Press Release
April 11, 2013
CONTACT:
Jay Heck – 608/256-2686 MUCH NEEDED REDISTRICTING REFORM LEGISLATION COULD BE
ENACTED SOON WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT
ENACTED SOON WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT
(Madison) – Bipartisan redistricting reform legislation expected to be unveiled this week would transform Wisconsin’s current secretive and expensive redistricting process to emulate Iowa’s non-partisan approach.
Common Cause in Wisconsin (CC/WI) strongly supports the legislation and believes it could be passed in the Wisconsin Legislature with bipartisan support and be in place for the next statewide redistricting process of state legislative and congressional districts in 2021.
“This issue is too important to be utilized as a partisan political weapon. Democrats refused to enact reform when they controlled the Wisconsin Legislature in 2009-10, prior to the last redistricting. In the last session, Democrats in Illinois and Republicans in Wisconsin took full advantage of their control to pass partisan, uncompetitive district maps, as has too often been the case across the country,” said Jay Heck, CC/WI’s executive director.
“Now, we are encouraged to see Wisconsin Republicans and Democrats joining together to support a non-partisan process like Iowa’s, that stipulates that a non-partisan legislative entity draws new state legislative and congressional district boundaries every ten years. The Iowa process produces many more competitive elections and enjoys the strong support of legislators and the full confidence of the citizens of Iowa – in an open, transparent process and at a fraction of the cost to taxpayers of Wisconsin’s current process,” Heck added.
The “Iowa Plan” has already received the support of Wisconsin newspapers such as the Wisconsin State Journal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Beloit Daily News and others. It also has the support of a growing number of former Republican and Democratic legislators and other public figures in Wisconsin. Citizens are supporting this reform in growing numbers as they learn more about it.
__________________________________________
Jay Heck, Executive Director
Common Cause in Wisconsin
152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
608/256-2686
2 comments:
And which Republican legislators have signed on to this? That would be none? And make no mistake if the Dems were in charge of redistricting they wouldn't sign on either.
You're right. The Dems had power and could have corrected this between 2008 and 2010 - the only time they have held the Assembly in the past twenty years. That counts as a failure for them. As a Dem, I recognize that I personally should have pushed much harder on my party back then.
Now we can look back in another ten years at a similar Republican failure, or, as citizens, we can ask our representatives from both parties to seek a better model.
The next redistricting isn't for 7 years - at this point, there is no assurance as to who will be in power then. If we're going to make a change, this seems like a good time to try.
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