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Pleasanton’s five years of fame as a city nationally-known for its hometown Democratic Congressman Jerry McNerney may soon come to an end with a citizens’ commission recommending that the 11th district he represents be moved farther east.
Instead, Pleasanton would become part of the 13th Congressional District, long represented by Congressman Pete Stark (D-Fremont).
As part of the same redistricting recommendations made last Friday, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission is calling for boundary changes for the three state Assembly districts that now include parts of Pleasanton. The move would put all Tri-Valley cities, including Pleasanton, into the 15th Assembly District now represented by Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo).
Democratic Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi’s 18th District would be moved to the west beyond Pleasanton’s city limits and Democratic Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski would see his 20th District relocated to include less of Fremont, considered his political power base, and a lot more of San Jose.
Part of south Fremont that is now in the 20th District would be switched into the 18th District, with Wieckowski picking up a larger part of San Jose to the southwest but losing Union City to Mary Hayashi.
State Sen. Ellen Corbett’s realm would be untouched.
Buchanan’s 15th District now includes about 15% of Pleasanton in the northeast section of the city.
The 18th Assembly District covers most of Pleasanton south and west of First Street, with Weicoswki’s 20th covering the rest of Pleasanton to the southeast, including Ruby Hill.
Although McNerney could still seek reelection as the U.S. Representative for the 11th Congressional District next year, if the proposed redistricting ultimately becomes law his home in the Val Vista neighborhood of Pleasanton would no longer be part of it. Federal law does not require a congressman to live in the district he represents, but voters generally elect representatives who live in the district where they are voting.
In McNerney’s favor is the strong effort he has made since being elected to office in November 2006 to include Stockton, the largest city in the 11th District, in his political activities. He maintains a staff office there as well as in Pleasanton and has made it a key political base in his reelection campaigns. He could also move into the newly-constituted 11th District.
McNerney could also seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 13th District, which, according to the redistricting commission’s recommendations, would include his hometown. Although political analysts are saying it’s unlikely he would challenge veteran Congressman Pete Stark, it’s also been reported that Stark, who was first elected in 1973, is considering retiring from political office.
Perhaps the biggest impact on Pleasanton in the proposed new boundaries is the redistricting commission’s recommendation to get rid of the three Assembly district split that the city’s political leaders have found annoying for years.
“It made no sense,” said Vice Mayor Cheryl Cook-Kallio. “With the city split into three separate Assembly districts, none of the three considered their voting base here very important. With Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan now likely to be the sole representative for Pleasanton and the Tri-Valley, we’ll have a very good Assemblywoman who will give us her ear.”
The mayors and city councils of Danville, Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton and San Ramon petitioned the redistricting commission last month to put their cities into one Assembly district to give the Tri-Valley a unified voice on state issues affecting this area.
“Despite the fact that we are in two separate counties, our residents identify far more with the Tri-Valley region than either Alameda or Contra Costa counties,” the letter stated. “Residents of our five cities depend on the same transportation networks, we have similar demographics and sources of employment, businesses have formed partnerships throughout the area, our children play in the same sports leagues, and local governments collaborate on a multitude of regional projects.
Much of the area, including Pleasanton, is also represented in the State Senate by Ellen Corbett (D-10th), former mayor of San Leandro who also served for six years as the assemblywoman for the 15th District. The commission made no changes in her district.
In other Bay Area congressional shifts, Representatives Lynn Woolsey (D-Santa Rosa) and Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) could see large swaths of their districts swapped. Congressman George Miller (D-Martinez) could lose Richmond, a city he has represented for decades, in exchange for the more conservative San Ramon Valley.
The Washington Post, in an analysis of the redistricting commission’s recommendations, reported that in the end, Democrats came out as the clear winners, and if the plan is enacted as proposed, Democrats would have a good chance to expand on their current 33-to-19 advantage in the state’s delegation by several seats.
“Democratic redistricting expert Paul Mitchell projects that the proposed map includes 32 Democratic seats and five Democratic-leaning seats, with 13 Republican seats and three seats that lean Republican,” the Post reported. “If each side won the seats that were solidly or leaning in their favor, Democrats would see a net gain of three seats in the delegation in 2012.”
The redistricting commission also would strip San Francisco of a state Senate seat. Because Marin and Sonoma counties no longer have enough residents to support their own representative in Washington, a new district has been created that stretches all the way from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. But the districts’ lines curve around Santa Rosa, which would be included in Democratic Congressman Mike Thompson’s district, which now curves all the way to the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The California Citizens Redistricting Commission, charged with redrawing California’s congressional, Board of Equalization, state Senate and Assembly districts based on Census data and public input, released first drafts of its new maps Friday.
Established in 2008 by a statewide ballot measure, the Voters FIRST Act, the commission includes five Republicans, five Democrats, and four registered with another party or as decline-to-state. The next draft of the maps will be released July 7 with the final maps are expected by Aug. 15.
The Commission is now soliciting public comment on the draft districts. Testimony can be submitted online to votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov, by mail to the Citizens Redistricting Commission, 901 P Street, Suite 154-A, Sacramento, CA 95814 or by FAX at 916-651-5711. The Commission will be holding 11 public input hearings on the draft maps. The hearing schedule and the draft maps can be found at the Commission’s website at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov.
Let me see…Stark…McNerney…Stark…McNerney…?
W.A.S.S in Pleasanton
Pleasanton “Nationally known for its hometown Democratic Congressman Jerry McNerney …” Give me a break! First of all, I have family living all over the US, and the only reason they have ever heard of Pleasanton is because I happen to live here. Even so, I would rather have my town be nationally known for having a Congressman who votes for the people instead of for the unions and for national bankruptcy.
Chemist
Great! We get to swicth from being represented by Pelosi’s Pup, to being represented by Pete Stark the Hack. Stark the Hack as always been a socialist lunatic, but in the last decade has been a senile socialist lunatic. He’s so bad that when he came up for a committe chair, Queen Pelosi wouldn’t give it to him because she was afaid that he was so loony for the loons. Pleasanton won’t count at all in the new district because it will be controlled by the dolts from the other side of the hills.
Aside from the sour grapes attitudes expressed by Old Jeb, Tennessee Jed, Alabama Zeke, Oklahoma Clem and all the other bright intellectual lights of the community, is there an issue of justice here I’m missing?
To Bright Light Minnesota Slim,
Since you are so bright, perhaps you could enlighten all of us on your issue of “justice”. We dim wits need some help here: we believe it is an injustice that McNerney’s union supporters took the day off during the election and stuffed the ballot boxes all over District 11. We also believe it is an injustice that union members were counting the votes, while we dim wits were working at our jobs. Generally speaking, we dim wits believe it is an injustice that we are represented by an empty suit, and in the future we will be represented by a senile empty suit.
Chemist
Um, chemist?
That’s dimwit. One word.
So, what kind of drugs are you and your friends into anyway?
At 11:20am this hour, a Pleasanton resident called into KGO 810 AM radio. 2 redistricting members answered a McNerney question and told of the meetings this week, and further info. http://www.google or KGO, got to Hourly ARCHIVES, and click the 11:00 hour. This topic is only on for 30 min…11:00 – 11:30.
Correction to article – As proposed in the first draft maps, Pleasanton will no longer be represented by State Senator Corbett, but will be in a district with Livermore & up the 680 corridor represented currently by Mark DeSaulnier.
Half the voters are clueless, so wouldn’t be able to follow the mix, as each paragraph or comment jumps from Assembly to Congressional, to Corbett, to Stark to, to Senate, DeSaulnier. Most yoyos don’t know what district they’re in, or if so what their district is called, etc. etc.
I like the job the commission has done so far. The 11th district was a joke, a crazy Gerry-meander. The new proposed district that includes Dublin looks much more sensible, more like a box dropped onto the map.
Either way I lose, so no big shakes. I have no respect for the positions of Stark or McNerney and would toss both if I could.
Eh – I’m going to have to disagree with this one: “Pleasanton’s five years of fame as a city nationally-known for its hometown Democratic Congressman Jerry McNerney.”
I can only imagine the conversations going around across the USA:
Someone Not From Pleasanton: “So, where are you from?”
Pleasanton Resident: “Pleasanton.”
Someone Not From Pleasanton: “No way! Isn’t that where nationally known hometown Democratic Congressman Jerry McNerney is from?”
Pleasanton Resident: “Uh, nationally know?”
Someone Not From Pleasanton: “Wow that’s so awesome to finally meet someone from McNerney’s hometown.”
Pleasanton Resident: “I’m going to go now…”