NEWS

Tue, Feb 09

California redistricting effort is out of the backroom but not free of politics

For the first time, voting districts for California's Legislature will not be drawn behind closed doors in the backrooms of the state Capitol. Instead, a first-in-the-nation citizen commission will do the job, and thousands of everyday Californians are jostling to serve on the panel.

But hopes of taking politics out of the process are fading.

Ethnic groups charge that the pool of applicants is too white and too male to reflect the state's diversity. Others are raising questions about $1.3 million in taxpayer money being spent on a public relations contract to woo minority applicants. And an effort is afoot to repeal the commission, which voters created by passing a 2008 ballot initiative.

The once-a-decade remapping, to be done next year after the national census, will affect the makeup of the Legislature until the following population count in 2020. Lawmakers previously drew the districts -- often contorting boundaries to rope in the voters of their choice -- and will continue to determine the lines for congressional seats. Read more.
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