Capitol Alert: Big redistricting battle looms this fall

California voters will be pummeled this fall by both sides of a complex, high-stakes political battle over how the state's legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization seats are divvied up for the next decade.

Two years ago, voters approved Proposition 11, which shifted legislative and Board of Equalization redistricting from the Legislature to an independent commission, heeding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and political reformers. They said it was a conflict of interest for lawmakers to be drawing their own districts after the decennial census, pointing to a bipartisan gerrymander of districts after the 2000 census.

As the 2010 census winds up, the 14-member independent commission is being selected via a complex process conducted by the state auditor's office.

Congressional districts were omitted from Proposition 11 because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional members vowed to spend heavily to defeat it if they were included.

A few weeks ago, however, Charles Munger Jr., a wealthy Stanford University scientist whose father is the partner of tycoon Warren Buffet, qualified a measure for the November ballot that would give congressional districting to the independent commission as well.

As the Munger measure was being circulated for signatures, a group of Southern California Democratic congressmen, headed by Howard Berman, launched a counter-measure that would abolish the independent commission altogether and return redistricting authority to the Legislature.

The Berman measure drew financial support from Democratic Party leaders and despite a late start on signature-gathering, late Thursday it became the 10th and final measure to be placed on the November ballot, setting up the November duel between the competing propositions.

Many millions of dollars are expected to be spent on the campaigns, and Schwarzenegger is likely to weigh in because the Berman measure would erase one of his signal achievements. Labor unions and other groups affiliated with the Democrats are also expected to spend heavily, as will business interests that see independent redistricting as a means of moderating a Legislature dominated by liberals.

If both pass, it's presumed that the one with the greater vote would prevail, although that scenario could also set up a post-election legal battle. While Berman and other Democratic congressional members -- and perhaps some Republican members as well - would just as soon see both fail, Democratic legislative leaders and their allies, such as unions, would prefer that the Berman measure pass, regardless of what happens to the Munger measure, because they want to regain control over redistricting.