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Gov. offers a plan to redraw districts

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Times Staff Writer

Reviving his push to make California elections more competitive, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday laid out a proposal for stripping the Legislature of the power to draw voting districts and transferring it to a citizen panel presumably less driven by self-interest.

Schwarzenegger’s plan relies on local elections officials to select the citizens who would draw the districts. That differs from a proposal that failed to pass the Legislature in the last session.

Under the unsuccessful plan, the citizens were to be chosen by legislators and the Fair Political Practices Commission from candidates first screened by retired judges. An earlier plan championed by the governor also failed.

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Schwarzenegger said that at this early stage, with lawmakers having just opened a new two-year session, he is not wedded to any one concept and is amenable to other ideas.

Schwarzenegger unveiled his plan at a morning news conference that signaled that a new method of redistricting would be a marquee policy goal of 2007. Any change approved by the Legislature would have to be ratified by voters, and the new lines would not be put in place until after the 2010 census.

Schwarzenegger was joined at the podium by political consultants, good-government advocates and former legislators, a group meant to demonstrate bipartisan support for what the governor wants to do.

“I feel that it is possible, that there’s a good shot that we can get it done,” Schwarzenegger said.

But early feedback from legislative leaders suggested he may run into resistance; the Legislature is controlled by Democrats who have little incentive to tinker with a system that has left them solidly in command.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) released a statement saying: “At first glance, we’re concerned about the lack of attention to independence and diversity. After all, registrars as a group cannot be considered ‘independent.’ We need to ... make sure this process of drawing district lines is nonpartisan and beyond reproach.”

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This is Schwarzenegger’s third attempt in three years to stop legislators from carving the districts in which they run for office. He campaigned hard for a ballot measure in 2005 that would have empowered a panel of retired judges to draw the lines, but voters rejected it as they have many other redistricting changes proposed in past years.

The governor tried again in the legislative session that ended in August, but couldn’t get the Assembly to go along.

Schwarzenegger’s new plan would create an 11-member Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw the new districts. A panel of 10 county registrars or city election clerks would choose a pool of 55 candidates for the commission. Legislative leaders would be allowed to veto the nominations of up to eight people in the pool.

The Fair Political Practices Commission would then conduct a random drawing to determine the commission’s membership.

In the past, Schwarzenegger has sought to round up votes for a new method of political mapmaking by suggesting that the state’s strict term limits law might be eased. At present, Assembly members may serve six years and senators, eight.

Dangling the bait again Tuesday, Schwarzenegger said he was open to the same kind of deal on term limits that he has embraced in the past.

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“You know, we are up to any discussions about any of those subjects,” he said. “This is our proposal, and if someone wants to talk about term limits we are more than happy to talk about that.”

But building a winning coalition in the Legislature is a tricky business. For some lawmakers, extending legislative terms is a poison pill.

Assembly GOP leader Michael Villines (R-Clovis) said in an interview: “If we try to tie [redistricting] to anything else, especially term limits, we look like selfish politicians who want to use something to get something else.”

Good-government groups said that if lawmakers fail to pass a plan soon in which they relinquish their redistricting power, advocates may take the matter directly to voters in another ballot initiative. California Common Cause, which is supporting Schwarzenegger’s efforts, said Tuesday that it is not prepared to wait forever for the Legislature to act.

Ned Wigglesworth, a Common Cause official who joined the governor at the news conference, said in an interview: “Our sense is the Legislature is far enough along that putting together a redistricting reform package should be a matter of weeks or months -- not years.

“If they don’t take meaningful action in the coming months,” Wigglesworth said, “then we’re likely to start seriously considering the initiative route.”

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peter.nicholas@latimes.com

Times staff writer Nancy Vogel contributed to this report.

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