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May 05, 2004
The Last Word on Zell???
If you're like me you're playing the "what will Zell say next" game. Notice I said "say" instead of "do" because at this point he's not really accomplishing anything. Actually that's not fair -- he's producing a lot of hot air.
Anyway. Regarding his most recent release of hot air - the repeal of the 17th amdendment and with it direct election of senators. Nobody takes this guy seriously anymore, but it's worth pointing out that with Congressional district lines so gerrymandered state legislatures already essentially pick Congressmen. When they gerrymander their own lines they pick themselves, and when they gerrymander local government lines they pick them too.
The only officials that aren't in essense picked by state legislatures are those elected jurisdiction wide. Senators and Governors are the primary example. The gerrymanders that set up the state lines are kind of out of data now. Other offices safe from gerrymander include countywide officials and mayors, although those gerrymanders are sometimes pretty recent...up until 1930 or so Georgia was still using race as a primary factor in making new counties.
The point is that Zell is either so out of touch or so eager to please the Kool kids that he'll say just about anything now. He wants to empower state legislatures to handpick even more of our government when they're already empowered enough. What a loon.
Posted by Chris at May 5, 2004 10:19 AM
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