California Redistricting Commission - Are Parts Of The State Underrepresented?

How well distributed, geographically, are the California Redistricting Commission Members? It's an issue that has caused some concern.

According to the Commission's January 28, 2011 meeting transcripts, The Commission had indicated a strong, though not unanimous, interest in candidate Lillian Judd to replace former Commissioner Elaine Kuo, a Democrat from Mountainside, who resigned effective January 14, 2011. However, in a third round of voting, the Commission passed over Judd and selected Professor Angelo Ancheta of Santa Clara as new Commissioner. (Txpt 47:18-21)

Why Ancheta? Commissioners voting for him mentioned his ties to the more rural parts of the state (he was on the Board of Directors of the California Rural Legal Assistants); his previous experience with redistricting; and his familiarity with the Voting Rights Act. Ancheta is also a Democrat. Chairman Dai also opined that Ancheta "would be a fun member of this group." That's not trivial; Commission members have to get along as people as well as Commissioners. All in all, it sounds as if Ancheta will be a valuable addition to the Commission.

The emphasis on Ancheta's rural ties by the Commissioners points to one potential weakness of the Commission; it's heavy focus on the Bay and LA areas. Interestingly, a commenter to a Sacramento Bee article reporting the selection of Ancheta expressed dissatisfaction that the Commission contains no one from Northern California:

The one thing they all have in common is that they all live in either the central or southern part of the state. None of them live north of Sacramento. Which means that one third of the state is left without representation on the commission. Over 365 miles of the land mass of California is not represented at all. Cities like Redding, Eureka, Ukiah, Crescent City, Redbluff, Fort Bragg have no one on the commission who will represent their interests in an honest redistricting in those cities and counties. Was the rural northern part of the state deliberately left out of the process?

So where are the Commissioners from? The map below (showing county boundaries) gives you an idea:

1. Vincent Barraba (R-Santa Cruz)
2. Cynthia Dai (D-San Francisco)
3. Jodie Filkins Webber (R-Norco)
4. Stanley Forbes (DTS-Esparto)
5. Connie Galambos Malloy (DTS-Oakland)
6. Jeanne Raya (D-San Gabriel)
7. Peter Yao (R-Claremont)
8. Gabino Aguirre (D-Santa Paula)
9. Miria Blanco (D-Los Angeles)
10. Libert "Gill" R. Ontal (R- San Diego)
11. Michael Ward (R-Anaheim)
12. Michelle R. DiGuilio (DTS-Stockton)
13. M. Andre Parvenu (DTS-Culver City)
14. Andre Ancheta (D-Santa Clara)

Two things really stand out on this map. First, the vast rural and mountain regions of the state are really underrepresented. There is no one to effectively represent Northern California, the communities around the Sierras, or the desert southeast (although one could make a stab at arguing that Webber and DiGuilio are enough).

Northern California, the Sierras, and the desert southeast are, however, far from where the real redistricting "discussions' will occur, in the Bay area, LA basin and San Diego areas, as seen by the California Congressional District map:

For example, with only three of 53 Congressional Districts, redistricting Northern California will not be unduly problematic. Similarly, only four of 80 California Assembly Districts lie north of Sacramento:

A similar argument can be made for the desert southeast. However, the Central Valley has enough districts that someone from, say, Fresno should have been selected.

The second aspect that is concerning is that each of the Commissioners that will have direct say as to how the San Diego area is redistricted (Ontal, Ward and Webber) are all Republicans. Given my previous comments regarding the possibility of mischief in redistricting Bob Filner's Congressional District 51, in my humble opinion, these three bear special scrutiny going forward.