Good HouChron editorial on gerrymandering by Chris Bell

[crispini]

RIGHT ON!

April 9, 2005, 10:08PM

GERRYMANDERING
Make room at table for voters
Give constituents more input at polls
By CHRIS BELL


When I filed an ethics complaint against Tom DeLay last year, it ended a seven-year ethics truce in Washington. Even those who agreed that the complaint raised serious allegations did not give the fight against Tom DeLay much of a chance for success; but, less than a year later, DeLay's sinking poll numbers foretell the final chapter in his political career.

DeLay certainly puts a face on the need for ethics reform, but we cannot pretend that when he leaves Washington he will take institutionalized partisanship with him. Now is the time to plan — not for another ethics truce — but for an ethics renewal.

We cannot achieve this unless Republicans and Democrats work together. And therein lies the problem. It would be difficult to overstate the stultifying effect that partisanship has on the work of Congress. Coming from Houston city politics, where I had worked with members of both parties, Congress was a horrible shock.

Neither party finds an electoral advantage in compromise because the district lines are drawn to favor a candidate supported by hard-core, partisan apparatchiks. What we have in Washington is the parliamentary equivalent of World War I trench warfare, with combatants so afraid of dying in no-man's land that they never leave the safety of their trenches.

more
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3126050

...

Later in the article he mentions the two folks who are leading the effort to create a bipartisan redistricting commission: Rodriguez-D Austin and Wentworth-R San Antonio. And I have to admit, the more I hear about Wentworth, the more I don't hate him just because he's a Republican. He's got his name on some good stuff.

[eallen]

1. The two parties DO work together on this issue

There is a well-known solution to gerrymandering: proportional representation. It also increases democracy and popular interest in voting. The problem is that PR allows third parties to develop, something that is anathema to the two major parties. The two major parties work together quite well to prevent any such reform.

Winner-take-all, geographic districts in the House of Representatives and the state legislatures create the two-party lock. Gerrymandering is simply the end consequence of this, serving as much to cement the lock as to provide a positional battle between the two major parties.

If the national Democratic Party wants to put the national interest and democratic reform ahead of the normal political vying for power, it could well signal that by taking a stand for PR.

[sonias]

2. I would love to have proportional representation

But I agree with you the two parties are never going to let it happen, especially now when the repukes are in total control. Neither party is willing to give up anything.

Sonia

[Pilgrim4Progress]

3. Good job, Chris!

Nicely written piece. I really hope the idea gets some traction here. Or we'll remain forever in "occupied Texas".