Ballot Box. MWC file photo.
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – California governor Gavin Newsom says ‘two can play at this game.’ He says if Texas redraws its Congressional maps, California will redistrict too.
His goal would be for California to wipe out the 5 seats that Republicans might gain in Texas.
There is something wrong and disingenuous about that.
In Texas, political maps are drawn by the legislature. It’s a 100-percent political process. If one party controls both houses of the legislature and the governorship, redistricting is possible at any time.
But California is supposed to be more enlightened than that. In Cali, maps are drawn by a commission, made up mostly of retired judges. This non-political group is supposed to draw maps that are fair to everyone. So… why does Governor Newsom say if Texas gerrymanders – that California will too. A map-drawing commission was supposed to eliminate gerrymandering and usher in an era of political fairness.
Well. What we’ve learned is that the map drawing commission is dominated by Democrats; just like very other branch of government in California. So the map-drawers are ready to take their marching orders from the governor. If he says five more seats for donkeys are needed, five more seats will be found.
New York also uses a map-drawing commission. No surprise here, it’s packed with democrats.
Deep blue states like New York, Illinois and Maryland are highly gerrymandered, no different than Texas. Consider Donald Trump got a combined 2.2-million votes from the New England states. Together they have only one Republican member of congress.
Tune out the gerrymandering silliness. Someone has to draw the voting lines. They will always be political in nature. And they will act accordingly.
Chris Conley
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