Oakley: Fair Districts Require Fair Access

OPINION

Ultimately, fair government is about access. A government for the people can never truly be by the people if access is solely maintained among the same political power brokers in absence of public participation. Recently, the very idea of people over politics has been eroded as New Jersey’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission is filled with the same political faces in absence of a transparent, public process.

While New Jerseyans may have voted for our current legislative district maps to remain the same, they certainly did not vote for a Legislative Reapportionment Commission stocked full of party insiders and machine bosses and to argue that this is what the people want would be an insult to our intelligence.

New Jerseyans deserve an independent and representative commission that includes the voices of ordinary residents and reflects the level of diversity that this state is known for. Moreover, the people who have invested their lives into this state have earned the right to have their voices heard on the subject of redistricting in public hearings and other forms of public participation.

Instead, New Jerseyans were given a backroom deal making process that ended with commission appointments filled with political staffers, party chairs, and sitting politicians. Yes New Jersey, your politicians will be drawing their own lines for their own districts and yes they want you to believe that that’s reasonable. How else are they going to all but guarantee election wins for themselves at the expense of progressives year after year, decade after decade?

The people of New Jersey voted “YES” on question 3 because they wanted to ensure that people of color were properly counted in the federal census data, in the hopes that resources would be allocated in a manner that’s equitable and fair. The people did not vote “YES” on question 3 just to have a commission embarrassingly starved for diversity.

The people of New Jersey have once again been blindsided by the self-serving actions of political bosses working overtime to oil corrupt political machines. If our politicians refuse to listen to our demands for diversity, transparency, and a community-oriented process, then we only have one choice left: replace them.

Imani R. Oakley is the North Jersey Regional Director for Progressive Democrats of New Jersey.