Massachusetts to End Gerrymandering? 
But it will only happen if organizers can collect 100,000 signatures in the next few weeks. They are about half way there. They actually need about 65,000 valid sigs, but old hands say they need 100 to get 65. Will they make it? I hope so.
If the Fair Districts Initiative gets on the ballot and passes, the independent commission will be seated following the 2010 census for the next round of congressional and state legislative redistricting.
Other endorsers of the initiative include fellow leading Democrats Michael Dukakis, Barney Frank, Steve Grossman, Scott Harshbarger, Robert Reich, Tom Reilly, and Warren Tolman -- as well as Republican Governor Mitt Romney and Lt. Governor Kerry Healey -- and many other political, academic and legislative leaders, as well as such newspapers as The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, and The Springfield Republican, as well as numerous Democratic town committees.
The campaign is being spearheaded by Common Cause, and, writes Leo Maley who is coordinating the participation of Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts, it is
endorsed by many leading good government, civil rights, and progressive political organizations including PDM, the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, Mass Voters for Fair Elections, Mass PIRG, and Clean Water Action, among others.... What will the initiative accomplish? It will end "gerrymandering," the political manipulation of electoral districts to dampen political competition and ensure easy reelection for those who control the process.What has gerrymandering meant for Massachusetts? Unfair political gain. Lack of electoral competition. Cronyism. Poor community representation. Disenfranchisement of minorities. Payback for disfavored rank-and-file legislators-- especially progressive legislators... Eleven other states draw their districts through independent commissions with significant success. The Fair Districts initiative petition takes the best practices from several states and adapts them to our unique political climate.
"Massachusetts," declares Common Cause on its web site,
"has long been a leading practitioner of drawing funny shaped districts for political gain which is known as "Gerrymandering." After all, it started here almost 200 years ago when Governor Elbridge Gerry pushed to create one district with such wiggly borders that it reminded people of a salamander. At the time, this was seen as such an egregious abuse of power that the people voted Gerry out of office the next year!But the original gerrymander.... was far from the last in Massachusetts or the rest of the country. The practice continues to this day. Some, like Gerry's, are only one town wide in many places and zigzag from north to south. Others cut towns slice communities into tiny pieces. Today, the ability of legislators to ensure their easy re-election gets more sophisticated with each census. Software has reached the stage where a powerful few can enter the attributes of their ideal districts and get the desired results- down to the last house- in a few seconds. These districts don't always look like salamanders, but they're just as gerrymandered."
In an effort to show just how twisted Massachusetts legislative districts can get, Common Cause has created the Gerrymander Hall of Fame. And though it is presented in a lighthearted way, it underscores just how twisted electoral districts can get. One can only imagine the underlying corruption.
Common Cause has comprehensive information on its web site, including downloadable copies of the petition.
In response to a comment on an earlier post on my blog, Common Cause executive director Pam Wilmot wrote:
"Political accountability is the whole point of redistricting reform. With gerrymandered districts, voters can't hold elected officials accountable for anything, let alone for redistricting, because the districts are tailor-made to ensure easy reelection. In Massachusetts only about 1/3 of our races have competition in the general or the primary causing an increasingly dysfunctional political process. Besides, whom do the voters in Chelmsford Mass, which went from a single district to a shattered four-piece fragment, hold accountable? They are no longer are a voting block, and the person responsible, [former] Speaker [Thomas] Finneran, lives in Boston. In fact, an independent commission would be more accountable because, unlike the present, there would be clear enforceable standards for their redistricting work and all aspects of the process would be open to the public. Sunshine, as they say, is the best disinfectant. Currently, the process is conducted behind closed doors from beginning to end, and all of the records are secret, protected by so called 'legislative privilege.'"
Tom Finneran, the tyrannical ex-speaker of the Massachusetts House, is currently under indictment on charges arising from the last legistlative redistricting. Here in Massachusetts, leaders of both major parties recognize that it is time for the state that invented the gerrymander to become a leader in election reform.
To find out how you can help in the home stretch:
Contact:
Western Mass: Leo Maley, leomaley3@hotmail.com
Boston Area: Steve Hoeschele, shoeschele@commoncaus
e.org
Southern Mass: Stephan Malner, smalner@commoncause.o
rg
Or, Fill out the form on the Common Cause web site.
Common Cause Massachusetts
59 Temple Place, Suite 600
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: 617.426.9600
Fax: 617.426.6855
E-mail: ccma@commoncause.org
You can, BTW, email this post to people you think will be interested -- by clicking the little envelope icon next to the title.
Do it now.
Three weeks to go.
KEYWORDS: Election Reform, Common Cause, Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts
Sign up for a Complimentary Member Account... Join the community! It's fast. And it'll allow you to take advantage of all this site's great features!
| < Fringe Righties v.2 | Is it about to be blown open? > |
