For Immediate Release: November 11, 2005
Contact: Ned Wigglesworth 916-446-4741

Rep. Doolittle's Constituents Vote for New Districts - YES on Prop 77

Despite fierce opposition from district representative John Doolittle, the voters in California's 4th Congressional District appear to have voted in favor of Proposition 77, a measure reforming California's process of drawing congressional and legislative districts. The vote shows a serious rift between Rep. Doolittle and his district on government reform, and may explain the congressman's opposition to the measure, according to campaign watchdog TheRestofUs.org.

"The reasons behind Rep. Doolittle's fierce opposition to cleaning up California's system of drawing districts are now crystal clear," said Ned Wigglesworth, analyst for TheRestofUs.org. "The voters of his district aren't incredibly pleased with results of the 2001 bipartisan gerrymander, which gave Doolittle a district rigged to order. He, not to mention all the Democratic politicians that raised millions to oppose Prop 77, are obviously afraid of a fair fight come election day."

Doolittle strongly opposed Prop 77, joining ranks with liberal congressman Howard Berman to ask the Federal Elections Commission for the green light to raise donations above the normal applicable limits for federal officeholders. Doolittle was also the lone Republican out of 81 congressional representatives to contribute to the No on 77 committee, a committee for which Rep. Nancy Pelosi raised millions of dollars.

Only five of California's 59 counties voted for Prop 77: three of those counties are in Doolittle's district. Doolittle's congressional district was the lone multi-county congressional district in California to vote in favor of Prop 77.

With more than 85% of the votes available, Prop 77 had tallied 100,527 YES votes and 87,087 NO votes from Rep. Doolittle's constituents. Those votes came from the following counties, all of which lie entirely in the CD-4: El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, and Sierra. The remaining votes were cast in Sacramento and Butte counties, only small portions of which lie in the CD-4. In 2004, a total of 30,921 people voted for a CD-4 candidate from these two counties. For the votes from the two partial counties to overcome Prop 77's lead in the district, more than 70% of the remaining 30,000-odd voters would have to vote No on the measure.

"California voters may have said no to Governor Schwarzenegger in this election, but many also said yes to ending the current corrupt system of drawing California's districts," said Derek Cressman, director of TheRestofUs.org. "Hopefully the elected officials who have expressed support for redistricting reform will follow through in 2006, and clean up a system in dire need of change."

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TheRestofUs.org is a nonpartisan campaign watchdog that supported California's Prop 77 and Ohio's Issue 4, both measures which would have transferred the job of drawing legislative and congressional districts from politicians to an independent panel.