From the Sacramento Bee:

Redistricting plan unveiled
Núñez proposal would let Little Hoover Commission redraw political lines.
By Jim Sanders - Bee Capitol Bureau

Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, April 19, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez kept a political promise Wednesday but risked offending House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other key officials by proposing to strip the Legislature's authority to draw political districts.

Núñez's measure calls for California's Little Hoover Commission, a watchdog public agency whose members are political appointees, to draw legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization district boundaries.

"I think it's fair, I think it's honest, I think it's straightforward," Núñez said of the plan, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1.
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California's once-a-decade boundary drawing process, known as redistricting, strikes at the heart of democracy by affecting the balance of power in contested districts.

Democratic and Republican legislative leaders struck a deal in 2001 to draw lines that protected incumbents of both parties. Only one congressional seat -- and none of the Legislature's 120 seats -- has changed party hands in the past two elections.

"What we're looking for here is balance, what we're looking for here is fairness," Núñez said of his new proposal.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he looks forward to negotiations on ACA 1 and other redistricting proposals. Proponents hope to qualify a measure for the February ballot.

"The governor believes this is a year for important political reform, and the push for a term limits change should be coupled with independent redistricting," spokesman Adam Mendelsohn said in a prepared statement.

Núñez is likely to be whipsawed by opposition, from both parties, for varying reasons: Key Democrats are wary of abandoning power generally, and targeting congressional boundaries specifically, while Republicans claim the Little Hoover Commission would not be independent enough.

Pelosi, who helped raise funds to defeat a redistricting measure on the November 2005 ballot, said she had not read ACA 1.

"However, Speaker Pelosi has made it clear she supports a national standard," spokesman Drew Hammill said in a written statement.

Republicans, who prefer creation of an independent citizens commission, blasted ACA 1 as business-as-usual politics.

"Why are Democrats fighting so hard to prevent hard-working citizens from drawing district lines?" Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines of Clovis said in a written statement.

Núñez bristled at Republicans' reaction, comparing their desires to gerrymandering in Texas by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

"Republicans don't want redistricting reform, they want a Tom DeLay remapping of the state for political gain," said Steve Maviglio, Núñez's spokesman.

Under ACA 1, political boundaries would be redrawn every 10 years, beginning in 2011.

The Little Hoover Commission consists of 13 members, four of whom are incumbent legislators, who would be disqualified from sitting on the redistricting panel.

Political maps would be drawn by the commission's nine public members, five of whom are appointed by the governor, and two apiece by Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland.

ACA 1 calls for the nine-member redistricting panel to reflect the state's racial, gender, ethnic and geographic diversity.

Stuart Drown, executive director of the Little Hoover Commission, declined to comment on ACA 1 and said he was not aware of it until Wednesday.

The commission, created in 1962, is an independent state oversight agency.

Dan Schnur, spokesman for Voices of Reform, a bipartisan coalition pushing for a new redistricting process, applauded Núñez for releasing a specific plan and for including congressional boundaries, but said the group has concerns about whether the Little Hoover Commission is the appropriate agency to redistrict.

Perata said he personally has concerns about including congressional lines in any redistricting proposal, but noted that the Senate approved a measure last year that would have done so. He declined to comment on ACA 1.

Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, will release a rival measure Monday, which calls for creation of a citizens' commission to draw political boundaries -- including those of congressional districts.