California GOP to Challenge Legislative Maps

Just hours after a citizens commission approved new legislative maps for California, state Republican leaders began an effort to get them tossed.

The Citizens Redistricting Commission approved the new legislative district maps for California on Monday. No changes were made to the maps that were tentatively approved last month.

Tom Del Beccaro, chairman of the California Republican Party, released a statement Monday afternoon that he supports a referendum on the state Senate boundaries and possibly the congressional lines.

"The California Republican Party will wholeheartedly support those efforts when they come about," Del Beccaro said. "I have been saying for months that the [Citizens Redistricting Commission's] actions have been unfair if not unconstitutional, and that remains the case. The CRP will do whatever it can to give voters the chance to correct what the commission failed to do."

The Los Angeles Times reported that Republican activists and lawmakers had formed a committee to launch a petition drive to get the referendum on the ballot.

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The commission approved the state Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization maps by a vote of 13-1. The lone opponent was Anaheim chiropractor Michael Ward, a Republican. Fellow Republican Jodie Filkins Webber, an attorney from Riverside County, joined Ward as the only other person to oppose the map for the U.S. House of Representatives districts.

The commission was created after voters in 2008 passed Proposition 11, the Voters First Act. It includes five Democrats, five Republicans and four members who decline to state a party preference. The members are of various ethnic backgrounds and live in various parts of California. They held a number of public hearings throughout the state and received thousands of written comments. Previously, districts had been created by legislators, and what they came up with was alleged to be a gerrymandered mess, designed to make sure incumbents could be re-elected.

"The commission followed the Constitution and we believe balanced the interests of all Californians in creating districts we believe are reasoned and make good sense," said Commission Chair Vincent P. Barabba, a Republican businessman from Santa Cruz County, at a press conference following Monday's vote.

Ward sang a different tune. He said the maps were "fundamentally flawed as the result of a tainted political process" and that the commission "broke the law" by ignoring the federal Voting Rights Act and making decisions "based on political motives."

"This commission became the citizens smoke-filled room, where average citizen commissioners engaged in dinner table deals and partisan gerrymandering, the very problems that this commission was supposed to prevent," Ward said.

When asked by a member of the press what he meant by "dinner table deals," Ward said his statement "stands on its own."

Ward said he would not take part in any lawsuit or ballot referendum to challenge the maps.

Following Ward's comments, Barabba said, "The sense I get is that Commissioner Ward attended different meetings than I did or at least saw them differently."

More information on the new districts affecting Moorpark can be found .