Election process needs overhaul

By Brent VonCannon
The Collegian

STEVE HAZE IS a decent candidate and deserves a decent shot at getting elected to Congress this November.

What? Never heard of Steve Haze? Well, you’re not alone. Haze has been left largely on his own to troll for votes in the political wilderness, in this case California’s 21st congressional district, represented for the past four years by Devin Nunes, R-Visalia.

Ignored by the media and his own party, Haze indeed faces an uphill battle in his campaign to oust Nunes in this Republican-leaning district that includes Clovis and part of Fresno.

If Haze’s problems were an isolated case, it would be no big deal. Unfortunately, the Nunes-Haze contest is representative of the direction that contests for Congress nationwide, and in California in particular, are heading.

California, which sends the largest delegation of any state to the U.S. House of Representative at 55 members, lacks a single seat considered competitive enough to change party hands this election.

At some point, when no one was looking, our democratic system broke down and any real choice got flushed down the toilet.

How did this happen? The culprits, as usual, are big-money special interests and power-hungry politicians.

The majority party gerrymanders districts to its own advantage, usually resulting in a loss of competition as the majority party solidifies its position of power.

In California’s case, the majority Democrats redrew their districts to be more Democratic and Republican districts to be more Republican after the last census, thus ensuring continued majorities for the Democrats. Republicans have done the same in other states.

Districts that are dubbed uncompetitive by the media and power brokers are not invested in by the groups with money.

Most of the money that does trickle in goes to the incumbent, who’s had some time to please certain interest groups. Thus, the challenger starts at a severe disadvantage.

For example, Haze had raised $14,532 as of the end of June and had just $7,800 on hand, according to The Fresno Bee.

Nunes, in contrast, had amassed $882,868 during the same period and had $467,648 on hand.

While Haze can’t afford to buy a TV spot, Nunes has more money than he can possibly spend.

In the upcoming election, much has been said of the Democrats’ uphill fight to pick up the 15 seats they need to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, considered more likely now due to Republican scandals.

But come on now. Only 15 seats? Gaining at least that many would have been an afterthought for the minority party in times past.

After all, it was the Republicans who rolled to their first House majority in 40 years in 1994 with a 54-seat gain.

But even that pales in comparison to the Democrats’ gain of 101 House seats in 1932, or the Republicans’ 134-seat gain in 1894.

As congressional districts have become less and less competitive over the years, politics has become more partisan and negative.

Politicians representing “safe” districts feel no need to work together with the other party to achieve the common good. They do just enough to satisfy their party base so they can get more money.

While there aren’t any easy solutions to this problem, there are at least a couple things we can do now to reform the process.

One is public financing of political campaigns. This would level the playing field for new candidates who don’t have a lot of money to spend, and even their better-funded opponents would have to abide by new spending restrictions.

At least that’s how Proposition 89 is intended to work. On the ballot next month, Proposition 89 would allow for public financing in California elections, although it wouldn’t apply to those seeking federal office like Haze.

We simply need to give new candidates a fighting chance with an allotment that the big-money donors aren’t willing to give. Check it out.

The other reform I’m advocating is taking congressional redistricting out of the hands of the politicians and giving authority to an independent commission to draw new district boundaries based on real trends, such as population growth.

Such a reform measure appeared on last fall’s ballot as Proposition 77, but it was voted down, probably because people didn’t understand it or didn’t care.

Proposition 77 would have set up a panel of judges to design districts without regards to politics. Though imperfect, it was definitely a step in the right direction.

I realize that the fine details of congressional redistricting and the flow of money in politics may not flame people’s passions like, say, abortion or the war in Iraq.

But these issues are far more important for the future of our democracy. When our choices are limited, so is our democracy.

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