More than 200 years ago, at the South Carolina convention that debated ratification of the U.S. Constitution, Charles Pinckney described the new country as “a republic, where the people at large, either collectively or by representation, form the legislature.” More…
Gerrymandering
California Entrepreneur Bill Mundell—founder and CEO of Vidyah, a leading private educational organization–is spearheading a citizens’ effort to attack one of the major corrupters of American politics today: gerrymandering. Thanks to high tech, politicians can now establish district lines that effectively make elections for state legislatures and for the House of Representatives uncompetitive.
In California last November not one incumbent was defeated in elections for the state legislature or Congress. Not one of the 153 seats up for grabs–53 congressional seats and 100 in the state legislature–changed party hands. As has often been observed, the U.S. is becoming a democracy in which the politicians choose the voters rather than the other way around. Aside from a handful of notable exceptions such as Iowa, states more or less follow California’s Soviet-style approach to drawing voting district lines.
Mundell chairs Californians for Fair Redistricting, which is pushing for passage this November of Proposition 77, the Voter Empowerment Act. The initiative would establish a nonpartisan panel of judges to draw competitive and compact district lines. No longer would boundaries resemble a Jackson Pollock painting. Competition would be restored–and with it infinitely greater accountability.
You’d think that with more and more pols ensconced in safe districts, they’d act more responsibly. Quite the opposite–special interests have gained more influence, and spending has reached irresponsible proportions. Gerrymandering is one reason California politics has become so dysfunctional. Needed reforms are dead-on-arrival in the state legislature.
It’s no wonder that Proposition 77 is despised by most Golden State politicos. California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer tried throwing Proposition 77 off the ballot on minor technicalities. Fortunately the state Supreme Court blocked Lockyer’s insidiously cynical maneuver, and Proposition 77 is back on the ballot.
If successful, this initiative will set an inspiring precedent for similar redistricting reform efforts in the rest of the country. And Mundell will rightly become a political force to be reckoned with. Steve Forbes
In 1776, John Adams wrote that “equal interests among the people, should have equal interests in the representative body.” As fundamental a value as this is, it has proved quite difficult to preserve throughout our history. More…
Several months of quiet whispers have quickly turned into a resounding buzz — and a nervous buzz, no less — about a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court that questions whether it’s constitutional for independent state commissions to have the sole power to draw political district maps – KQED News.
Former Govs. George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with the California Chamber of Commerce, GOP mega-donor Charles T. Munger Jr. and entrepreneur Bill Mundell, submitted a brief late Friday stating their support for an independent commission that crafts a state’s districts, rather than restricting the task to state legislatures. More…
Mickey Kaus – Newsweek – Gerrymandering foe Bill Mundell (he made a movie on the subject) argues that there’s a surprise benefit in taking away from politicians the power to carve district lines—even if a less politicized process doesn’t replace “safe” seats with more competitive districts: Even if redistricting reform doesn’t produce a single newly competitive district, taking the power to draw lines away from the party caucuses will still have a salutary effect on our representative democracy. When the line-drawing process is in the hands of the party leaders, legislators feel compelled to toe the party line to preserve their futures. If it does nothing else, redistricting reform will empower intra-party dissenters in a way that enhances the free flow of ideas that should be a normal part of the legislative process. More…
A new documentary looks at the firestorm issue of redistricting as midterm elections near. CNN interviews Bill Mundell, Jeff Reichert and Franklin D. Gilliam Jr on Gerrymandering. More…
With the census nearly complete, states next year will redraw congressional and legislative lines. Thanks to high tech, gerrymandering–creating districts in such a way as to give particular parties or incumbents a decisive advantage–has reached a level of near perfection, with district boundaries resembling a Jackson Pollock painting on crack. Competition is critical to a functioning democracy, just as it is to free markets. As more than one wag has put it, politicians in this country pick their voters rather than the other way round. More…
Bill Mundell’s campaign to support proposition 20 and against proposition 27.
The esoteric subject of who draws California’s political districts has morphed into a high-drama affair this fall, a multimillion-dollar struggle with political intrigue stretching from Sacramento to Washington and even, some suggest, to Israel. It’s a battle about power, Nancy Pelosi and control of Congress, pitting a Los Angeles billionaire against the son of Warren Buffett’s business partner. There’s racial strife and even a full-length documentary in the mix. More…
Why bother stuffing ballots when you can just draw districts to ensure your re-election? The new documentary Gerrymandering exposes what executive producer Bill Mundell calls “the most effective form of manipulating elections short of outright fraud.” Mundell sat down with Reason.tv’s Tim Cavanaugh to talk about the new documentary, the consequences of political redistricting, and what can be done to un-rig elections. More…
What “Sicko” did for Healthcare…What “Inconvenient Truth” did for global warming….a new documentary hopes to do for “Gerrymandering”…the art of having the politicians pick the voters. This is a subject that again will be on the November ballot. More…
Right now, across the country, our two major political parties are gearing up for a once-a-decade war whose winner will control Congress for the next ten years, and possibly more. There will be battles in every state, and each will be kept carefully hidden from the prying eyes of average voters who only become more disenchanted with their government with each meaningless election. Democrats and Republicans collude to keep these skirmishes private so that they can maintain total control over the ultimate political weapon: the ability to directly determine the outcome of elections. Why bother stuffing ballots when they can just draw districts? More…
