Could the Public Employee Unions commandeer the Citizens Redistricting Commission?

Coming December 15th, the California State Auditor’s Office will begin receiving applications for the new “Rock Star Commission”, a group of normal citizens who will be selected to re-draw the lines of California’s State Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization Districts starting with the elections in 2012.

In a previous HOGUE NEWS exclusive piece, I revealed the importance of this commission and the power they will be handed in determining California’s future. Don’t get me wrong here, I am excited that California will remove the politicians from the census process of drawing district lines for elections in 2012, but I am not so sure that we have completely removed power-politics from the equation.

This Citizens Redistricting Commission is the first of its kind; no other state in the union has such a basic, grassroots approach. But the question I have today; is there a fly in the ointment?

This Citizens Redistricting Commission is no small task, it will become a temporary full time job for those who are selected to represent the drawing of California’s new district lines. The state’s auditor’s office will oversee the process once the 14 members are determined in January of 2011.

In the end, this “Rock Star Panel” must be selected, set in place, and have their work completed by September 15, 2001, in preparation for the 2012 elections.

Of the thousands of citizens who initially apply for the duty, the eventual line drawing lot will be winnowed down to 120 nominees by the auditor’s office itself. This process will mainly involve disqualifications according to the established rules stated in Proposition 11; political activity, amount of contributions, lack of voter registration, gender, race and geographical diversity comprehension and the removal of any applicant who has certain connectivity to lobbyists, politicians and political campaigns.

The fly in the ointment could be California’s Public Employee Union members. 

Much of the auditor’s ‘reason for disqualification’ removes individuals who have a personal agenda, benefit or financial interest to the political process itself. (You can read the application process in detail at the HOGUE NEWS link above, or by visiting the Citizens Redistricting Commission site.)

If you’ve been appointed to’ elected to, or a candidate for a California office, you’re out. If you’ve contributed $2,000 or more to any congressional, state, or local candidate, you’re out. If you’ve served as an elected or appointed member of a political party central committee, you’re out.

But if you’re a public employee union member of the CTA, or SEIU, you’re qualified to apply and sit on the commission. How can that be; shouldn’t someone who pays union dues to a huge political influence like the public employee unions be considered a politically involved citizen in the process of campaigns and legislation that comes from votes in the Capitol? These employees and union members, administration officials and bosses stand to directly benefit if the district lines produce more sympathetic politicos who eventually vote for contracts, pension plans and government workforce numbers.

Worse yet, will we see ACORN organize an effort to seat people inside of the Citizens Redistricting Commission? If you worked on a campaign, or gave $2,000 in one-year you are disqualified; what about volunteering for ACORN? Should anyone connected with ACORN be permitted to meet and make the commissions qualifications?

How can the private sector be disqualified for its political free speech ($2,000 donations), and yet the government unions, fueled by private sector tax dollars, place as many as they desire on the commission to oversee the drawing of the new election districts in California? Someone overlooked the obvious here; no government workers of any type, or relationship should not be qualified for this work on this vital commission.  

I mentioned earlier that the service does come with an appealing stipend; commission will compensation will be $300 a day, with expenses, for the duration of the process – and there is a mandate that your employer must allow you to leave your job to serve, and return to regular standing after the project is completed.

Again, this sounds like a great job for a public employee union member, or where the private sector employee might feel a bit of trepidation over leaving his, or her, work during a recession. For the public employee unions, serving on this commission is a prized achievement; we might see the unions mobilize candidates, help the application process and offer a bit of “encouragement” to those who rest within the auditor’s office and the Capitol’s leadership. Face it, placing two, or three, public employee union workers on the commission is a valuable advantage for the unions and their future political goals.

Here is a video interview with State Auditor Elaine Howle describing the disqualification process for me in studio on Monday, November 23:

After the 120 have been determined by the auditor’s office, it will be cut in half with interviews, essays and a further evaluation process; the final figure will be a total of 60 (20 GOP, 20 Democrats and 20 others) names sent to the legislators for their oversight and possible reductions. The political party leaders for both the Democrats and Republicans, (Senate Pro Tem, GOP Senate Leader, Speaker and GOP Assembly Leader), may strike as many 2 from each list – or none at all.

What eventually returns to the auditor’s office after the legislators have had their say is as many as 60, to as little as 36, names for consideration for the next filtering process.

The most intriguing aspect of this journey is that the entire event must be open to the public. We will know the individuals who have made the 60 nominees, and we will know who has been removed from the lot by the likes of Senator Darrell Steinberg, Speaker Karen Bass, Senator Dennis Hollingsworth and Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, considering that they survive their leadership positions during the next budget earthquake.

From this point the 60 to 36 names will be reduced to 8 individuals by the auditor’s office once again; 3 Democrats, 3 Republicans and 2 other categories. At this time the auditor hands the reigns over to the newly selected 8 members and asks them to select 6 additional names from the number that originally returned from the Capitol Leaders. So, the 8 members add 6 to their number and become the “14 Rock Stars” of California’s future.

Here is the rest of the confirmation process:

State Auditor Elaine Howle describing the numbers of the application process:

 The 14 members will then begin to draw the new district boundaries for California’s elections over the next ten years.

The commission is required to define the geographic lines for 40 Senate districts, 80 Assembly districts, and four State Board of Equalization districts, so that they constend reasonably equal populations.

Once the commission has agreed on the geographic boundaries of the districts, the districts will be displayed on three maps: one displaying the revised Senate, the revised Assembly and the revised BOE districts. The commission will then vote to approve these three maps, and we will have our new districts for 2012 until 2022.

The be approved, each map must receive the affirmation vote of at least three commission members who are Democrats, three who are Republicans and three who are neither. Once affirmed, the maps then are certified to the Secretary of State’s Office with a report explaining the basis on which the commission made its decisions.

As was stated previously, the pay for these commissioners is good. Each member of the commission will receive $300 per day with expenses. The eight months that they are working on the commission will be intense, as they travel the state and meet with different parts of the citizenry to make their observations.

State Auditor Elaine  Howle speaks to the compensation package for the 14 commissioners: