UPDATE
: Trumbull Dems are promoting a viewing of the film Gerrymandering. Election manipulation? Didn’t they learn this from Bridgeport pols? Speaking of this the special City Council committee on redistricting will conduct a public hearing to hear comments regarding new city district lines based on the 2011 Census June 1, 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 45 Lyon terrace.
Free Screening of the Movie Gerrymandering Pulls Back the Curtain On the Dirty Little Secret of Our Democratic Process: Your Vote May Not Be Worth As Much As You Think
The Trumbull and Westport Democratic Town Committees in conjunction with the Fairfield Chapter of Democracy for America and Connecticut Common Cause will hold a free screening of the movie GERRYMANDERING on Sunday June 5th from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM in the McManus Meeting Room at the Westport Library located at 20 Jesup Road Westport, CT 06880 (behind Klaffs).
Writer/Director Jeff Reichert will be on hand to discuss the making of this eye-opening documentary about how voting districts get drawn across this country and the profound consequences this process has on our democracy and the concept of representative government. Reichert says: “Redistricting is, at heart, an issue about representation, a question that undergirds the very reason the United States became a country in the first place. And if you take a long enough historical view of the U.S. you start to realize that what we mean when we use the word ‘representation’ has changed over time, as have the structures in place that determine how ‘representation’ actually works.”
Every year, in elections across the country, a wide majority of district races are non-competitive. Often, this is because district lines have been drawn to favor one party or group at the expense of another. Many races are decided before a single vote is cast. For the first time, GERRYMANDERING exposes the most effective form of election manipulation short of outright fraud. Now that the 2010 Census is complete, will you know where your district went or whether your vote will count? Attend the free screening of this important film and learn what your high school civics teachers never told you: how our democracy really works!
Speaking of gerrymandering, Michele Bachmann’s district in Minnesota might be gerrymandered out of existence. That’s what happens when a moronic bimbo with pseudo-conservative “credentials” bad-mouths a Democratic governor.
Marched in a Memorial Day Parade yesterday and happened to ask a sitting State Representative what was happening in his area about redistricting. He said he did not know. And that probably means changes are being discussed but are not yet near final judgement.
However, Jeff Reichert’s comment about representation struck me: “And if you take a long enough historical view of the U.S. you start to realize what we mean when we use the word ‘representation’ has changed over time, as have the structures in place that determine how ‘representation’ actually works.”
What is the expectation of City Council representatives as far as “representation” today? Are Council members living up to this expected standard? If not, why not? Is there a need for anyone other than the Mayor to keep their eye on the City as a whole? And were he to fail in prudent financial “representation” for the long term, the way I have repeatedly suggested that Mayor Finch has, what structural fall-back do we have to make sure someone, anyone has their eye on that ball (aside from the outside auditor, and who really reads him anyhow?)? We used to have people called “internal auditors,” didn’t we? Has anyone heard from such a person in the past three years? Rumor has it once again, the fickle finger of fate has selected one or more of these people and found they are not fit to continue service in Bridgeport!!!
One of the Budget and Administration leaders went on record as seeing that body as a “check and balance” structure for the City. Well, the budget does not balance and the checks to do that balancing are not in the mail this year. I know what the individual meant, but again it is a fact the vision was a dream and the reality is ugly. We have no real financial “check and balance” in this City at this moment.