California Redistricting Gods to Whalen: Drop Dead

So a wave of civic-mindedness swept over me this morning and I decided to apply for a spot on California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission (the 90-day window for signing up began last week).

The good news: if you’re even mildly computer-proficient, the online process takes less than 5 minutes.

The bad news: thanks to the wonders of cyberspace, it took less time than it did to apply — maybe all of two minutes – for the powers-that-be to tell me “thanks, but no thanks”.

The reason: I’ve worked for at least one political candidate in California over the past decade. Fair enuf, though it would have been fun to have a seat at the table.

Maybe I’ll have better luck crashing the constitutional convention if the public pulls the trigger on that next year.

Over at the Fox & Hounds site, Tony Quinn has crunched the numbers on the level of interest in the redistricting commission, which is taking applications up until Feb. 12 (yes, Lincoln’s birthday).

And there are some surprises — the application pool doesn’t seem to be rife with political mercenaries, as you might have feared . . . and the partisan balance of eligible choices is far more Republican, compared to the Democrats’ 14-point edge statewide in registered voters.

Total Applicants: 1,761

Eligible Applicants: 1,683

Partisan Make-up: 32% GOP, 31% Democratic

Keep an eye on the redistricting process as we head deeper into 2010, as it obviously will become a huge political story in 2011 and the aftermath of the previous year’s results.

 The selection panel first has to narrow the field of applicants to 120.  By year’s end, a mere 14 Californians will be tasked with redrawing the lines.

FYI: Here’s a glimpse at the panel deciding who’s naughty and who’s nice, gerrymandering-wise.