An October 29th article in the San Mateo County Times quoted Rose Institute Fellow Douglas Johnson and Rose Institute Board member Tony Quinn. The article was titled “Peninsula politicians give to Proposition 27 campaign” and discussed the campaign to prevent an independent commission from drawing Congressional boundaries during redistricting. It lists the various elected officials who have donated to the campaign, particularly focusing on Bay Area politicians. The proposition ended up failing by a 40-60 margin.
According to the article, Quinn, also the editor of the California Target Book, noted that “gerrymandering has pulled and twisted California’s congressional districts into grotesque jigsaw puzzle pieces whose shapes enable incumbents to survive. Since 2001, when the districts were last redrawn, only one seat has changed parties.”
The article also references Rose Institute findings on population growth distribution in California. It reads, “population growth in the [bay area] region has been slow compared with what’s taking place in the Central Valley and Inland Empire…According to estimates by the Rose Institute, the 8th, 12th and 14th Congressional Districts — occupied by Pelosi, Speier and Eshoo, respectively — are the smallest, third-smallest and fourth-smallest districts by population in all of California.”
Johnson is quoted as saying that the Bay Area Representatives are “nervous about what the numbers will show for their own districts and fairly desperate to keep control in their hands…They are the ones that are going to see the most change, so they want to control those changes.”
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