Former California governor says citizens, not legislators, should decide how the maps should look

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called the latest House of Delegates attempt at redistricting reform "bogus" because it still is not giving up any type of legislative control over drawing district lines.

"To me, the House proposal is bogus," Schwarzenegger said in response to a question from The Progress-Index during a conference call Tuesday. The former bodybuilder and actor said that "real reform" only happens when the legislators go hands-off and let independent commissions, such as the one proposed in Virginia, take control of the maps.

On Monday, a subcommittee of the House Privileges & Elections Committee voted 5-3 to gut a Senate resolution calling for a 16-member panel with eight independent members and substitute it with the House's original idea for a 12-member commission. Four members would be chosen by the House, four by the Senate and four by the governor, with equal representation of Democratic and Republican. The legislature also would have to approve any recommendations made by the panel, according to the amended resolution.

Schwarzenegger said the substitute "is a no-starter as far as I am concerned."

The former Republican governor said the reason so many issues were not being addressed — be they in Washington, Sacramento or Richmond — is because legislators drew their districts to benefit their particular party. And, he added, both parties were to blame.

"They drew district lines to protect their own jobs," Schwarzenegger said. He relayed one instance of his early days as governor, watching leaders of both parties almost come to blows in his office over the state budget, then getting a call from them two hours later "in a bar" telling him that everything had been worked out, and there was no need for him to get involved in any efforts to create an independent redistricting commission. That, he added, is when he knew that redistricting reform was needed.

"Both [parties] were in on this together," he said. "They both wanted to protect their seats."

Virginia has been embroiled in a redistricting controversy since last June when a federal court ruled 11 of the state's House of Delegates districts were gerrymandered to dilute black voting strengths. One of those districts was the 63rd, which includes Petersburg, and portions of Dinwiddie and Chesterfield counties. A legislative effort to redraw the districts resulted in a political stalemate, so the court had an outside expert draw up a redistricting plan that affects a total of 26 districts.

Locally, it would pull parts of Hopewell out of the 63rd and reunite the city into the 62nd District. That plan also could significantly increase Democratic influence in the 66th House District, which is represented by House Speaker M. Kirkland Cox, a Colonial Heights Republican.

Attempts to reform redistricting failed twice in California before 2010, when an independent commission was finally approved to draw new map lines. Schwarzenegger said immediately after the panel was seated and started doing its work, roughly a quarter of the state's incumbents were changed by the next statewide election.

Since leaving office, Schwarzenegger has backed efforts nationwide to reform redistricting, primarily, he said, by getting the issue into the nation's conscience. He also lauded the press for grasping on to the importance of the issue and getting it out before the public. Last year, five states changed the way they drew districts, from legislative means to an independent commission.

"I personally believe that everything I've done, I always got the press involved," he said, adding that as long as the press articulates the problems with legislators drawing their own districts, "we will continue fighting" to reform redistricting.

"The key is education," Schwarzenegger said.

Schwarzenegger was part of a telephonic town hall sponsored by OneVirginia2021, a citizens' group pushing for an independent redistricting commission in the commonwealth ahead of the 2021 legislative remapping process.

Bill Atkinson may be reached at 804-722-5167 or batkinson@progress-index.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BAtkinsonpi.