Republican SecState opposes Schwarzenegger on redistricting


California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson (a Republican, nominated by Schwarzenegger to replace the disgraced Kevin Shelley) has announced that he does not support the redistricting ballot initiative that the Governor is placing before voters in the fall special election.

In concert with what the measure's critics have been saying about the flawed and pointless measure for months, McPherson says he doesn't think there's enough time between fall of 2005 and the 2006 primaries to redraw district lines in a fair manner.

GOP official disagrees with Schwarzenegger
Secretary of state sees too little time to do redistricting
(San Francisco Chronicle) Secretary of State Bruce McPherson distanced himself Tuesday from the political agenda of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who nominated him for the office just three months ago, saying the governor's proposal to redraw the state's political map next year would be impossible to carry out under the short time frame.

"There is no way we'd be able to do it by 2006," McPherson told the Sacramento Press Club. "Maybe 2008, but that's a question mark."


2008 is even a bit of a red herring, since the ballot measure that's currently in play calls for new district lines to be used in 2006, not 2008. But it's nice to know that the initiative misses the mark by a full four years — the usual schedule for redistricting is for it to occur next in 2010, the new census data comes out.

Almost no one opposes a nonpartisan reform to the process that kicks in the next time we have fresh population numbers. What's in play here is a lot of overheated rhetoric, and a Governor's desire to have what he wants now and seem like a reformer whether it's good for California or not. I'm guessing that the erosion of Republican support (as evidenced by McPherson's comments) will relegate Arnold's current redistricting plan to the dustbin of hysteria.

Posted: Thu - May 19, 2005 at 08:38 AM   | Category:     |   |   | |


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