The independent redistricting commission will release its long-awaited maps at the end of the week, and a key question arises: How will the new boundaries define "communities of interest," a key yet vague component of a political district?
From the Press-Enterprise's Ben Goad and Jim Miller: "Do Corona residents identify more with Orange County than
with their Riverside County brethren? Do residents of the San Gorgonio Pass
spend their recreation time in the mountains or the desert? And does Moreno
Valley really belong in the same congressional district with Palm Springs?"
"The independent panel tasked with drawing new political
lines for California must answer these and other such questions as it sets out
to create congressional districts that serve "communities of
interest," a vaguely defined designation that takes into consideration
media markets, demographics and other variables."
"The 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission -- set to
release draft statewide maps on Friday -- has crisscrossed the state in recent
months, collecting testimony from people with often opposing viewpoints about
what the new districts should look like. The commissioners must digest all of
the feedback and balance it against other priorities, including compliance with
the federal Voters Rights Act and creating congressional districts that are as close
as possible to 702,905 people each."
Speaking of new districts, redistricting whiz Paul Mitchell in Capitol Weekly takes took a look at the political earthquake that's coming this Friday.
"Once it is out there, the commission maps will take on a
life of their own, and it will be hard for the commission to pull them back and
justify changes. This is particularly true because in redistricting, once
you change one line you have to change multiple lines. The governor
could “find” new money to soften a budget problem, but until the commission can
find new people, every shift of 10,000 requires a shift of 10,000 somewhere
else on the map."
"Republican Consultant Matt Rexroad told the commission he could throw a
football 40 yards, just like Payton Manning, but he couldn’t do it with 15
angry linemen running at him. The defensive line in redistricting is the
VRA, and MALDEF just made this juggernaut larger by presenting the commission
with maps that showed 17 majority-minority Assembly districts, an increase from
nine in the current lines. Any plan put out by the commission that splits
the difference could be a setup for a lawsuit. "
Additionally, there are four counties with special Voting Rights rules, and if
the commission is going to get federal signoff they will have to be
hypersensitive to any reduction of Latino voting power in these seats. In
dealing with some of the toughest VRA districts it seems like the easiest path
is to just redraw the existing seats, flaws and all."
It may come as a surprise, but CalSTRS, the teachers' pension fund, already is a hybrid pension system as so many pension reformers are advocating. CalPensions' Ed Mendel tells the tale.
"Under little-noticed legislation a decade ago, the
nation’s second largest public pension fund, CalSTRS, became what is now
advocated by several reformers — a “hybrid” combining pensions with a
401(k)-style individual investment plan."
"CalSTRS was not cited as an example earlier this year
when switching public employees to hybrids was proposed by Gov. Brown, the
nonpartisan Legislative Analyst and the watchdog Little Hoover Commission."
"That’s not surprising. The California State Teachers
Retirement System has rarely, if ever, called itself a hybrid. But that changed
last week when the term was used during a CalSTRS board meeting and again the
next day in a news release."
“It might be a surprise to hear us refer to our system as
a hybrid plan, because we haven’t discussed it that way in the past,” Peggy
Plett, CalSTRS deputy chief executive, told the board. “But we really do have a
hybrid plan.”
By the way, when it comes to public pensions, the sky is not falling, after all, notes Alissa Anderson of the California Budget Project.
" By conflating two distinct issues – how to measure retirement systems’ funding shortfalls and how to actually fund those systems – recent reports contribute to the misperception that public pension systems face an immediate crisis. As part of the CBP’s ongoing look at state worker pensions, we address this misperception."
"...Over the long-term,
below-average investment earnings in some years will likely be offset by years
of higher-than-average earnings. As we blogged last
week, when states experience investment losses, they can gradually rebuild
their pension trust funds over as much as a 30-year period under standards
developed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Thus, there is no
need to move abruptly to increase employer contributions to public retirement
systems."
The so-called "crash tax" -- in which locals charge out-of-towners for the cost of emergency services to handle automobile accidents and other problems -- has been repealed in a number of cities, but a number of smaller communities are retaining the controversial source of revenue.
From Hudson Sangree in the Sacramento Bee: "Fire departments, especially those along the Interstate 80 and
Highway 50 corridors, continue to bill out-of-town motorists when crews respond
to accidents."
"Some fire officials say the fees, which range from about
$400 to $2,500, are an important source of extra income in tough times and
haven't resulted in political strife, as they did in Sacramento."
"Critics in the capital said the fees targeting
out-of-towners would hurt business and tourism, and had angered neighboring
localities."
"But a number of area fire districts have no plans to
eliminate them."
And now from our "Photojournalism is a Serious Business" file, comes the tale of a publicity-shy defendant who came up with a novel way of evading the paparazzi -- by slipping off his pants and putting on a dress. No, it didn't work.
"Decked in female clothing - including a stripy top, black
knee length skirt and high heels - Martyn Crute left Lincoln Crown Court hoping
to give the cameramen the slip.
But his surprising disguise was noticed within seconds by
the waiting photographers primed to snap him as he exited."
"And as they gave chase, he flicked his hair across his
face in a bid to hide his manly stubble and chiselled jawline."
"The astonishing bid to make sure his identity remained a
secret came as Crute, a director of UK Oil and Gas Ltd, appeared in court
charged with trading for 15 months without being registered to gas safety body
Corgi."
"His business was said to have put lives at risk due to
the poor standard of work it carried out during the period."
"Adam Farrer, prosecuting for the Health and Safety
Executive, said the company continued to use the Corgi logo on its literature
and gave the impression to customers that it was operating legally."
Looked pretty good in those spike heels, though...
