I’m a hack who works for a campaign committee, and I’d like nothing more than to see a Congress filled by Democrats elected to districts drawn by state legislatures filled by Democrats.

But I realize that’s never going to happen.

The reality is that we live in a world with give and take between the parties, where districts must still be drawn so that elections can be held. And that brings us to the crucial question of how to do it.

It’s not a secret that partisan redistricting can lead to some pretty ugly results. Given my job, perhaps that’s silly for me to say, but I’d be crazy to argue otherwise.

That said, it’s not as if there is a slew of inviting alternatives out there for a reformer to choose from.

Ed Kilgore, who is both a mentor of mine and a longtime advocate for substantial changes in the redistricting process, said this today yesterday in a post about gerrymandering and voter turnout:

The most common reform, the creation of "independent" redistricting commissions, does directly deal with the conflict of interest involved in state legislators drawing up their own maps. But the record of such commissions on congressional redistricting is mixed at best, tending to produce political compromises more than competitive districts. The problem is that it requires positive action, not just an alleged absence of "partisan politics," to create a truly competitive map. And indeed, truly competitive schemes often run afoul of "traditional redistricting principles" like compact districts that respect jurisdictional lines as much as gerrymandering does.

I bring this up because the voters of California will get to decide the fate of yet another redistricting ballot initiative in November. And while supporters of the measure claim bipartisan support, it has been formally rejected by the state Democratic Party.

As it should be.

The California measure, funded by GOP-money, is backed by Republicans for one reason: they hope it will help them draw an electoral map which makes a Republican Speaker a possibility.

And that is the political reality.

If we lived in a perfect world, nonpartisan commissions might be a wonderful vehicle for drawing legislative districts.

But we live in a world where Republicans are competing with us for power, and they’re frankly unafraid to use every advantage at their disposal in order to get it.

If we want a government with a Democratic agenda, we have to elect Democrats. The calculus is as simple as that.

Rep. Fabian Nunez -- Speaker Emeritus of the California Assembly and DLCC Board member -- has an op-ed in the California Progress Report where he takes a hard line against some Republican mischief:

[Last year] Republicans wanted to hold the state budget hostage to win an end-run around CEQA, California’s premier environmental law, which would have benefited oil companies and developers. Not only wasn’t that a budget issue, it wasn’t in California’s best interest and my fellow Democrats and I made it clear that it wasn’t going to happen [...]

This year the rollbacks the Republicans are floating would damage our air quality, disadvantage working people, deny the disabled their full rights and increase the jeopardy the state is facing from global warming. Speaker Bass and the Democratic leadership have rightly and strongly made it clear that the Republicans actions aren’t just unrelated to the budget they are bad for California and will not happen on their watch. The more the public knows about the hostage taking, and the more they see what is really being pursued, the more I believe they will back up the Democrats strong response.

One of the bills the GOP have attempted to delay is AB 32, a groundbreaking law to combat climate change.

This is California -- a place where Silicon Valley start-ups are investing serious cash in technologies to fight global warming. As Nunez notes, studies indicate that AB 32 might create as many as 83,000 jobs. That's part of why the bill has the strong support of the state's business community.

Is there anyone the GOP won't risk alienating these days?

In New Jersey, three bills designed to promote the use of wind and solar energy unanimously passed the Senate Economic Growth Committee and will soon go to the full Senate for consideration.

This year, nearly 50 million students will be enrolled in the nation's public schools according to the Washington Post. That sets a record, which is only expected to continue increasing.

As more soldiers come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers in Maryland are working to ensure that veterans in that state have access to the care they need to return to civilian life. The Veterans Behavioral Health Bill passed both houses without a single vote against it.

A spending bill passed by the California legislature last year now allows the California Air Resources Board to offer taxpayers a $1,000 rebate for the purchase of an electric car.