Nov 14, 2008 -- Californians Reject Gerrymandering While RNC Sues to do More: Statement of Meredith McGehee, ARR Project Director

The apparent passage of Proposition 11 reflects a deep frustration of Californians with the myriad problems stemming from the abuse of redistricting. Supporters and opponents of the California ballot initiative can at least agree on that much.

But the Republican National Committee (RNC) is ready to ignore that public sentiment as indicated by the lawsuit filed yesterday seeking to open the floodgates of "soft money" donations partially geared toward helping gerrymander more districts in the post-2010 redistricting cycle. RNC Chairman Robert M. "Mike" Duncan made no bones about the fact that one of the driving forces behind the lawsuit filed yesterday is to flood money into state races in order to better the party's hand for partisan gerrymanders in the wake of the coming census.

Of course, if the RNC is successful in opening us this loophole, the Democratic National Committee will not hesitate to respond in kind in order to fund its own drive to enact partisan gerrymanders. After all, it was the agreement between both Democrats and Republicans to protect incumbents in California that drove the initiative supporters to put Proposition 11 on the ballot.

Now that the Presidential election is over, both national parties will turn their attention to state legislative elections and gubernatorial elections in order to solidify their power over the redistricting process. In just about every state in the Union, state legislative and congressional seats are being carefully guarded by partisan political operatives from both parties who manipulate the system. Using the current rules, they are able to create districts that are nearly invulnerable to challenge. Such a lack of competition results in a lack of accountability to voters.

Voters in the United States should be choosing their elected officials, not the other way around.

Time is short for the redistricting process to be fixed in time to impact the redistricting that will follow the 2010 U.S. Census. Otherwise, we will be forced to wait another decade to make legislators at both the state and federal levels accountable to their constituents.

It is no accident that redistricting reform in California was passed by ballot initiative. Legislators have little motivation to make their own reelections more difficult by giving up "safe seats." But those safe seats have led to increasing partisan rancor in legislatures nationwide because too often the only serious challenges to incumbents come from the fringe of their own party.

In too many districts across the country, citizens' voices in government have been diminished because they have lost the ability to meaningfully hold their elected representatives accountable. In states where self-interested politicians get to gerrymander districts to solidify their power and marginalize the opposition, it is the voters who suffer most from this blight on our democracy.