Gerrymandering, redistricting so as to give one party or group a political advantage over another, has been a part of the US political landscape since the time of the founding fathers. It is named after MA Gov. Eldridge Gerry who signed a redistricting bill in 1812. One of the contorted districts in Boston resembled a salamander. Both parties do it, but Republicans have made it an art form. They gained five House seats by redistricting Texas. The citizens of California have put an end to the practice, and I think the rest should too.

For Douglas Johnson, the number six says it all. That was how many California Hispanics were in Congress in 2000, accounting for 11 percent of 53 U.S. House seats, and that’s how many are there today.

“There was a bipartisan effort to keep all the incumbents safe and the emerging populations quiet,” said Johnson, a Rose Institute of State and Local Government fellow at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. “And it worked.”

It may be different in the next Congress. Voters in November took the job of redistricting away from politicians and gave it to a citizen panel, meaning lawmakers in 2012 will have to compete in constituencies not designed to keep them in office. The state didn’t grow enough between 2000 and 2010 to earn another House seat, so some districts may have to be consolidated to accommodate population shifts.

The most sweeping gains in census data released yesterday – – by Hispanics and Asians, and by counties far from the Pacific Ocean — may send political power eastward.

“Latinos are moving into the suburbs,” said Tony Quinn, an editor of the California Target Book, a nonpartisan political guide. “It’s going to affect Republican seats that have been safe for a decade.”… [emphasis added]