Declaring a Cease-Fire : Prop. C Would Give Independent Citizens Group the Authority to Draft New District Boundaries

No one who remembers the political blood bath that erupted last year during the San Diego City Council’s redistricting war wants a repeat performance. Policy debate was stymied for months. Rookie Councilwoman Linda Bernhardt was ousted from office by angry voters via an unprecedented recall election. And the council as a whole was rightly ridiculed in barrooms and boardrooms across the city by an electorate fed up with the self-serving bickering.

It doesn’t have to happen again. Embarrassed by its own folly and prodded by the citizens lobbying group Common Cause, the council has placed on the June 2 ballot an initiative that should greatly depoliticize the process.

Proposition C would place the responsibility for the once-a-decade redistricting effort into the hands of an independent citizens commission appointed by the presiding judge of the Municipal Court. Voters should support it. Anything that distances the politicians from the redistricting process has to be good.

Certainly, this approach is an improvement over the weak attempt at independence the council tried last year when it established the Redistricting Advisory Board.

The members of that citizens panel were all political appointees of the mayor and council. The “independence” of these political proxies was suspect at best.

Still, most in the group took their responsibility seriously. Ultimately, they drafted new district boundaries that were reasonable--and almost instantly ignored by the council. The progressive wing of the council that was then in power--dubbed rather simplistically the “Gang of Five”--quickly drafted a new version solely designed to protect its fragile political base.

Soon it was all-out war, complete with lawsuits and government gridlock. That isn’t likely to happen under Proposition C. The council would be required to adopt the judge-appointed panel’s map without making any changes. Lawsuits could still be filed. But fair maps drafted by truly independent citizens are far less likely to draw legal fire.

It’s important to note that the commission will be composed of seven citizens who will reflect the city’s “geographic, social and ethnic diversity.” All will be required to agree in writing that they won’t seek political office for at least five years.

That’s about as apolitical as this inherently political process can get. A similar reform is needed on the statewide level, where the partisan battle over state Senate, Assembly and congressional districts ended up in the lap of the state Supreme Court. But San Diegans don’t have to wait for statewide action. They can solve the problem on the local level by supporting this common-sense initiative in June.