The California Republican Party has always supported the idea of having an independent commission draw Congressional, Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization legislative lines. However, the process as it stands now, has been contaminated with partisanship and secrecy, and is far from the independent and fair process Californians expected when they approved Propositions 11 and 20. Help us gather signatures to restore transparency to California's Redistricting process and to put the issue before voters in 2012!
Petitions must be in the mail on October 12th to make the October 15th submission deadline. Signatures are being gathered now to overturn the state Senate districts that were realigned by the Citizen Redistricting Commission last August. Petitions are available at the GOP headquarters (311 5th Street, Eureka) or go online to ◼ http://www.cagop.org/fairlines/ to have petitions sent to you.
This referendum campaign means a lot of signatures in a small amount of time. Your signature and help to gather other signatures are needed over the next two weeks.
If enough registered voters sign the petition by the deadline the referendum will do two things. It will place the revised Senate boundaries on a ballot and prevent them from taking effect unless approved by the voters at the next statewide election. The second thing this referendum will do is require court-appointed officials to set interim boundaries for use in the next statewide election.
Background
Districts are revised every ten years following the Federal Census. Voters approved Prop.11 and Prop. 20 to put the state Legislature and Congressional redistricting process in the hands of a citizen commission instead of the state Legislature. The citizen commission has been criticized that some didn’t disclose their political activist backgrounds and the resulting districts may not be as impartial as voters intended.
Who is proposing the Referendum?
While the Assembly, Senate and Congressional boundaries have been criticized the California Republican Party is targeting the Senate districts for the challenge. The petition that is being circulated is actually a packet. Attorney General, Kamala Harris, has required a copy of the formal resolution certifying the districts, the entire statewide map, and maps of all 40 Senate districts.... thus running as much as eight pages.
The state party is funding a referendum with a short timeframe. The cost of circulating a ballot measure, be it a referendum or an initiative, is borne by the proponents not the taxpayers. These extra pages are likely a huge cost. So far, the committee has reported only about $117,000 in contributions -- mostly from five sitting GOP state Senators most affected by the redistricting. (These efforts aren’t cheap, it is estimated that online giant Amazon will spend $5.25 million to overturn the state’s new online sales tax.)
If you would like to donate to the challenge, send a check to the CRP at 1215 K Street, Suite 1220, Sacramento, CA 95814. Make sure you note your desire to help fund the referendum.
◼ California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro statement in response to the Citizens Redistricting Commission's final approval of the redrawn Senate maps
◼ STOP ONE PARTY RULE IN CALIFORNIA! - Contra Costa GOP
