Drawing lines

In a long-standing political ritual, American politicians gather every decade to draw new legislative districts, based largely on census data.

The only legal requirements is that each new district contain roughly the same number of people. A naive observer might expect this could best be done by using prominent geographical features to draw rough rectangles, larger in thinly populated rural areas, smaller and more numerous in the urban cores.

But that would fail to account for the dedication with which politicians have long approached the challenge of carving out "safe" districts for themselves, even if it means granting equally "safe" districts to those of the opposing party.

And so voters are left checking maps of districts often shaped like salamanders (or "gerrymanders," after the tortured shape of a redistricted state Senate district, as established under Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry in 1812) to learn with what distant communities they're now cynically declared to have a "commonality of interest" -- when the real goal was simply to give established office-holders large majorities from their own parties.

Californians finally got sick of this. And so a state which seems to produce three bad ideas for every worthwhile reform now embarks on a new approach -- one which is, at least, worth watching.

In 2008, California voters gave the job of drawing legislative district lines to a new Citizens Redistricting Commission. This month, voters also handed the commission additional authority over congressional districts. And Thursday, the first members of the commission were picked by lottery.

The candidate pool for the commission began with 30,000 applicants, which was winnowed through a series of steps and ended up with 60 names picked by a review panel. The panel's mandate was to seek out "analytical skills, the ability to be impartial, and an appreciation for California's diverse demographics and geography."

Needless to say, political insiders hate this.

"Whoever these people are, they will be run by whoever the staff is, because they will not have a clue about anything," predicted John Burton, chair of the state Democratic Party.

Back here in Nevada, citizens next year will watch their own politicians undertake this process the old-fashioned way. Should the stench arising from the back rooms become too stifling -- should the resultant maps appear too absurd -- Nevada's elected officials should be on notice:

Voters here might well decide to try it the California way.