Accusations that state Dem party manipulated redistricting commission
ProPublica had this story published in the San Jose Mercury News a couple weeks ago "How Democrats Fooled California’s Redistricting Commission" (http://www.propublica.org/article/how-democrats-fooled-californias-redistricting-commission/single). The SJMN subsequently published an editorial (http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_19604295) demanding investigation of these accusations. Before you attack the source, ProPublica is not Fox News at all and in fact has done excellent exposes on government and Wall Street corruption. I didn't read that propublica article when it was originally published but discovered it through the letters section (http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_19612196) on christmas day where someone howled, "These Democrats have no honor or shame", and another: "Contrast this to the almost geometric simplicity of the new districts. Regardless of the efforts by politicians, it looks like the redistricting commission did its job." Another letter from 12/23 compared this to Texas' redistricting scandal (http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_19603929).
The basic thesis of the Publica article: "As part of a national look at redistricting, ProPublica reconstructed the Democrats’ stealth success in California, drawing on internal memos, emails, interviews with participants and map analysis. What emerges is a portrait of skilled political professionals armed with modern mapping software and detailed voter information who managed to replicate the results of the smoked-filled rooms of old." It also questions whether community testimony to protect districts was truly grass roots, this example in regard to Judy Chu's district in LA: "Records show that crucial last-minute testimony in favor of Chu’s district was delivered by Jennifer Wada, who told commissioners she was representing the institute and the overall Asian-American community. Wada did not mention that she lives and works as a registered lobbyist in Sacramento, 400 miles from the district, or that she grew up in rural Idaho, where most of her family still lives. Wada says she was hired by the institute to “convey their concerns about Asian and Pacific Islander representation” to the commission." This astroturfing sinks to the backing of the Tea Party by Dick Armey and the Kochs.
A Republican redistricting commissioner wrote a piece in the SJMN in defense of the process (http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_19641714): "...the commission was well aware that incumbent politicians would try to circumvent an open and transparent process to benefit their own interests. The problem is that ProPublica went beyond revealing an alleged scheme and concluded that the Democrats successfully gamed the system and influenced an unwary commission's final district maps."
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because the article used "skilled political professionals" in reference to the California Democratic Party.
