RESPONSE TO CRITICISM OF THE REDISTRICTING PROCESS

LWV California was very involved with the whole redistricting process in California--from the beginning. We were part of the coalition that put the initiative on the ballot, and we continue to be involved now as observers and commenters on the process. No one expected the process to be free from politics. Redistricting is inherently political. What we hoped was to make it a process that allowed equal input from all interested parties--especially the public.

Of course the parties--both of them--tried to influence the process! Both the Democrats and Republicans organized people to testify before the Commission. So did all kinds of other groups. What some people fail to show is ANY evidence that the Democratic organized testimony actually influenced the Commission in any way. For every example of a D-leaning district, we can show one in which either a Democrat incumbent lost a lot of ground, or two Democratic incumbents were put into the same district. The process was extremely fair--to all parties.

---- Helen Hutchison, LWV Oakland and LWVUS Director helen@helenhutch.com