Hi folks.  I am Kathay Feng, the Executive Director for Common Cause California.  I recently joined the Common Cause team in California after spending the last few years working on voting rights and hate crime issues at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

During last few weeks I have been reading all of your comments and concerns about Common Cause working together with California's Governor in support of an independent redistricting commission.  So I wanted to come on here and post some of my thoughts on this issue.   

On a personal level, I went through the redistricting process in 2001.  Some incumbents respected the process and allowed the information gathered at the public hearings to determine how their districts should be drawn. 

But others - both Democrats and Republicans - waited until after the end of the hearings, to propose changes that cut a community out of their district, or that cut up communities, sometimes into three or four pieces.  Their reasons ranged from the incumbent wanting to exclude a particular minority community or wanting to punish a potential challenger or even wanting to make room for another politician they had deemed their successor. 

There was nothing the public could do - everything was out of our sight, and reach.  The last two weeks before the vote were the lowest point of the entire redistricting process, when shady deals were made about district representation behind closed doors that no member of the public could speak to, or even know about.

This is precisely what we are trying to prevent from happening again in California.  I will write more about our specific redistricting efforts in subsequent posts.  In the meantime, you can go to our website for more info.  Also please keep providing your comments and take on this important issue right here in the comment section.  Thanks again for all of your support for Common Cause.