Opinion: Bipartisan redistricting?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

On the first day of the new legislative session, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez repeated a line he used often in the last term. ‘As I go around California,’ he said, ‘and people tell me the things that are most important to them, redistricting is not one of them.’ The Democrats’ top priorities are education, healthcare and the environment--three areas in which Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken a keen interest. Republican legislators, Nunez said, have an opportunity to get on the bipartisan bus. Or not.

The problem is not just that new Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines put redistricting on the top of his priority list. Schwarzenegger, Mr. Bipartisan himself, is preparing to unveil a proposal to redraw district lines. So the issue clearly is important to the Republicans. That means it is Nunez who has to decide whether to get on the bipartisan bus.

He should. Although Nunez is surely correct when he says that voters don’t give much thought to redistricting, he must know they have definite feelings about fairness and cooperation, and are pretty prickly about how well their government works. Ask voters if they are OK with gerrymandering, or with lawmakers selecting their voters, and see what they say.

Now here’s a nasty little secret that Villines and Nunez already know. Redrawing district lines to make them more rational won’t necessarily make races more competitive. Most races will still be decided in the primaries. California is getting bluer every day, and no matter how lines are drawn, Republicans are becoming more and more like the California condor: rare, endangered, and increasingly limited to remote areas.

But lawmakers should reform redistricting anyway, to release the stranglehold of party leaders on candidates and their futures. The way it is now, with term limits in the mix, top Democrats and Republicans can plan out the careers of their colleagues years in advance. Vote my way on every bill, the party boss might say, or you’ll find that the congressional district you had your eye on is being redrawn to favor someone else.

Villines, for his part, might want to rethink his absolute thumbs-down on term limit reforms. Lengthening lawmakers’ stays in Sacramento should not be a prerequisite to redistricting reform. But it shouldn’t be completely off the table, if it means better government.