Gerrymandering

David Broder over at the Washington Post takes on gerrymandering.  Nothing particularly revelatory here, but the ink in a major publication certainly can’t hurt. 

I do like how the DLC report (which I need to sit down with) he mentions links gerrymandered uncompetitive districts not just the to creation of voter apathy but actual suppression.  That’s a talking point that I haven’t seen in too many places and that should get used more often.  It nicely suggests that some active malfeasance is being committed on the voter, rather than most points which talk about gerrymandering’s benefits to the legislator.   

Check out my vote for best-named website dealing with redistricting: Kill Gerrymandering in Pennsylvania.  Very apt, and a terrific resource for all things related to the current battle in the Keystone state. 

The signatures gathered by the California Voters FIRST initiative team have been verified and the measure will be on the ballot this November!  Congratulations to all who were involved.

Not that I was terribly worried, but it is nice to know that the subject of our film will still exist when we plan on shooting…

Larry Larsen, initial webmaster and web designer for the Crossed Lines project, passed away last Friday after a long, tough fight with various cancers.  Larry was integral to early stages of the project and provided substantial moral and creative support and we wouldn’t be where we are today without his input and assistance.  He will be missed:

Larry Lee Larsen, age 60 of Manchester-by-the-Sea, passed to heaven on Friday, June 13, 2008 at Massachusetts General Hospital.  He had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer nine months prior.  He will be forever loved by his wife of thirty-six years Jolene, his beloved daughter Kate, and siblings Leann Hall, John Larsen, Bobby Larsen, Jana Parr, Jody Davis, Tad Larsen, and Tom Larsen, all of Nebraska.  He was preceded in death by his parents Orrie Lee and Ida Lee Larsen, and his brother Jamie Larsen.

Larry was born in Grand Island, Nebraska on May 20, 1948.  He received a B.A. with Honors in English from Hastings College in Hastings, NE.  He held a Masters in English from the University of Rhode Island  in Kingston, RI, and a Masters of Library and Information Science with Honors from Simmons College in Boston, MA.   He took pride in his professional work, and often worked two or three jobs at a time. Since his days at Digital Equipment Corporation, he described himself as an “information engineer,” and enjoyed the collection, organization, and communication of information and data.  He put these skills to use as an English instructor at Hastings College, in a number of public, corporate, and academic libraries, and as an IT director and manager for several Boston area firms.  Until and through his illness, he was the Director of ­­Information Systems at Cross Country Automotive Services in Medford, MA.

Always taking an interest in the lives of young adults, Larry mentored many in art, music, and their careers.  For the last eight years, Larry was an avid painter, using watercolor and oil to create abstract patterns of bright colors and textures.  He described his interest in painting as an extension of some of his earlier hobbies, poetry and photography.  He also enjoyed woodworking, reading, listening to music, and collecting rocks and shells on the beach.  Larry loved to travel; his favorite trips included Italy, Spain, Australia, and Sweden, but his heart was truly captured by Hawaii. 

I was definitely one of those young adults he mentored…thanks, Larry.  The whole Gerrymandering team owes you one. 

Dear Chairmen:

I am writing to express my strong support for redistricting reform legislation such as the bills that are currently in your committees. Timely consideration of redistricting reform will make it possible to amend the Constitution in time to make necessary improvements before the redistricting that follows the 2010 Census.

The Commonwealth’s existing redistricting process undermines democracy by institutionalizing a powerful system of incumbent protection. For every vote to truly count, we must have competitive elections where voters have the opportunity to choose between viable candidates. I am convinced that the only way to ensure meaningful elections is to take politics out of the process of drawing legislative boundaries. Geographic compactness and population distribution, not the interests of any person or political party, should be the driving forces behind reapportionment. We should strive to create districts in which the population has a commonality of interests.

This issue is neither arcane nor academic; how we draw legislative boundaries impacts the daily lives of Pennsylvanians because competitive elections in rationally drawn districts are the only way that voters can make their voices heard on the issues that matter to them. Consider the case of the Poconos, where six State Senators share representation for Monroe County – with districts that stretch as far north as the New York border or as far south as Berks County.

I want to emphasize that my support for redistricting reform is not a criticism of any legislator or legislative body. As I told the Pennsylvania Press Club in March 2007 when I called for reapportionment to be conducted by a bipartisan citizen’s commission: “The people should be choosing their representatives, not the other way around.”

I hope that your consideration will allow Pennsylvania voters the opportunity to decide for themselves in time for the next reapportionment whether the current system is in their best interests.

Sincerely,
Edward G. Rendell, Governor

Not even in Iowa, a state which many consider to be the height of sensible redistricting pratices.  Check out these district maps - they look as tortured as anything you’d see in California, Texas, etc. 

Of course, these are county supervisor districts, not Congressional.  But it still proves that in smaller, “less complex” states a kind of surface uniformity evaporates as you drill down into smaller and smaller segments.  Kind of like physics at the quantum level as opposed to the movements of galaxies. 

A few months back when the blog crashed, I was pretty distraught at the idea of losing all of those hours of blogging and was immediately determined to “save” as much material as I could from the old blog.  The funny thing is, that when I went back this morning and started sifting through all the posts, the film they described seemed worlds away from the film we’re about to go make.  It’s a different team, a different cast of characters and a different political landscape from when Seth and I set out to make Crossed Lines in early 2006.  Even our intentions have shifted: where once we planned on using the 2003 Texas gerrymander to tell the story of our country’s hidden redistricting history, we’re now using that national redistricting story to probe the fabric of democratic organization itself.  This may seem like merely a subtle distinction, but the end result will be a film far more expansive and timeless than I imagined when this all began. 

So, I’ve decided to let the old blog remain just that: the old blog. 

Over the past few weeks I’ve been meeting and talking with great people working on redistricting reform from around the country, and  it dawned on me that all of those hours of writing and thinking and reading and regurgitating again are far from lost.  That I’m able to converse and debate fairly intelligently and in-depth with folks who have been working the redistricting beat their whole lives speaks directly to all the hours spent researching the issue.  As frustrating as this process has been at times, I recognize now that I wouldn’t have been ready to do this in the summer of 2006, spring of 2007 or winter of 2008.  Sure, we could have made another movie, but it wouldn’t have been this one - and this one is much bigger, much wilder. 

Forgive the somewhat maudlin, nostalgic bent - but after nearly three years of working, conceiving and dreaming about this movie, we’re inches away from pulling the trigger and going off to actually make it.  I’m excited and more than a little terrified.  Convincing folks that your vision is strong and their participation is worthwhile is one thing, actually going out and honoring your promises is another entirely. 

Knock on wood for us.  And check back next week, we’ll hopefully have some huge news to announce. 

There’s so much redistricting news out there that it’s often hard to keep up with the changing realities of different campaigns operating across the nation.  I haven’t had the chance to talk at all about the current fight in Pennsylvania, so here’s a brief (very reductive) summary:

-after the 2000 census, Republicans make the state the second most gerrymandered in the nation (not sure exactly what measurements are used to determine the rankings).

-after the 2006 mid-term elections, Democrats eke out victories in the legislature giving them small majorities; some label the Democratic victory the result of a dummymander (where one party gerrymanders riskily, trying to work against demographic trends and maintain power only to lose their majority); calls to reform redistricting increase.

-5/6/08 Democratic Assemblyman Steve Samuelson introduces HB2024 which is similar to the California Voters FIRST initiative and is supported by many of the same groups.

-5/30/08 Democratic Assemblywoman, and chair of the House State Government Committee Babette Josephs shelves the bill, raising questions about the bill’s assignment of the redistricting process to the non-partisan Legislative Reference Bureau. 

The Pocono Record has a fiery editorial from Josephs explaining her decision and attacking HB2024.   Incidentally, the Pocono Record has been doing some great coverage on this story, including a weeklong series of editorials featuring district case studies that’s well worth checking out.  Kudos to them for devoting so much ink to the issue.

Who’s right?  As with all redistricting questions, the waters are murky at best.  As we solidify our major characters in California over the next few weeks, we’re also going to be reaching out to the players in Pennsylvania to schedule interviews during the summer.