Redistricting to strip ranchers of allies
Tim Hearden
Capital Press
08/25/2011
Ranchers here are likely losing two of their staunchest legislative allies after 2012 as a result of the state's redistricting process.
Under final maps unveiled by a citizens' commission last week, Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, and state Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, would no longer have politically charged Siskiyou County within their districts.
LaMalfa and Nielsen have defended ranchers in their dispute with the California Department of Fish and Game over water diversions in the Scott and Shasta valleys. In an April meeting here, LaMalfa blasted state agencies' acts of "regulatory terror" and warned "civil disobedience is going to be a bigger factor around here."
Siskiyou growers and officials say they'll be disappointed to see the two lawmakers go, but the maps could have been worse. The county has been placed in districts covering northeastern California rather than in more liberal coastal districts that were envisioned on earlier maps.
"I know there's a large number of people who were concerned because originally they had my district split in half, and half of it was to go to the coast," said county Supervisor Marcia Armstrong, a former local Farm Bureau manager. "Siskiyou County pointed out to them how expensive that would be for elections. We'd have all these little splintered ballots that would have to go out."
The new districts include lots of timber country, which Armstrong said "is fine," but representatives could be closer to Sacramento's eastern suburbs, she said.
"The concern is whether they would have any kind of sensitivity to agricultural issues and a lot of the issues up here in Siskiyou County," she said.
It was important that the new districts reflect common socioeconomic interests, said Jeff Fowle, an Etna rancher and Siskiyou County Farm Bureau vice president.
"The current district lines reflect the unique characteristics of the folks who live in those areas," he said.
The new districts were among massive congressional and legislative boundary changes made after voters last year took redistricting out of the hands of lawmakers and gave it to the bipartisan California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which aimed to make districts more competitive.
Some Republican party leaders have said the new districts are skewed toward Democrats, adding that they might mount a legal challenge or put another initiative on the ballot to change them.
The California Farm Bureau Federation supported the initiative that created the citizens' panel as well as an open primary because they "offered a chance to see more moderate, business-friendly candidates of either party elected," said Casey Gudel, the organization's manager of political affairs.
"We know the maps created by the commission aren't perfect but we believe the result of its work is an improvement from the previous process of asking the Legislature to draw the districts itself," Gudel said in an e-mail. "The important thing is for farmers and ranchers to be involved in the political process by identifying and supporting candidates who will work to protect California family farms and ranches."
For their part, LaMalfa and Nielsen said they won't stop being involved with Siskiyou County's issues even after their districts change, adding that they would help the new legislators become familiar with the county's issues.
Already, Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Grass Valley, and Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, have said they will campaign in Siskiyou and other northern counties for the 2012 election, the Redding Record Searchlight reported. Nielsen will run in the 3rd Assembly District, which includes his residence in Tehama County.
