The Rose Report

As first reported in the Whittier Daily News, former Los Angeles County Registrar Connie McCormack withdrew her application to become a member of the first-ever California Redistricting Commission. She is the fourth candidate from the pool of 120 to withdraw. The Applicant Review Panel will now choose its final 60 candidates from the remaining 116.
Ms. [...]

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission Applicant Review Panel’s job is becoming a little easier. The ARP is almost halfway through its interviews of the 40 Democratic, 40 Republican, and 40 “Other” finalists for California’s first-ever Citizens Redistricting Commission. But, according to the staff for the State Auditor, who provides legal and staff support for the [...]

At the end of its last meeting, the California State Auditor’s Applicant Review Panel announced a list of questions that the Panel plans to ask the remaining 120 applicants. Unfortunately, two brief but important questions are missing from the list.
First, here are the six questions announced at the end of the last meeting:

The finances of the two redistricting initiatives on California’s ballot this fall tell an interesting tale:
Proposition 20
Proposition 20 would add congressional redistricting to the duties of the Citizens Redistricting Commission established by Proposition 11 in 2008. It is supported by a group called “Yes on 20, No on 27 – Hold Politicians Accountable, [...]

In 2008, California voters approved Proposition 11’s call for a commission that “reflects this state’s diversity, including, but not limited to, racial, ethnic, geographic, and gender.” In its work so far this year, the State Auditor’s Applicant Review Panel clearly achieved that goal.

A May 25th article in the Pasadena Star-News quoted Rose Institute Fellow Douglas Johnson discussing pension plans for public employees in Monrovia. Titled “Group wants to abolish property tax in Monrovia and cut off funding for city employee pensions”, the article quotes Johnson explaining the current pension plan and contrasting it with pension plans in the [...]

In Florida, Judge James Shelfer removed redistricting-related Amendment 7 from the November ballot. Judge Shelfer ruled that the Republican-controlled state legislature’s proposed Amendment 7’s “failure to inform the public [was] clearly and convincingly an attempt to hide the ball” about the measure’s true aims. The legislature put Amendment 7 on the ballot in response to [...]

On July 1st, the brief application period for the City of San Diego redistricting commission began. Applications will be accepted until August 2nd. The criteria and selection process are detailed in Section 5.1 of the City Charter, available here. Application forms are available at the website of the City Clerk.
San Diego’s City Charter requires that a [...]

A new ballot initiative that creates an independent commission to create state legislative districts was approved to begin collecting signatures today. The proposal, developed by the North Dakota League of Women Voters, would create an eight-member bipartisan commission, with seven members appointed by the chief administrative judges of North Dakota and the chair selected by [...]

A roster of the current 622 applicants for California’s Citizens Redistricting is posted online here. We will update it live as the Applicant Review Panel (ARP) makes its decisions.