Free Republic

PHOENIX -- Members of the Independent Redistricting Commission want a federal court to block them from being questioned about the legislative maps they drew. In legal papers filed in U.S. District Court, attorneys for the five commissioners said their actions are protected by "legislative privilege," a legal concept that generally prevents lawmakers from being questioned or sued about how they reached a decision. And they want a three-judge panel hearing the case to preclude lawyers for the challengers, from being allowed to ask them about it in pretrial depositions. But Joe Kanefield, one of the commission's attorneys, said this is...

“Kevin McCarthy was a staunch defender of these new lines, reassuring everyone that Republicans would fare just fine under them,” said Jon Fleischman of the Flash Report, the much-read online newsletter on California politics. “Clearly, this turned out not to be the case– although he was easily re-elected to the safe seat drawn for him. Had he drawn a competitive district, I wonder if he would have been so enthusiastic about the lines he helped stopped others from trying to stop.”

Maryland Republicans are driving efforts to overturn the state’s newly drawn congressional map in a referendum next month, but they are joined by a number of Democrats who say their own party has gone too far in crafting districts for political gain. Numerous Montgomery County Democrats are scheduled to hold a news conference Monday in Rockville during which they are expected to urge a “no” vote on ballot Question 5, which would reject the district map drawn last year by Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and approved by the General Assembly. Critics have accused the map’s makers of lumping disparate communities...

In 2010, GOP candidates for federal office had a banner year in Illinois. The GOP picked up 4 House seats and a U.S. Senate seat in President Obama's adopted home-state. State party GOP candidates, fared less well, however. The state party picked up a handful of legislative seats and lost the Governor's office to Democrat Pat Quinn, Rod Blagojevich's former running-mate. As a result, Democrats controlled all levers for last year's redistricting process. They vowed to use it to reverse the GOP gains in the U.S. House. It isn't working out as planned. Years of Democrat control have taken a...

As Maryland voters prepare for a November referendum to decide the fate of the state’s new congressional map, Montgomery Gazette columnist Blair Lee chronicles the quandary faced by Democratic Party leaders in strongly Democratic, earnestly liberal and good government-oriented Montgomery County. On one hand, the newly drawn map — one of the most ridiculously gerrymandered in the nation — maximizes Democratic opportunities across the state. On the other, the new congressional lines are an indefensible affront to good government — an issue of concern in the affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., one the nation’s top goo-goo outposts.

Prop 30: Your Wallet or Your Kids. NO Either approve $36 billion in higher sales and income taxes or else Gov. Brown threatens to shoot the schools. Don't worry, the income taxes are only on the "very wealthy," but it turns out the "very wealthy" include many small businesses filing under sub-chapter S, meaning lower wages, higher prices and fewer jobs. California already has one of the highest overall tax burdens in the country and yet has just approved a budget to spend $8 billion dollars more than it's taking in. Moral of the story: it's the spending stupid. Prop...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal court rejects voting districts drawn by Texas Legislature, finds maps discriminatory.

Maryland’s highest court rejected an appeal Friday by state Democrats who were hoping to block a referendum on the state’s new congressional map. The Maryland Court of Appeals filed an order upholding the state Board of Elections‘ decision to hold a November referendum on the map after it received signatures from more than 59,000 registered voters hoping to get it put on the ballot. The Maryland Democratic Party sued the board this summer, alleging that it erroneously validated thousands of signatures that were collected using the website MDPetitions.com. Read more: Md. court rejects lawsuit challenging redistricting referendum - Washington Times

November 2012 Statewide Ballot Measures Proposition 30 Initiative Constitutional Amendment 1578. (12-0009) - Final Random Sample Update - 06/20/12 Temporary Taxes to Fund Education. Guaranteed Local Public Safety Funding. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Qualified: 06/20/12 Proponent: Thomas A. Willis c/o Karen Getman (510) 346-6200 Increases personal income tax on annual earnings over $250,000 for seven years. Increases sales and use tax by ¼ cent for four years. Allocates temporary tax revenues 89 percent to K-12 schools and 11 percent to community colleges. Bars use of funds for administrative costs, but provides local school governing boards discretion to decide, in open meetings...

What do you make of an attorney who gets 98.6 percent of everything he wants in a lawsuit — and then sues again to get that last 1.4 percent? What if I tell you that, months after filing the appeal, the attorney drops the lawsuit — and sticks his client with the bill? “Wasted effort” comes to mind. “Wasted taxpayer dollars” does as well. That is exactly what Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen did after he made a big deal about appealing a decision, in which a panel of federal judges for the U.S. District Court for Wisconsin’s Eastern...

ANNAPOLIS — Organizers of a petition against Maryland’s same-sex marriage law have collected enough valid voter signatures to send the law to a November referendum, state election officials said Thursday. The state Board of Elections announced that local elections boards have verified 70,039 signatures on the petition to force a statewide vote on the law — exceeding the 55,736 signatures that were required to be turned in by June 30. The Maryland Marriage Alliance has led the petition effort against the law, which was passed in February by the General Assembly. The group says it submitted more than 122,000 signatures...

A federal court imposed a new congressional map for Kansas on Friday, bringing the national once-per-decade process to redraw political lines to a close. ... Republicans and Democrats have squabbled over which party more effectively shored up their members and opened up new pickup opportunities through redistricting, but most observers have said that redistricting on a national level was essentially a wash.

Every ten years, after the U.S. Census releases its latest population reports, most of the 50 states begin the complicated process of drawing new election districts. As you might expect, partisan bickering and maneuvering inevitably distort things. So a decade ago, Arizona voters decided to end the partisanship by removing the redistricting process from the state legislature and placing it in the hands of an independent commission. Last year, the new commission, consisting of two Democrats, two Republicans, and a nonpartisan chair, got to work on its first set of maps after the 2010 census. Unfortunately, the results were...

When Marylanders go to the polls in November, the most interesting races might not involve political candidates. The state’s voters will elect eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives and one U.S. senator, and will help choose a president, but an unprecedented slate of ballot initiatives is expected to set the state’s course on social issues, including same-sex marriage and illegal immigration, and potentially on gambling and congressional redistricting. This will be the first time in 20 years that a voter-petitioned referendum makes the state’s ballot, and as many as three could appear. All were initiated by Republicans who...

With Wisconsin’s new legislative district maps nearly finalized, up to four incumbent Democrat lawmakers are preparing to move into newly redrawn majority-minority districts to insure they can retain their power in the state capitol. Mapmakers have updated or created several districts in the cities of Milwaukee and Racine that contain majority populations of minority ethnic and racial groups. The Federal Voting Rights Act requires states to insure that minorities have proportional representation in state legislative bodies. Compliance with this mandate means states must create legislative districts where the majority demographic is comprised of racial minorities. Democrat lawmakers Rep. Cory Mason...

MADISON — This morning, the three-judge panel from the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Diane P. Wood, Justice-Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, J.P. Stadtmueller, District Court Judge-Eastern District of Wisconsin, and Robert M. Dow, Jr., District Court Judge-Northern District of Illinois) issued its decision in Baldus, et al. v. Brennan, et al., Case No. 11 CV 562, and Voces de la Frontera, Inc. et al. v. Brennan, Case No. 11 CV 1011, which involved challenges to 2011 Wisconsin Acts 43 and 44. Act 44 established the congressional districts within the State of Wisconsin based on 2010 census data and Act 43...

COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA Office of the Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II Attorney General 900 East Main Street Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-786-2071 FAX 804-786-1991 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Brian Gottstein, Director of Communication bgottstein@oag.state.va.us (best contact method) 804-786-5874 US Justice Department clears Virginia's redrawn congressional districts - Congressional primaries can proceed on time in June - RICHMOND (March 14, 2012) -- Today, the United States Department of Justice informed the office of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that it had no objection to Virginia's newly redrawn congressional districts, which were drawn by the General Assembly earlier this year. Virginia is one...

California's most noteworthy congressional race this year is the high-dollar shootout between Democratic Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. Berman and Sherman were thrown together in the 30th Congressional District when the independent redistricting commission drew new maps for the state's 53 congressional districts. The two rivals have spent a collective 45 years in Congress and are spending millions of dollars in their duel for political survival, with policy on Israel and Iran potent issues in the heavily Jewish district. It could even be a year-long struggle. Democrats have a 2-to-1...

A San Antonio court threw out the old maps, and put in redrawn ones that just happen to heavily favor the Democrats;and then the Supreme Court reached down from DC and mightily spanked the San Antonio court for that (although a 9-0 reversal is perversely impressive).

WASHINGTON - Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks, a former UW football player who cast a giant presence over state and national politics for decades, announced Friday he'll retire at the end of the year after 18 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.