Mainstream media absent on plans to gerrymander California

September 5, 2025

OPINION by GREG HASKIN

An enormously important issue is before California voters and will be decided in just two months, yet it is unlikely that you will read or hear much about it, or at least any significant details about it, from the mainstream media.

Proposition 50, called “Courage California” by its proponents will be on a statewide ballot on Nov. 4 of this year calling for a pure politically designed reapportionment (Gerrymandering) of our state. It has significant constitutional issues, breeches uncountable numbers of political and moral ethics and will dramatically shortchange hundreds of thousands of California’s voters in what is essentially a highly political rotten tomato toss at President Trump and the State of Texas from our Governor Gavin Newsom.

So, why is there such a shortage of reporting on an issue so big?

First, as most of us know, the mainstream media might possibly be biased and would be happy to see California cause any possible trouble for Congress or the president. Mainstream media knows that the less people are aware of it, the more likely it is to pass. Another key factor though is that redistricting is a buzz kill for the media.

Reapportionment is guaranteed to drown click bait potential.

One big  reason we won’t see much coverage is that even the most partisan democrats will be hard pressed to make a reasonable case for supporting Prop 50. We will see plenty of Kamala Harris style word salad explanations, but reporters know that’s not a good look.

Redistricting is technical and complex. It’s not appealing as a subject because even if one does a deep dive understanding it, almost nobody else cares and all that knowledge turns out to be useless.  Everybody expects the party in power to manipulate new district boundaries to enhance their power base, and most people resent being expected to be fooled by the rhetoric.

Newsom is ignoring our state constitution which calls for redistricting to be done at the end of each decade. He is ignoring the mandate to create districts with equal numbers of residents. He is rejecting the work of the “independent redistricting commission”.

Newsom likes to make a big deal about how Prop 50 “reaffirms” the independent redistricting commission – whose work he is ignoring and negating. The commission would otherwise be just fine with the 2030 reapportionment regardless of this sanctimonious affirmation.

Newsom is leaving Republican voters in California with only 9% representation in congress from our state, despite being nearly 40% of the voting population of California.

It doesn’t take courage to throw a political tantrum, ignore election rules, disregard voters and twist the situation around to esuriently weaponize our election system.

All of this in the name of fairness and “saving democracy”.

The Prop 50 campaign will be a deeply partisan effort. It will be all about turnout.  Democrats will be told that this is a way to hit Donald Trump where it hurts.

Whichever party is more motivated to vote will come out on top. Mainstream media knows that any coverage of this issue will anger conservative voters, thus motivating them to get their ballots in. Even common-sense moderates and liberals should be outraged that the governor is manipulating our election process just to spite our President.

One of the big mysteries surrounding Prop 50 is the funding. Cost estimates run from $215 million to 230million  to taxpayers. This from a state facing huge cuts because of shortfalls. This from a state that struggled for months to pass a budget that almost all admit is balanced in name only – and by the way, there was no couple of hundred million dollar slush fund set aside for this endeavor.

So where does this quarter of a billion dollars come from, and what gets cut in its place?

Even for those who believe that President Trump and Texas Governor Abbot are overreaching, it is impossible to rationalize this overtly political measure. Politicians should never be able to influence the reapportionment of their districts, yet several in the state legislature have used Prop 50 as an opportunity to create a custom-made congressional district for themselves.

We are fortunate to have a few local radio shows and CalCoastNews to provide substantial facts. Not so much from “mainstream” media outlets. If only more people paid attention….

Greg Haskin is the Executive Director of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business (COLAB) San Luis Obispo. COLAB is a not for profit public policy and advocacy community resource.