The NEW JOBS PAC has submitted a letter to the New Jersey Legislative Apportionment Commission urging the need for balance on behalf of New Jersey’s business community as it draws the lines of the state’s 40 legislative districts.
“The business community believes that competitive districts lead to competitive ideas and strong, balanced public policy,” NEW JOBS Executive Director Chrissy Buteas said in testimony sent to the commission this week. “Noncompetitive districts lead to a lack of healthy dialogue and discussion among our policymakers across the aisle, resulting in less thoughtful policy and choices made by inertia.
“To avoid leaving the state as an outlier when evaluating our state’s overall economy, strong policymaking is critical, so New Jersey is better positioned to be a leader in all areas of public policy, from innovation to education to infrastructure.”
NEW JOBS is the state’s largest and most influential ideological business political action committee, supporting legislative candidates that protect and defend New Jersey’s business interests.
Buteas said in order to achieve better balance in New Jersey’s legislative districts, the Commission should have the simultaneous goals of:
- Making those non-competitive districts where legislators expect to get 65-80% of the vote – about half of all districts – closer to 60% districts
- Taking the districts where the victor often gets 55-60% of the vote and making them single-digit races
- Keeping the handful of districts that are routinely competitive, such as today’s Districts 2, 8, 11 and 16.
“Those districts are evidence that legislators in competitive districts have often brought more balance and moderation,” Buteas said.
Legislative redistricting must be undertaken at the beginning of each decade to account for population changes that occur during the previous decade within the geographic boundaries of New Jersey. The purpose of redrawing the districts is to ensure equal democratic representation among the members of the population as nearly as practicable.
To read the full NEW JOBS testimony to the state Legislative Apportionment Commission, click here.
