Re “Redistricting effort misguided, costly” (Viewpoints, March 2): First, let’s put all of our cards on the table. I am a partisan Republican who has worked for GOP legislators engaged in the redistricting process in the Legislature. Steve Maviglio is a Democratic partisan whose recent op-ed completely ignores the partisan interest the Democrat majority has in dissolving the Citizens Redistricting Commission voters approved as part of Proposition 11 in November 2008.
So in the interest of full disclosure, Republicans have an interest in preserving the Citizens Commission. As the minority party, it is better to have neutral commissioners redraw districts than majority Democrats. The majority party is much more inclined to protect its majority than it is to work with the minority in the redistricting process. Self-preservation is human nature.
So what about Maviglio’s complaints? He notes that the pool of potential commissioners is mostly Caucasian. So what? Are Caucasians incapable of making rational decisions? No. This is a political argument advanced to try to engage minority groups in the cause to overturn Proposition 11.
He claims partisan groups encouraged people to apply to the commission. True. And it resulted in a nearly equal number of Republicans and Democrats applying. This exactly matches what the final commission numbers will be – five Democrats and five Republicans. Does it leave out those who decline to state a party when they register to vote? No. Nearly 4,500 independents and minor-party applicants seek a spot on the commission. Surely there are four qualified people in that pool.
He complains that former Assemblyman Larry Bowler, R-Elk Grove, and other partisans applied to the commission. Who cares? There are strong safeguards against partisan ringers getting onto the Citizens Commission. Democratic and Republican leaders of the Legislature will be able to strike as many as 24 people from the final pool of 60 potential commissioners.
And finally, Maviglio complains about the cost of the recruitment of nearly 31,000 applications to the commission. If there had been no promotion of this effort, I fear how few applications would have come in. While criticism of pencils and refrigerator magnets is legitimate, we have to admire an effort that drew 26,000 legitimate applicants to the most significant exercise of representative democracy ever contemplated in California.
It should be clear why Maviglio is engaged in this public relations effort to undermine Proposition 11. He is doing it for his own political purposes.