Democracy Wire

Legislators’ revenge in Arizona and New Jersey, an invitation to sue in North Carolina, and great progress on reform in Illinois and Virginia make it clear that this will not be a quiet summer on the redistricting front. Let’s see how things are looking.

Amid the nationwide outcry over the light sentence Santa Clara (CA) Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky imposed last week on a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexual assault, the judicial election process that put Persky on the bench and is helping him stay there has gone all but unnoticed.

The media are abuzz this week with reports that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump may have used campaign donations to influence multiple state attorneys general to drop investigations into his now-defunct Trump University.

Pretend you’re a journalist (if you really are one, ignore that but read on anyhow) and someone calls and says “I’ve got a good and timely story that I think your readers/listeners would like to know about. There is a government agency that has both the authority and the responsibility to help clean up our broken big-money election campaigns—and it is refusing to do its job.” Let me explain.

The Sacramento City Council approved language for a November referendum to create an independent redistricting commission to draw City Council districts. Following the successful efforts of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw congressional, state legislative, and Board of Equalization districts based on nonpartisan criteria, municipalities are beginning to follow suit.

This week, a crucial trial is under way in Judge Barbara Crabb’s courtroom in Madison. The outcome could have a huge impact not only here in Wisconsin but across the country.