Wilson Outlines Redistricting Strategy : Government: He plans to name a commission to draw new political lines if he disagrees with the boundaries adopted by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

Gov. Pete Wilson disclosed Thursday that he intends to name a commission to draw new legislative and congressional districts for the state Supreme Court to consider if the Democratic-controlled Legislature fails to pass a plan that satisfies the Republican governor.

Wilson also asked lawmakers who serve on redistricting committees to give up their summer recess and work on redistricting with the goal of passing a plan by Sept. 3, 10 days before the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn for the year.

The governor’s strategy, apparently, is to bring pressure on the Legislature by threatening to veto any plan that fails to meet his demands and then having an alternate plan ready for the court to consider immediately in the event of an impasse.

“If politics becomes a stumbling block to drawing fair district lines then it will be time to take politics out of the process,” Wilson told reporters.

Wilson’s decision to play such an activist role on the Capitol’s most politically volatile issue has angered some Democrats, who, because they control the Legislature, are responsible for drawing the districts in which most of them will run for reelection in 1992.

At stake is control of the Legislature and the composition of the state’s congressional delegation, which is to grow from 45 seats to 52 because California’s population has increased relative to other states.

Reacting to Wilson’s plan, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) noted that voters have three times rejected commissions proposed by Republicans and others to take the task of redistricting out of the hands of legislators.

“The governor should stick to being the governor, rather than trying to play legislator on the reapportionment question,” Brown told reporters. “I think it’s purely, unadulterated politics and not healthy for the system.”

Senate Democrats also criticized the idea, complaining that Wilson’s commission would probably be dominated by white males. But critics of the status quo have pointed out that the Legislature is overwhelmingly white and male, and its most recent redistricting plan did little to improve representation of minorities.

Representatives of California Common Cause and the League of Women Voters--two groups long interested in redistricting--doubted whether the governor’s plan would be fair.

“We are highly skeptical of the independence of this commission,” said Ruth Holton, legislative representative for Common Cause. “A commission appointed by a Republican governor cannot be presumed to be independent.”

Under the state Constitution, the Legislature draws new political lines every 10 years to account for population changes reflected in the U.S. census. The governor has the power to sign or veto the redistricting bills just as he does on other legislation. If the Legislature and the governor cannot agree, the issue automatically goes to the state Supreme Court.

Traditionally, incumbent legislators have tried to use the redistricting process to protect their own political futures by drawing districts in which they can be assured reelection.

In 1971, the Democratic-dominated Legislature’s plan was vetoed by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. The court appointed a three-member panel to do the job. Democrats made huge gains running in the court-drawn districts in 1974--the year the Watergate scandal hurt Republicans nationwide.

In 1981, a plan drawn by Democratic lawmakers and signed by a Democratic governor was rejected by the voters in a referendum. But the Democrats, with some Republican support, drew new lines that protected their majority in the Legislature for another 10 years.

Republicans now are confident their recent gains in voter registration virtually guarantee that they will increase their strength in the Legislature and in Congress when the new lines are drawn. And they have a Republican governor to defend their interests.

But delay could work to the Democrats’ advantage. If the issue takes too long to resolve, there is a chance the courts could order that the 1992 legislative elections be held in the old districts or that the candidates run in the districts approved by the Legislature even if vetoed by the governor.

That is why Wilson is trying to prompt the Legislature to move more quickly than the law requires. A Wilson adviser said the governor chose to take a hard line after he was disillusioned by the Legislature’s behavior during the budget negotiations that dominated the first six months of the year.

“This is a governor who no longer has stars in his eyes,” the adviser said.