Serving Bread

Proposition 11 institutes a somewhat complicated system of citizen commissioners to draw district lines. I agree with the proponents of this initiative that we desperately need a better system to draw district boundaries. Putting the authority of drawing boundaries in the hands of elected representatives creates conflict of interest.

This initiative is yet another one that amends the constitution. And perhaps, this proposition is the only one on the ballot that should be presented to voters as a constitutional amendment, since it’s intent is to reform how our government works (which is the purpose of a constitution).

But I am voting no on this proposition for several reasons, including that I find the system to be complicated and inefficient. The goal of this proposition is to create a 14 person commission to draw district lines. For a disctrict boundary to be enacted, “the commission would need at least nine yes votes, including at least three yes votes each from members registered with the two largest political parties and three yes votes from the other members.” Call me cynical, but do the backers of this measure really believe that a bureaucratic process that eventually requires nine people to agree to be a viable solution?