DENVER -- Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped by Denver Saturday to campaign for re-districting measures that voters will see on the ballot November 6. He didn't hesitate to take advantage of his Hollywood star power.
"Let's terminate gerrymeandering," he said to a cheering crowd on the DU campus.
Schwarzenegger already changed the way California maps congressional districts when he was Governor there. Now, he's pushing for something similar in Colorado.
Amendments Y & Z would essentially change the way congressional and legislative re-districting will happen. It's something Schwarzenegger says has been done wrong for 200 years.
"They are dividing their districts in a back room," said Schwarzenegger. "They are both doing it. Democrats and Republicans get together in a smoky back room and that's where the deals are happening every ten years."
Amendments Y & Z are being sold as a product of a bi-partisan effort where a commission made up of Democrats, Republicans and the unaffiliated decide how congressional lines are shaped.
"We're going to allow the voices of our voters to be louder," said Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper at the same DU event. "We will have greater clarity and voters will have much greater accountability."
Opponents of the measures think otherwise and are asking voters to look at where the money is coming from.
"To me the people behind it have connections to oil and gas," said Nancy Crow, who recently left the League of Women Voters of Colorado over the issue. "I believe there is also a connection to what they call "red mapping," which is a national effort by the Republican Party to gain Republican majorities in state legislatures."
Crow also says that in the past, the Colorado Supreme Court would look at the district maps and see which was fairest. She believes under this plan, a map can be adopted without full oversight by the courts.
