Rosemead is a power base?

Submitted by Zebra24601 on Thu, 12/22/2011 - 09:11
in

San Gabriel Valley Tribune story claims surrogates of Judy Chu lobbied the redistricting commission to create a more favorable district for her.

The problem with this story (mostly written by someone from the San Francisco Bay Area) is that it rests on the premise that Rosemead is Chu's power base. This sort of strikes me as an "all your bases are belong to us"sort of reasoning. Rosemead isn't big enough or wealthy enough to be anyone's base. It IS Asian, but the desire for an Asian-plurality congressional district extended beyond Representative Chu's office. Also, earlier draft of a Chu district were far more Asian (and politically friendly) to her than the district she wound up with.

The story also implies that (literally) poor South El Monte got shafted, stuck into a wealthy, non-Latino district. However, the new district that includes southern South El Monte is 61% Latino, and the difference in median household income between Rosemead and South El Monte is less than $800/year. They're pretty much the same, economically.

They're trying to make a story out of nothing.

‹ Lots of Candidates in the 49th Reagan Statute now leans to the right. Just like Ron used to. ›

more trib nonsense

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 12/22/2011 - 21:48.

This is absurd. Chu has run strong on the progressive/left side of the spectrum, and this is because she's had to run in working class and lower-middle-class communities.

I did some phoning for her last run, and her base was all the Asians across the political spectrum, many whites (because they don't like Cedillo), and a good fraction of Latinos (that vote was split). She's a reliable liberal vote.

The new plurality Asian district will probably push her toward the center. It might even put her at risk of challenges from another Asian politician with more appeal to businesses.

If anyone is winning in this situation, it's the Asians of San Marino, who I imagine are all Republicans.

forgot to add - about the article

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 12/22/2011 - 22:05.

Adams makes it sound like it was only Asian and ethnic Democrats angling to make maps. It wasn't - there were many coordinated efforts by Republicans to influence the maps. Word on the street was that the GOP operations were better organized, but the Dems eventually got organized quickly (a Dem specialty it seems), and then got their constituencies out in force.

After all, the redistricting commission was a Rep scheme to try and knock out Dem seats. It backfired on them when the numbers not only went in favor of Dems, but was a bonanza for ethnic groups.

Now there's a big redistricting commission buzz across the country. Other areas want to do them. It's the new political transparency culture that runs across the spectrum from Occupy Wall Street to some remaining factions of the Tea Party that haven't been co-opted yet.