Redistricting Mid-Decade
It’s too bad the Governor’s staff was too busy re-reading Chapter One of their copy of “The Dummy’s Guide to Being Governor” on the way to Elk Grove today instead of finding the right location for the Governor’s redistricting photo-op.
According to KCRA-TV (Sacramento), the governor’s taxpayer-paid advance staff used a red tape down the middle of a street in a gated community (apparently afraid of running into more protesters) to show that legislative districts are sometimes divided by street. Republican Assembly Members Nakanishi and Houston, who apparently don’t know their own districts, also were on hand as props.
The problem is: both sides of the street are in the same district – the very competitive 15th District represented by Assembly Member Guy Houston. The actual district boundary is several blocks away!
On top of that, according to KTVU-TV in Oakland, the two homeowners the Governor’s staff goaded into participating in the event don’t even support the special election. They believe, like most Californians, that the special election is a waste of taxpayer money.
What’s more, according to the Governor’s own Department of Finance, Elk Grove has grown 68.5 percent from the April 1st 2000 census to January 1, 2005 and was cited as “one of the top six fastest growing cities.” From 2004-2005, its population soared from 109,983 to 121,609. (Elk Grove wasn’t even an incorporated city in 2000).
Under the Governor’s plan, that would leave thousands and thousands of citizens without proper representation.
Next time the Governor needs to find an address, maybe he should consult firefighters who need to find homes in a hurry -- or a school teacher who can teach him how to read a map.
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According to KCRA-TV (Sacramento), the governor’s taxpayer-paid advance staff used a red tape down the middle of a street in a gated community (apparently afraid of running into more protesters) to show that legislative districts are sometimes divided by street. Republican Assembly Members Nakanishi and Houston, who apparently don’t know their own districts, also were on hand as props.
The problem is: both sides of the street are in the same district – the very competitive 15th District represented by Assembly Member Guy Houston. The actual district boundary is several blocks away!
On top of that, according to KTVU-TV in Oakland, the two homeowners the Governor’s staff goaded into participating in the event don’t even support the special election. They believe, like most Californians, that the special election is a waste of taxpayer money.
What’s more, according to the Governor’s own Department of Finance, Elk Grove has grown 68.5 percent from the April 1st 2000 census to January 1, 2005 and was cited as “one of the top six fastest growing cities.” From 2004-2005, its population soared from 109,983 to 121,609. (Elk Grove wasn’t even an incorporated city in 2000).
Under the Governor’s plan, that would leave thousands and thousands of citizens without proper representation.
Next time the Governor needs to find an address, maybe he should consult firefighters who need to find homes in a hurry -- or a school teacher who can teach him how to read a map.
###
posted by Roger Salazar & Andrew Acosta at 3:18 PM
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