Jeb takes a stand for . . . California
A Times EditorialPublished May 22, 2005
"Hypocrisy," wrote George Bernard Shaw, "is only bad when it is improperly used." Gov. Jeb Bush obviously agrees.
Bush was helping Arnold Schwarzenegger raise money in Florida this weekend for initiatives that take a broom to some of California's political cobwebs. One of them calls for a nonpartisan commission of retired judges to redistrict the Legislature. That would put an end to gerrymandering schemes that have made California's elections as pointless as, say, Florida's.
But as nearly everyone knows, Bush has opposed any such reform here, where his political party is the one waxing fat on rigged districts. Bush was hoping, in fact, to sign legislation that would have crippled initiative campaigns such as the drive led by Common Cause to abolish gerrymandering in Florida.
We asked Bush whether his help for Schwarzenegger means that he now favors nonpartisan redistricting for Florida. If not, "why is something good for California not good for Florida?"
His answer in its entirety:
"I support the governor of California."
The people of Florida, it appears, will just have to support ourselves, which we can do by downloading, signing and mailing the three fair election petitions. The site:
www.committeeforfairelections.com And will someone please send a set to our governor?