The challenge to noncontiguous districts could provide judges a way to decide the case without ever addressing whether partisan gerrymandering is illegal.
Tag: redistricting
Posted inGovernment
New Wisconsin lawsuit seeks to toss Republican-drawn maps
A lawsuit filed Wednesday asks Wisconsin’s newly liberal-controlled state Supreme Court to throw out Republican-drawn legislative maps as unconstitutional.
Posted inGovernment, Undemocratic: Secrecy and Power vs. The People
Public, politicians pushing Wisconsin to enact nonpartisan redistricting to strengthen democracy
Most counties have approved resolutions calling for fairer way to redraw electoral districts; does Iowa offer an effective model?
Posted inGovernment, Undemocratic: Secrecy and Power vs. The People
High stakes for elections — and democracy — as U.S. Supreme Court nears decision on Wisconsin redistricting case
Justices consider: When does partisanship cross the line?
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Redistricting issue isn’t going away
In the 2012 election, Republicans increased their control of the state Legislature despite getting substantially fewer total votes than Democrats. This was done, Mayer said, by packing Democrats into safe districts while creating a slight edge for Republicans in many more.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
Beat was busy in 2013
In some newsrooms, reporters and editors fondly welcome odd-numbered years.
That’s because these are election-lite: No races for president, governor, attorney general or the state Legislature. No glut of partisan candidates trying to open new orifices in each other’s anatomies. Hooray.
But in covering a beat like money and politics, there is no break in the action. A glance back through a year’s worth of weekly columns confirms it.
Posted inMoney & Politics Column
GOP pressed on redistricting
Wisconsin’s last redistricting, after the 2010 Census, was done in secret and cost taxpayers more than $2 million. Ruling Republicans strategically carved districts to maximize their electoral prospects, much as Democrats would had done had they been able.
Posted inGovernment, Money & Politics
Wisconsin vote split was closer than results
In the aftermath of the Nov. 6 elections, words like “fickle” and “schizophrenic” are being bandied about to describe the Wisconsin electorate, which chose a Democratic president but more Republicans for Congress and the state Legislature. A Center analysis shows that the vote tallies in Wisconsin’s congressional and state legislative races were not nearly as lopsided as the parties’ resulting share of seats — and election observers attribute this to the Republicans’ redistricting efforts in 2011.
Posted inGovernment
Wisconsin receives C- for government accountability
Wisconsin receives a C- in a nationwide ranking of states’ accountability and risk of corruption. The State Integrity Investigation, released today, ranks Wisconsin 22nd, with a score of 70 percent — a score boosted by the creation in 2008 of the state Government Accountability Board to help clean up government.
Posted inGovernment, Money & Politics
Capitol chaos shines spotlight on secretive state institutions
The backdrop for many of Wisconsin’s current ethical controversies is an unprecedented flow of money into the state’s political machinery. With last year’s Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, some loopholes in the state’s campaign finance laws have grown even wider.
Posted inWisWatch Blog
Lawmakers on both ends of openness awards
The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is bestowing its annual “Opee” Awards for openness in government. And Wisconsin state lawmakers have been tapped for both kinds of awards — good as well as bad.
Posted inWisWatch Blog
Let the sunshine in … please
It’s time once again for proponents of open government and the free flow of information to celebrate Sunshine Week. But this year, we’ll be doing it under a cloud.