's Proposition 77 and Ohio's Issue 4, would transfer the power to set congressional and legislative boundaries to independent panels, robbing state lawmakers of their traditional ability to twist and shape district lines for political advantage. Similar initiatives are in the works in Florida and Massachusetts, and at least a dozen...

NO side leads YES side on all four of the propositions backed by Governor Schwarzenegger.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Supporters of the redistricting initiative on next week's special election ballot have enlisted Arizona Sen. John McCain in their campaign to take away the Legislature's power to draw legislative and congressional boundaries. McCain, the co-author of federal legislation in 2002 that banned unlimited "soft money" donations to political parties, appears in television commercials scheduled to begin running Tuesday urging voters to approve Proposition 77. It is one of eight measures on the Nov. 8 special election ballot and one of four promoted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Proposition 77 would give the duty of drawing new districts to...

The second wave of the Stanford University/Hoover Institution/Knowledge Networks (S/H/KN) internet poll conducted during the final week of October shows two of the four propositions supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with comfortable leads, one narrowly ahead, and one trailing badly. The latest poll results show Proposition 74 (teacher tenure) slightly ahead, 53-47, but with a margin that is within the sampling error of the poll. The two most controversial propositions appear to be heading in opposite directions. Proposition 75 (public employee union dues) has a comfortable lead, 64-36, but Proposition 76 (state budget process) trails by double digits, 45-55. Finally,...

Jury duty is good citizenship, but using that phrase to fool voters into reading your political mail is not. That's the feeling of Proposition 77 advocates, who were upset last week that opponents of the redistricting initiative sent mailers to Republicans with the words "JURY DUTY" next to a postmark. "This is really an outrage, it's a pretty sleazy tactic here," said Steve Poizner, a pro-77 campaign leader who said the appearance is meant to make voters think they are opening a jury summons. Inside, the mailer attacks Proposition 77 but makes no reference to juries. "Rumor has it that...

SACRAMENTO - As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger struggles to make his case for reform measures on the Nov. 8 special-election ballot, he and his opponents have stepped up their battle for the state's Latino voters. The governor taped a town-hall forum on Spanish-language Univision that aired statewide over the weekend, even as opponents launched their first Spanish-language TV ads featuring Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attacking the governor's proposals. The high-profile events are just the latest campaign efforts aimed at courting the 2 million Latinos registered to vote in California, accounting for 14 percent of the statewide electorate. "We've been on the air...

A Public Policy Institute of California polls shows none of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's initiatives on the Nov. 8 special election ballot with majority support. The poll also found voters also dissatisfied with the job performance of the governor, the state Legislature and President Bush. All results are from the sampling of likely voters. _ Proposition 73, the parental notification initiative, had support of 42 percent of likely voters but was opposed by 48 percent. _ Proposition 74, the teacher tenure initiative, was supported by 46 percent of likely voters and opposed by 48 percent. _ Proposition 75, the union dues...

Statistics show that three elderly white men will likely draw political boundaries if voters approve Proposition 77, which critics say could shortchange minority communities. The measure would place redistricting of the nation's largest state in the hands of the smallest redistricting commission drawn from a pool of retired judges, with no requirement that it contain women or minorities. Racial and ethnic composition of the judges would be relatively unimportant, supporters claim, because district boundaries must adhere to strict criteria and any final plan must be approved by voters. Critics counter that the process must be viewed as fair and impartial,...

Most political analysts would agree: The single most politically significant measure on the Special Election Ballot is Proposition 75, dubbed “Paycheck Protection” by its proponents. Proposition 77, the Redistricting Reform measure, is also a major reform. But without a change in the campaign funding paradigm (especially at the state legislative level), fair districts will not necessarily be competitive districts--Republicans are significantly outspent by the majority party. No, it is the major loss of political resources by public employee unions that would rock the foundations of the status-quo in Sacramento. Most political insiders, let alone members of the public, are unaware...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Opponents of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to change the way legislative districts are drawn are using retired Judge Joseph Wapner, former star of the television program "The People's Court," in commercials attacking the ballot initiative and its corporate supporters. The three television ads, which began running Monday in most of the state, accuse oil and insurance companies, developers and Wal-Mart heirs of contributing heavily to Yes on 77 committees to elect lawmakers who will support their agendas. The ads also contend that Proposition 77 would give too much political power to retired judges. Wapner served 20 years...

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) - Defending his special election before an audience of voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday said his "year of reform" ballot initiatives are crucial to continue the changes he started after taking office two years ago. He cast the Nov. 8 election as the next step of the 2003 recall election that propelled him to office. Voters, he said, sent him to Sacramento to rebuild the state's economy and fix a moribund political system. After 400,000 new jobs and billions in new revenue, it was time for him to enter Act II, he said. "Now is...

The following is an Associated Press Story released this afternoon. Lawmaker who voted for current districts backs redistricting Read More... Craig DeLuz Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense... www.craigdeluz.com