1. State Politics Lecture and Materials Week 6: Urban Politics; Tensions
September 28, 2017

2. Class Agenda Discussion of Week 6 Discussant News Articles
Discussion of Reynolds v. Sims
Discussion of Rural Areas Losing Representation
Discussion of Rural Legislators Dig in
Discussion of Urban vs. Suburban
Discussion of Ingle book Chapter 3
Discussion of Cramer Book Chapters 1-4

3. Chief Justice Earl Warren
"If everyone in this country has an opportunity to participate in his government on equal terms with everyone else, and can share in electing representatives who will be truly representative of the entire community and not some special interest, then most of the problems that we are confronted with would be solved through the political process rather than through the courts."

4. Background to Reynolds v. Sims
Colegrove v. Green
Court rules that issues involving districts are a political question and thus not justiciable
Baker v. Carr
Court reverses itself and says that it is justiciable

5. Reynolds v. Sims
This was part of a series of redistricting cases, including Baker v. Carr (1962), Wesberry v. Sanders (1963); and Gray v. Sanders (1963)
One thing that happens around the turn of the century- country becomes majority urban for the first time
Rural lawmakers quite redrawing districts to account for this
Some states have a US Senate style system for their seats

6. Reynolds v. Sims Who wrote the opinion?
What is the issue before the Court?
Describe it further.
What did the Court decide?
Why did they decide the case that way?
What was the result of this decision?
Does anyone have an issue of districts being the same size as population?

7. Reynolds v. Sims “Legislatures represent people, not acres or trees.”
-Earl Warren
How much were some of the disparities?
Do you buy any of the arguments against equal population districts?

8. Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris (1989)
NYC used to have a Board of Estimate
Each borough President, plus the Mayor, City Council President, and Comptroller
Challenged because each borough got one vote
Court rules against the Board
Districts not equal population or weighted
This ruling upset many in Staten Island, who had already tried to secede from the City
1993 secession referendum passes

9. Rural Areas Losing Population

10. Type of Population Change

11. Post WWII Trend
There had been a trend starting in the 1960s where northern cities started losing lots of population
Some left the region, but a lot was to nearby (or even further away) suburbs and later exurbs
This left cities with a hollowed out tax base those that could leave left, leaving mainly those that could not
Rural areas also losing at a steady rate too
But more recently, cities are making a comeback
Younger people choosing to live in downtown areas
Gentrification
This has pushed poorer and minorities out of center cities
Manhattan, San Francisco

12. So what does this mean?
With equal population requirements, it means that rural areas lose some of their seats in state legislatures  new seats to metro areas
But who benefits?
How do you think this affects policy?
Which policies?
How do these lawmakers diverge in preferences?
Georgia Metro Atlanta takes the majority of seats
Think about Upstate New York or rural parts of other mostly urban states (California, Virginia, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois)

13. Understanding Issues
Can urban people understand the needs of rural people?
And vice-versa?
Should anything be done to stem the loss of rural representation?
Less farmers
Rural health care crisis
Transportation funding issues
Water usage
Broadband
Brain drain
Owens River Valley, California

14. But what if it is urban vs. suburban?
After all, suburbia has a legacy of people wanting to get out of urban areas
When suburban lawmakers dominate, less money for mass transit, more for highways
In some cases, worry that transit would bring urban people into their neighborhoods (Atlanta, Dallas)
Not wanting to share tax revenue with poorer districts
Concern about property taxes
Support for tough on crime policies

15. Are there issues that are purely urban?
Some issues shift
Drug issues used to be mostly urban, but now have moved across the country
Same with crime
Other issues based on place person is from
Immigration
Gun control
Social policy
Taxes sales vs. property
Everybody seems concerned about jobs and keeping young people

16. Background to Cramer Richard Fenno
Pioneered “soak and poke” brand of research
He basically followed political actors around and wrote on their activities.
Wrote “Homestyle” which is one of the most influential books in all of political science

17. Polarization: Chicken or Egg?
Did politicians polarize the public or did actions of voters lead to polarization of politicians actions?
Or a combination of both?
Politicians more afraid of primaries than general- gerrymandering?
Have the parties become more ideologically pure?
Or are people better sorted by where they live ideologically?
What are some of the characteristics of people that show polarization?

18. Rural Consciousness
Wisconsin has been competitive at the state level for a while
It has very blue parts (Madison, City of Milwaukee, Lake Superior, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Lacrosse, Menominee Reservation, Racine, Kenosha, Janesville)
And very red parts (the WOW counties, Fond du Lac, the suburban areas of the cities, and lean red in the Fox River Valley)
But as the southeastern part of the state has moved blue, much of northern Wisconsin has shifted red
Democrats have become a more urban party
Republicans have been receiving huge margins in the Milwaukee suburbs, similar to that of the south, not the Midwest

19. But in 2016
The state flips from blue to red for the first time since 1984 in the presidential race
Even though the state was usually competitive, it leaned blue
Reelected Ron Johnson too
Notice where the changes seemed to have occurred to go from a 6-7 point Obama win to a less than 1% Trump win
Also, there was a big turnout drop for Democrats in Milwaukee
Some have attributed this to the strict photo id law

20. Scott Walker Elected Governor in 2010
Defeated Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett by
Former Milwaukee County Executive and State Representative (elected at 23)
Close ties to Koch Brothers
Ran for President in 2016

21. Act 10 The so-called “budget repair bill”
Ended collective bargaining rights for most state employees
Increased contributions to health and pension plans (10%)
Republicans had won large legislative majorities and passed this through
Democrats in the Senate fled to Illinois to prevent a quorum (19-14)
There were massive protests in Madison
Republicans managed to pass it without the missing Democrats

22. The Recalls
The Wisconsin Constitution allows for recalls of elected officials one year after their taking office
This meant that Walker and recently elected Republicans were not subject to recalls until 2012
However, State Senators elected in were subject to recalls
Two were recalled in 2011 and another in 2012, giving Dems the State Senate temporarily
They lose the majority when the newly enacted redistricting maps take effect
Walker survives the recall rematch with Barrett

23. More on the rural/urban divide
What is causing this?
Power distribution?
Resource distribution?
Proper role of government?
Different lifestyles?
Rural identity
Rural persons more likely to identify with that place
Identity over issues
Being ignored (think Trump saying forgotten man)
Resentment at cities
Dislike of public employees
Not getting their fair share
Distaste for elites
Perception versus reality

24. Elements of Rural Consciousness
Rural areas getting ignored by decision makers and leaders
Not getting their fair share of resources (support for less gov)
Values being misunderstood and disrespected by urbanites
This has led to group consciousness
Group identify politics for rural people, even though they are mostly white
Rural voters shifted to Dems, urban to GOP including in Wisconsin

25. How did Cramer go about her research?
Where did she go?
How did she choose where to go?
Who did she talk to?
How did she present herself?
What did people seem to think of Madison?
How did she ask questions?

26. Cramer
We will work more with Cramer later