A Little Talk Could Save a Lot

Not long ago, Democratic leaders in the Legislature thought they had agreed in principle with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a plan to take the job of drawing legislative districts away from the Legislature and send the task to an independent, nonpartisan panel. Now, according to Democrats, the deal is dead. Chalk up one more victim of politics by ballot box, because the alternative is a redistricting measure on Schwarzenegger’s proposed special election ballot in November.

Redistricting desperately needs to be in more independent hands to get rid of a system that allows lawmakers to draw their own districts, cutting up communities into crazy-quilt patterns designed primarily to assure the election of a Democrat or a Republican. The current system is so comfy that not a single one of the 153 legislative and congressional posts on the ballot changed party hands in the 2004 election.

Nonpartisan redistricting would tend to make legislative seats more competitive, and the lawmakers themselves more moderate. Districts would be more compact, communities less split. Schwarzenegger wanted the change to go into effect next year, which would be a struggle for both political and technical reasons. The Legislature asked that it go into effect at the next normal redistricting, after the 2010 census, and Schwarzenegger seemed to accept the compromise.

Then, kaboom.

Redistricting got wrapped up with the governor’s demand for a constitutional amendment to cap state spending. Both or none, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) said he was told by Schwarzenegger aides. “They moved the goal line,” said Perata.

Schwarzenegger made redistricting one of his key reforms at the beginning of this year. Sponsors of a redistricting initiative earlier endorsed by the governor say they have enough signatures now to qualify the measure for a special election in November. It requires the change to be made next year, although state and local elections officials say there wouldn’t be enough time to draw the new districts before the June 2006 primary. It’s sure to end up in court.

A legislative compromise on redistricting, along with at least a delay in pressing the spending cap, would save voters the $70-million cost of a special election and spare them a tide of campaign sloganeering.

If Schwarzenegger really wants to negotiate, it’s not too late. Now that his reform measures appear to have qualified for the ballot, he has a stronger negotiating hand, just as he did last year in forging a compromise with Democrats on workers’ compensation reform.