[EL] AZ commissions upheld 5-4
Larry Levine
larrylevine at earthlink.net
Mon Jun 29 21:40:33 PDT 2015
OK. I will grant your point. Most of this list falls below what I would call
mid-level. A couple are fairly high level. The majority party, most of its
state and federal elected officials and legislative leadership opposed the
measure as did some of the Rep members of congress. However, it’s clear
there was not a solid front from the majority party, which was your point.
Where I will disagree is regarding the financing of the campaign against the
CA measure. It came virtually completely from the majority party and its
affiliated groups and individuals. And my original point still holds – the
impetus for commissions almost always comes from the minority party. Them
with the most votes usually think things are just fine.
Larry
From: Douglas Johnson [mailto:djohnson at ndcresearch.com]
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 9:22 PM
To: larrylevine at earthlink.net; 'Fredric Woocher'; 'Rick Hasen';
'law-election at UCI.edu'
Subject: RE: [EL] AZ commissions upheld 5-4
I may have demoted a former Governor and a future White House Chief of Staff
and I should have said “at least mid-level”:
Official endorsers of Proposition 11 included:
* Leon Panetta. He was co-chair of California Forward when that
organization took the lead on Prop 11.
* Then-Sen., now-Member of Congress, Alan Lowenthal.
* Former State Controller Steve Westly
* Former Governor Gray Davis
* Former Assembly Speaker (and now State Senator) Robert Hertzberg
* Assemblymember Lois Wolk
* An array of city and county elected officials including the
then-Mayor of Berkeley, Tom Bates and the entire Pasadena City Council
* ACLU of Southern California
* NAACP (I realize there are various forms of NAACP in California
and only one supported Prop 11, but the differences did not matter to the
voters’ perceptions).
* California Conference of Carpenters
* California Democratic Council
* And, yes, Common Cause (just because you disagree does not mean
the voters do not consider them a liberal group more associated with the
Dem’s than the Rep’s – just as the Chamber of Commerce is more closely
associated with the Rep’s than the Dem’s).
* The League of Women Voters
* An array of ethnically affiliated groups – all of which had
opposed previous efforts at redistricting reform.
* Saving the best for last, at least for insiders like Larry and me:
Haim Saban donated $100,000 to the Yes on 11 campaign!
- Doug
Douglas Johnson, Fellow
Rose Institute of State and Local Government
at Claremont McKenna College
<mailto:douglas.johnson at cmc.edu> douglas.johnson at cmc.edu
310-200-2058
From: Larry Levine [mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 8:57 PM
To: djohnson at NDCresearch.com <mailto:djohnson at NDCresearch.com> ; 'Fredric
Woocher'; 'Rick Hasen'; 'law-election at UCI.edu'
Subject: RE: [EL] AZ commissions upheld 5-4
Who were the mid-level Democrats who supported the CA measure? I don’t
recall any such people, unless you are stretching a convenient definition of
mid-level. And what groups traditionally views as close the majority party
do you reference? If you mean Common Cause, you are not correct. The only
ones who identify them as close to the Dems are Reps. While individual Dems
may support some of the Common Cause “reforms”, the party and the leadership
generally oppose those measures.
Larry
From: Douglas Johnson [mailto:djohnson at ndcresearch.com]
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 8:48 PM
To: larrylevine at earthlink.net <mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net> ; 'Fredric
Woocher'; 'Rick Hasen'; 'law-election at UCI.edu'
Subject: RE: [EL] AZ commissions upheld 5-4
While you are correct that it’s the minority party that pushes hard for
independent redistricting commissions, it’s been repeatedly true that a
minority party push on its own is insufficient (for examples, see both the
Ohio measures mentioned and the 5 failed California initiatives from 1980 to
2005).
In both California and Arizona significant support from mid-level leaders of
the majority party (and groups traditionally viewed as close to the majority
party) was key to passage of the initiative.
I can personally attest to this being the key for CA and AZ, including how
CA’s Prop 77 in 2005, even though it failed, was the key to the eventual
success of Prop 11 in 2008.
And Nicholas Stephanopoulos wrote up a broader survey of redistricting
initiatives: “Reforming Redistricting: Why Popular Initiatives to Establish
Redistricting Commissions Succeed or Fail” [Journal of Law & Politics, Vol.
XXIII:331, 2007].
- Doug
Douglas Johnson, Fellow
Rose Institute of State and Local Government
at Claremont McKenna College
douglas.johnson at cmc.edu <mailto:douglas.johnson at cmc.edu>
310-200-2058
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Larry
Levine
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 6:46 PM
To: 'Fredric Woocher'; 'Rick Hasen'; 'law-election at UCI.edu'
Subject: Re: [EL] AZ commissions upheld 5-4
So, the CA maps are not valid because they never were ratified by the
voters? Talk about a couple of words in the health care legislation. These
words are from the court. Next: CA legislature (Dems) and AZ legislature
(Rep) decide the current maps are not valid and go ahead and do a new
redistricting?
Fact the fact: it’s only the minority party that wants independent
redistricting commissions. At the same time the Dems were working to defeat
the measure on the CA ballot, Reps in Ohio were trying to put the measure on
the ballot in that state.
Larry
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Fredric
Woocher
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 6:36 PM
To: Rick Hasen; law-election at UCI.edu <mailto:law-election at UCI.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] AZ commissions upheld 5-4
I am comforted to know that the analysis was correct, but I apologize for
not having seen that you had already pointed out the error. That’s what I
get for waiting to read your blog until its entries are posted on the
list-serve later in the evening or the next morning!
Fredric D. Woocher
Strumwasser & Woocher LLP
10940 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 2000
Los Angeles, CA 90024
fwoocher at strumwooch.com <mailto:fwoocher at strumwooch.com>
(310) 576-1233
From: Rick Hasen [mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu]
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 6:33 PM
To: Fredric Woocher; law-election at UCI.edu <mailto:law-election at UCI.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] AZ commissions upheld 5-4
I agree and posted this earlier this afternoon at ELB:
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=73882&action=edit>
Edit
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73880> Small Error in Justice Ginsburg’s AZ
Redistricting Decision
Posted on <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=73880> June 29, 2015 2:33 pm by
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3> Rick Hasen
A reader via email notes to me that Justice Ginsburg’s decision in the AZ
redistricting case contains a minor error of fact on page 8 of
<http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/az.pdf> the slip opinion. The
opinion states:
The California Redistricting Commission, established by popular initiative,
develops redistricting plans which become effective if approved by public
referendum.7
7. See Cal. Const., Art. XXI, §2; Cal. Govt. Code Ann. §§8251–8253.6 (West
Supp. 2015).
In fact, there is no referendum requirement in
<http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.const/.article_21> Art. XXI of the state
Constitution. Instead, the go into effect after being approved, but they are
subject to potential referendum under the usual rules for referenda of
legislative matters. See Cal. Consts. Art. XXI section 2(i):
(i) Each certified final map shall be subject to referendum in the same
manner that a statute is subject to referendum pursuant to Section 9 of
Article II. The date of certification of a final map to the Secretary of
State shall be deemed the enactment date forpurposes of Section 9 of Article
II.
The last time readers <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=67193> pointed out an
error in a Justice Ginsburg opinion, I noted it on the blog and the Justice
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=67275> quickly
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=67566> corrected it.
On 6/29/15 6:29 PM, Fredric Woocher wrote:
In her opinion for the Court, Justice Ginsburg observes that a number of
other states, including California, have also established Citizen
Redistricting Commissions, and she describes California's system as follows:
"The California Redistricting Commission, established by popular initiative,
develops redistricting plans which become effective if approved by public
referendum.7"
That is not correct, however, is it? In California, redistricting plans
adopted by the Commission are subject to referendum in the same way that any
statute passed by the Legislature would be subject to referendum (i.e., by
submitting a sufficient number of signatures in support of a referendum
petition), but the Commission's plans are not required to be approved by a
public referendum in order to become effective. Perhaps I'm being picky,
but the opinion's wording suggests to me that the Commission's plans become
effective only if they are approved by a public vote, when I do not believe
that to be the case.
Fredric D. Woocher
Strumwasser & Woocher LLP
10940 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 2000
Los Angeles, CA 90024
fwoocher at strumwooch.com <mailto:fwoocher at strumwooch.com>
(310) 576-1233
-----Original Message-----
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick
Hasen
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 7:30 AM
To: law-election at UCI.edu <mailto:law-election at UCI.edu>
Subject: [EL] AZ commissions upheld 5-4
http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/az.pdf
Analysis to come
--
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu <mailto:rhasen at law.uci.edu>
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org
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Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
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http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org
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