I want to thank Quinn Brady for her excellent lesson on SLO redistricting (“In your hands,” Nov. 25). It inspired me to write this letter to the SLO County Board of Supervisors (BOS). It’ll probably go to the trash bin unread, so I’m sending it to New Times too. Here it is:
Redistricting! I am baffled and angered by the utter transparency of the current 3-2 BOS to favor an extremely convoluted map that wildly favors Republican voters while leaving some areas with no supervisor for two years. The so-called Patten map is a total scam made to protect and enhance Republican power in SLO County. Several maps were offered to the BOS that actually accomplished what redistricting is supposed to do. Namely to create balanced districts in population that are supervised by a supervisor in that district. To gerrymander the lines in order for Republicans to control our predominantly Democratic county for 10 years is self-serving and an abhorrent abuse of the process! Especially to not even consider or discuss more fair maps favored by 2nd District Supervisor Bruce Gibson and 3rd District Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg. You progress-stopping, antiquated, and biased right-wing supervisors should be ashamed of your shady intentions! Citizens, please make your outrage known! The long-term consequences could be dire!
Linda Woods
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Dec 2-12, 2021.
I have to laugh. For 40 years I lived on the San Francisco peninsula. I voted in a district which was shaped like a long snake through at least 12 different communities. It was a monument to detailed corruption of the process of fairly establishing voting districts. It worked wonderfully for the Democrats.
If you can figure out a way that the dominant political parties working on such voting districts would ignore politics, you would be entitled to a Nobel prize (but wouldn’t get it, as the Nobel committee is highly politicized).
Baffled? No
Angered? Yes
When will the voters stop supporting candidates they know will put Party over People?
I am sure there are candidates from other political parties or even no Party at all who would have
declined to redraw District at all lines at this time.