Associated Press: California redistricting commission defends new state maps

Associated Press: California redistricting commission defends new state maps

“While the process was at times messy, it was an exercise in democracy done in public,” California Common Cause executive director Jonathan Mehta Stein said in a statement. That met the goal that his organization and others had in 2008 when they persuaded voters to take the redistricting out of the hands of public officials who had a vested interest in the outcome. This year’s effort, despite criticism, “put the California public in the driver’s seat,” he said, though the groups promised to seek improvements for the 2031 commission.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Members of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission defended their months of sometimes chaotic work Monday as they handed off the completed maps that, barring successful court challenges, will govern congressional and legislative elections for the next 10 years. …

Though much of its work was streamed live and it took hours of public comments, some criticized the commission for lacking transparency. A prominent Republican attorney’s lawsuit alleging conflicts and closed-door meetings was recently denied by the California Supreme Court.

Commissioners scrambled to tweak draft maps during about 150 live public meetings, backtracked in some cases from complaints that draft maps would split cities or communities of interest, or jousted over one later withdrawn congressional district that one expert dubbed the “ribbon of shame.” …

Sometimes new draft maps weren’t posted online for days, complicating efforts to parse the changes.

“While the process was at times messy, it was an exercise in democracy done in public,” California Common Cause executive director Jonathan Mehta Stein said in a statement.

That met the goal that his organization and others had in 2008 when they persuaded voters to take the redistricting out of the hands of public officials who had a vested interest in the outcome.

This year’s effort, despite criticism, “put the California public in the driver’s seat,” he said, though the groups promised to seek improvements for the 2031 commission.