Sacramento -- A ballot measure committee supporting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's initiative to redraw California's political boundaries has returned $1.75 million in donations, after opponents accused the governor of violating the same election laws he charged them with breaking just a week earlier.
more here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/07/BAG7IF40D21.DTLIf Proposition 77 passes in November, California would become the 13th state to put an independent commission in charge of drawing its political lines. But that's about the only thing the redistricting plan would have in common with the rest of the nation.
"We looked at those other plans and we didn't like them,'' said Ted Costa of People's Advocates, who helped write the ballot initiative. "If ours passes, we'll be better. We want to be a model."
At a Los Angeles legislative hearing last month, Tim Storey of the National Conference of State Legislatures explained what makes California's proposed method of drawing the lines for Assembly, state Senate and congressional districts so different.
No other state puts its plan in the hands of retired judges, he said, and only Arkansas has as few as three members on its commission.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/07/BAG7IF3FUA1.DTL