Don Heinzman, an ECM staffer, published an opinion piece which appeared at Thisweek regarding the need to redistrict in order to force legislators to better serve the needs of their constituents.
From the editorial:
Most Minnesotans are at a loss when it comes to actions to replace the cast of legislators in the Minnesota Legislature and in the Congress. That’s because they don’t know how, when or where to get involved with the process.
A very important step is under way now. It’s the need to redistrict the seats in the Legislature and the Congress. The Legislature is charged with changing the boundary lines of districts that have too many people in them, according to the last population census.
The problem is political party-sensitive legislators draw the lines to assure their re-elections and keeping their party in power.
There is absolutely no doubt that a citizen commission should be involved, and should be the major driving force behind such redistricting, do you really believe that whatever the final decision is that it will greatly impact the decision making power of the Minnesota Legislature and Congress? Mr. Heinzman hypothesizes briefly in the beginning of his piece that there was an “embarrassing battle on raising the debt ceiling and the recent Minnesota government shutdown,” however are we really to believe that it would not have occurred had the maps been redrawn ahead of time? As if suddenly because we shifted some boundaries, Dakota County as a whole wouldn’t be as conservative as it once was and would stop electing Republicans to represent it?
Do you think that redistricting will play a major role in shifting the power struggle as it currently exists in a different direction? Do you really feel helpless in replacing legislators in Minnesota? Are you planning on taking part in this citizen commission? Whatever you have to say about redistricting and its possible effects on the political landscape locally go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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August 17th, 2011 at 8:36 am
This is one political idea I can get behind. Letting politician pick their voters results in some crazy districts (see CA 23rd and Il 4th) and few truly contested races. This mean that we get more candidates that represent the far right and left.
For example, let’s say you have district full of Republican voters. Any Democrat will lose in that district. So, the election is effectively decided during the primary where the candidates with the most “conservative” record gets the nomination.
Having a commission determine districts would greatly reduce the influence of the fringes and result in more centrist politicians. California is doing this right now. I hope they succeed.
August 17th, 2011 at 8:58 am
I am for anything that has a chance of separating the band of idiots that somehow keep voting for Michele Bachmann, the most horrible person on the earth.
Happy Birthday Elvis! What a fucking idiot.
August 17th, 2011 at 9:16 am
The redistricting process is ridiculous to say the least. Partisan politics need to be removed from it and districts should be created based on simple geography, with districts being arranged as centrally as possible. For example, start in the southwest corner of the state with a square district and work your way north and east from there. One can wish anyway…
August 17th, 2011 at 10:15 am
I might be wrong, but I think Arne Carlson was pushing redistricting. He and I don’t share the same political lines, but anything he says is good for Minnesota, I believe.
As I keep saying, lefty, Michelle Bachman is BRILLIANT politically. Say one stupid thing and you’re automatically in the press. I don’t know, maybe she’s an idiot savant, but the woman knows politics. I was watching the clips of the Iowa straw debate or whatever it was, the the political analyst was saying, oh, Romney (it was Romney, wasn’t it? I have trouble keeping the suits straight.) won it, staying above the fray. And I was telling my husband, what, is he blind? Look at that little flinch Bachman did when Pawlenty “attacked” her about being useless in Congress.
No, sadly, I think the “idiot”s you’re referring to, are the people who vote for her.
August 17th, 2011 at 10:16 am
I agree that politicos should not have control of redistricting. It fundamentally chips away at democracy, as the elections for the following ten years are slanted by this process. This has been going on throughout the United States almost from the beginninig of our country. One almost never sees good resulting from this gerrymandering. It kept the Jim Crow laws in force for more than 100 years in the South. Now it’s keeping us hostage to a bunch of ultra-right wingers, some of whom received major campaign contributions, not from Minnesotans, but from other right-wingers in Texas and Florida. So, now we’re going to have our elections swayed by those same Texas and Florida people. These are the same Minnesota legislators who consulted Jeb Bush about our educational system “reforms”. Jeb Bush is from Florida, one of the states with the poorest educational rankings in the country. But they sure do know how to reduce spending on their schools, and, boy!, have our Republican legislators learned that lesson! Reform is definitely needed!
August 17th, 2011 at 10:30 am
Michele,
Check my post. I did refer to them as a band of idiots. Sadly, I grew up in that district and was exposed daily to the whitebread conservative “not in my backyard” mentality that makes them appeal to Bachmann.
I don’t disagree with you that she is good at getting heard, but you can only go so far up the ladder saying blindly stupid inaccurate things before you get called on it. This Elvis one, however mundane is going to have more legs then the John Wayne Gacy one, I think. To call her brilliant politically is a bit more credit than I am willing to give her. She speaks well to her people, and she is a great sound bite for any media that wants to point out what the left is doing wrong, but they are using her and she may not even know it.
I don’t think anyone needs to be remotely worried that she could actually be a player in the election 6 months from now, but it sure is fun making fun of her while we can.
Does Minnesota lead the nation in electing crackpots, entertainers and fools? I will check the records in California before I declare.
August 17th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
I’m suspicious of anyone who says “let’s take the politics out of drawing legislative lines.” To me that’s a sign that they’re upset that their favored political team lost last time out.
Politics always have played a role in redistricting. In fact, the term “gerrymander” (often used to refer to absurdly-drawn districts) goes back a long ways–to 1812. People put so much effort into drawing lines to favor their party because government now has so many goodies to dispense. Reduce the size and scope of government and people won’t care so much about whether the lines on the map look symmetrical or contorted.
That said, here’s a brief report on how different states do their redistricting:
http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=16644
August 17th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
I guess I only worry about my legislators, and I’m used to voting for people that don’t win, so I don’t stress over that either. In general, I don’t even have re-districting on my radar. For me it is a non-issue. Perhaps specifically because I can’t imagine what change they could implement that would have any real effect.
August 17th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Redistricting is nationally mandated every 10-years after the census. The goofballs in charge try gerrymandering. Which is the practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, incumbent-protected districts. Bachmann’s district is due to be broken up.
August 17th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
Ah, lefty, I see you DID refer to Bachman’s constituents as idiots. I apologize.
One thing I want to clarify, so it’s not confused, is that I think of politics and statesmanship, as two different things. I don’t think being good at politics is a particularly admirable quality.
I have a couple of ponderings about the Iowa straw poll: 1. Was Pawlenty told to step down AGAIN, and if so, why? 2. I wonder if Bachman is more dangerous to the Republican Party, and the movers and shakers in it, than to President Obama.
August 17th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Of course it has been proven that substance is not necessary. Good speeches and sound bites are enough to land you in the oval office. You don’t need experience, you can dodge the hard issue votes in congress, you can have a relatively mediocre 12 years as a law school professor publishing nothing but your autobiography, etc. and become president one day! Mediocrity rules! There are dumb sheep voting for idiots on both the left and the right folks.
August 17th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
In theory I could agree with many of the ideals of the tea party. Govt is broken, govt is to big, govt is out of control and spends to much, etc.
In practice I think they are a bunch of used car salesmen getting rich off the American People who are so hungry for change that they fail are buying a bill of goods from these crooks. These people dont care about change or reform, they just care about money and getting thier hand picked puppets into office. Sadly, Ms Bachman is one of those hand picked puppets and there is little real substance there that could lead to actual leadership and/or statesmanship.
Its hard to be a Democrat when they utterly and completely fail to accomplish anything positive in two years of total control. Its harder to be a republican when the put people like Emmer and Bachman out there as possible leaders of our state and or country.
Anyone see the Teaparty guy in GA? Posterboard Hypocrite. Tea Party poster child and is in court saying its a banks fault for loaning him two million dollars that they knew he could not repay, not his fault for borrowing the money and defaulting on the loan. So much for fiscal responsiblity.
August 17th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
Sui generis, I hardly think that teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago is mediocrity, and I really can’t think of a better basis for vowing to protect the Constitution of the United States. Certainly a lifetime spent in politics is not the best experience for the job.
I will agree, though, that sheep exist in both parties, and no doubt there were many who voted for our current president, who were either following their party or because it was a popular thing to do. I would be happier with the President if he’d gotten us out of Afghanistan and Iraq (and now Libya), before he worked on a health care program. This borrowing from the Chinese makes me very nervous. But I’m surprised at how many Democrats want instant results from the man. This IS still a democracy, and he has to work with the Republicans.
Chad, I can’t stand the woman, but I would be very surprised if Bachman were anybody’s puppet. I think she’s a zealot; also, she doesn’t seem to have a “receive” mode, just a “transmit.” Kind of hard to be a puppet if you don’t listen. : (
August 17th, 2011 at 8:23 pm
I think partisan politics should be left out of it and I don’t HAVE a favorite political party. I kind of dislike them both, actually. (And anyone who says we have more than two is deluding themselves)
August 17th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Congrats to lefty on comment #800.
August 18th, 2011 at 9:03 am
I find it interesting that 3 people who read my comment calling Bachmann an idiot and horrible gave me the thumbs down, but have not yet challenged my assertion in the comments area.
I guess it plays right into the passive aggressive leanings of the right wingers that support her without comment. If you don’t know it, you are the “Minnesota Nice” that nobody likes.
Come out of the closet Bachmanites!
August 18th, 2011 at 9:40 am
Bachman is a puppet. Or a tool if you like that word better. Powerful people with lots of money have come to the conclusion they can cash in the the tea party movement. While Ms Bachman may be a zealot and really believe the garbage she spews, no reasonable person would actually look at her and think, wow, this lady could make a positive change if she were just in charge of our country. They look at her and think, WOW, this is a chance to take advantage of all the sheep who are so scared of everything that is going on that they will vote for a crazy person. A small percentage of the millions and millions spent on a campaign and the clout that comes along with even a loosing effort (see Ms Palin) makes it worth it to them. They dont care what she says or what she does, as long as she keeps raking in the millions in donations and then spending those millions.
As for President Obama, I had a sincere hope that he was truly the brilliant man he was portrayed as. I could not tell you if he was a good or bad professor, but thus far he has been an incredible disappointment as a president. In my humble opinion.
August 18th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Some states have decided to hand over the duties of redistricting to supposedly disinterested third parties in order to take the “politics” out of the process. However it generally doesn’t work out that way. You can just look at what is happening in California this year in their redistricting efforts.
In Minnesota, one would have to amend our state constitution in order to make this change. Here, the process is political by design.
August 18th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
I actually think the California method has some hope. The commission requires 5 Republicans, 5 Democrats, and 5 nonpartisan members, and 3 of each group must approve the legislative maps. Of course, it still draws from partisan politics in that it requires a certain number of members on its commission from each party. However, it seems to be more fair than allowing one party to control the entire process. In the last 10 years just one of California’s 53 congressional districts changed parties. That’s despite elections that strongly favored each party nationwide in those periods. The gerrymandering in California is ridiculous and if new districts need to be drawn that put 2 incumbents in the same district, so be it. New districts should be drawn with no regard to where current politicians live.
August 18th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
And lefty, most people who dislike your posts do it simply because it says “lefty” at the top. ;)
August 18th, 2011 at 11:37 pm
Sorry, Bill, I know we keep going off topic, but after Bachman’s latest, I have to ask: in your own lives, how many people do you know have lost their jobs due to the EPA? Seriously. Show of hands. And how many people would feel comfortable having energy companies drill for natural gas in their backyards? Show of hands again.
I would really, really love it, if they chose to drill in Bachmann’s backyard.
August 19th, 2011 at 7:33 am
Michele, that’s what the Internet is all about. Carry on.
August 19th, 2011 at 8:25 am
Joey,
I had no choice but to thumbs down you out of principle. :)
While I can’t disagree with you, you should also note that if Bill had not fraudulently altered the thumbs up of MSPD, I would have the most thumbs up in LL history.
…still waiting for a Bachman supporter to come out of the closet….
August 19th, 2011 at 8:27 am
Actually I have more than you too. But who’s counting?
August 19th, 2011 at 8:46 am
Not you, I see no mention of you on your leader board.
August 19th, 2011 at 8:50 am
I choose to not include my stats because I don’t include my stats in any discussion metrics. However, I figured it was important to note just because you were being all high and mighty.
And BTW, I checked. Even if I hadn’t switched his thumbs down to thumbs up, MSPD would still be ahead of you.
August 19th, 2011 at 8:57 am
Well, that is all fine and good since we both agree that his stats are inflated and not accurate.
I am pretty sure that I will not get passed in thumbs down either, so I am not that high and mighty.
August 19th, 2011 at 9:01 am
I have more of those than you too–you know, just to keep you in your place ;-)
August 19th, 2011 at 9:08 am
You just got one more.
August 19th, 2011 at 9:09 am
Bastard.
August 19th, 2011 at 9:14 am
That should have read “4 nonpartisan members.” For those keeping score at home.
And Bill, I want to know who the most ignored commenter is? In other words, who gets the least number of likes/dislikes per comment?
August 19th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Arrgh!
August 19th, 2011 at 11:53 am
In the top 50, Irving Washington is the only person with a zero, followed by Nils, with 1 out of over 300 comments.
Among more frequent posters, Thought Leader and bb stacker are widely ignored. :)
August 19th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Make that 200 comments for Nils, my typo.
August 19th, 2011 at 11:58 am
Out of the top 20 Tearitup and jf are the lowest. I didn’ bother to do the entire leaderboard though since many of those users (like Nils) are inactive.
August 25th, 2011 at 2:10 pm
I’m back from my Internet discussion sabbatical. :-)