Politics & Government

Op-Ed: Redistricting--Why it Matters and How You Can Help

"The population in this area could now easily support its own Assemblymember and possibly its own Congressmember, depending in how broadly you wanted to define 'southwest.'"

Op-Ed by Murrieta's State Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore:

Every ten years, Americans participate in a census, and after we get the results of that population count, every state and every county has to re-draw the lines that determine representation in Congress, the state legislature, county supervisor offices, and any other political subdivision that is drawn into districts based on population.  Historically, the lines have been drawn by politicians in Sacramento, based primarily on their own self-interest.  My current district is an example of all that is wrong with the old process, running from the San Bernardino County line and Jurupa, picking up about a third of the City of Riverside, and then down the 15 to include only half of Lake Elsinore, and then most of Wildomar, Murrieta, and Temecula, then on into San Diego County, where the district covers Fallbrook, Bonsall, Valley Center, Warner Springs, Julian, and all the way down to Hwy 8 near the Mexican border!  In the last two elections, Californians voted to take this job out of the hands of politicians and give that authority to an independently selected California Citizens Redistricting Commission.

That commission has now been appointed and is traveling around the state receiving input from citizens on how they would like their districts to be drawn.  Why is this important?  The commission is supposed to ignore political party registration and where elected incumbents live, and only consider things like "communities of interest," population, geographically compact and contiguous (connected), and ensuring minority populations aren't illegally divided according to the Federal Voting Rights Act.  As a result, the new lines should be dramatically different from what they are today, and that will affect how you and your community are represented in Sacramento and Washington, DC.

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Right now, Riverside County is split in many ways, sharing representatives with Orange, San Diego, and San Bernardino Counties, often in a way that dilutes the power of Riverside County.  New population numbers suggest that Riverside County (population 2.2 million) should be able to have 4 Assembly Districts (465,000 people each), 3 Congressional Districts (703,000), and 2 Senate Districts (931,000) located almost entirely within our county lines.  I happen to think that having Riverside's representatives focused exclusively on Riverside interests is a good thing for our county, and I think that the rural portions of San Diego that I represent deserve to have representatives who are focused entirely on them as well.

On May 5th, the commission is coming to Norco, on May 12th they will be in Palm Springs, and on May 13th, they will be in San Marcos, in Northern San Diego County.  I highly recommend that interested citizens attend these meetings and share your concerns and suggestions about how you would like to be represented in Congress and the Legislature.  I am termed out, so the way the seats are re-drawn will not affect my office or my job at all, but in the interests of good government, some thoughts you may want to consider (by region) are:

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Southwest Riverside County- The population in this area could now easily support its own Assemblymember and possibly its own Congressmember, depending in how broadly you wanted to define "southwest."  Is this something you want, or would you prefer to continue to share representation (and thus have three Congressional representatives) with the City of Riverside, San Diego County, and/or the Desert Communities?  Would an I-15 corridor district be better, that went from Temecula through Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, Corona, Norco, Eastvale and Jurupa be better?

City of Riverside- Would you rather dominate one Congressional seat, or be an important part of two seats?  Would you rather share a Congressmember (or two)  with Corona/Norco, Moreno Valley, Jurupa/Eastvale, or places further south? 

City of Jurupa- Would you rather share your representatives with the City of Riverside, or would you rather be included with Eastvale, Norco and Corona along an I-15 corridor that could go down to Lake Elsinore, Murrieta and Temecula?

Rural San Diego County- Is it in your best interest to be drawn into a North San Diego County district, a purely rural Eastern San Diego County District, or continue to be included in a Southwest Riverside County seat?

Other than my belief that Riverside County should have as many representatives devoted to our interests as we can justify by population, I don't know the answers to those other questions.  You, your friends, community groups and government organizations you may be involved with should discuss these questions and please do consider appearing at the meetings to give your testimony and thoughts.  A handout from the Commission to help you frame your thoughts.

If you can't make the meetings, you can also submit your comments electronically, or by mail.  After this first round of meetings, the commission will release a first draft of the maps, after which we will all have the opportunity to comment again on what we do or do not like about the proposal, but input taken now is far more likely to be considered in the map drawing process.  Final maps are expected to be voted upon by the commission in August.

Citizens Redistricting Commission Public Input Meetings 

  • Thursday, May 5, 2011, 6:00pm - 9:00pm 

                                       Norco City Council Chambers

                                2820 Clark Avenue, Norco, CA 92860

  • Thursday, May 12, 2011, 6:00pm - 9:00pm

                          City Council Chambers, Palm Springs City Hall

                3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, CA 92262

  • Friday, May 13, 2011, 6:00pm - 9:00pm

    California State University San Marcos, The McMahan House Great Room

                    333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos, CA 92096

 

Assembly Member Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, represents Western Riverside County and Northern San Diego County, including the communities of Jurupa, Riverside, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Murrieta, Temecula, Fallbrook, Bonsall, Valley Center, and Julian.


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