California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has made a habit of boosting the salaries of some of his official staff with money from his campaign account.  These funds come from private donors.  See details here in the LA Times. 

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger paid two of his most trusted aides a total of $33,000 in reelection campaign money in addition to their state salaries — meaning insurers, HMOs and other special interests that depend on government action were boosting the pay of his senior employees.

Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's communications director, received a total of $13,000 in October and November as extra payment for the hours devoted to Schwarzenegger's reelection bid, according to the governor's office. Mendelsohn earns a taxpayer-financed salary of $123,000.

Clay Russell, the governor's personal assistant who frequently travels with him, was paid $20,000 in campaign money between July and October, in addition to a state salary of $85,000, records show.
 

Governor Schwarzenegger and a host of good government reformers have announced a new proposal for reforming California's system for drawing legislative districts.  The complete plan is available here and the press release is here .  

This is a subject that most voters don't follow closely, but political boundaries do matter.  Some district plans can significantly distort the political representation of a state.  (see this post on Ohio's results.) Other plans can insulate current incumbents from competition, making them feel less accountable to voters overall.  California's plan does this -- only one incumbent (Richard Pombo) lost in the last California election for both Congress and the state legislature.

 Arnold says:

“We must bring competition back into the political process to guarantee that our elected leaders represent the full diversity of California and the will of the people. This is exactly the kind of political reform I promised the people of California when I became Governor three years ago. I said that we will bring the trust back to government and make our democracy strong. Last year, we came very close to getting redistricting reform done so this year I know we can do it.”

Arnold should be commended for his willingness to take on this thorny issue.  His current plan would be an improvement over how things now work.  County clerks and other local officials would create a pool of 55 citizens.  This pool eventually gets narrowed to 11 members: 4 Democrats, 4 Republicans, and 3 others.  Anyone can apply, but there are restrictions on who can actually be appointed (no lobbyists, former politcians, etc.)  The commission cannot take into account the address of any current legislators.  That's all good and no doubt the resutling districts would at least not be taylor made to help (or punish) current incumbents.

But, this plan won't fix everything.  Indeed, the bill does not even require the commission to use competition as a criteria for drawing districts.  It is quite possible that California could still see elections where no incumbents lose, even after adopting this plan.  That's because the bill favors keeping "communities of interest" and cities and counties together.  That's a laudable goal, but in a system of single-member districts it often means that districts are heavily tilted toward one party or another.  That's because birds of a feather tend to flock together -- Democrats seem to live near each other (often in big urban centers) and likewise so do Republicans.  In grouping people where they live into political districts, we will likely see results that accurately reflect a state's political and ethnic makeup (unlike Ohio), but we may well wind up with incumbents who are quite entrenched.

The real solution would be to move away from single-member districts.  Schwarzengger's plan does not do that, and in fact it requires the commission to stick with single-member districts.  But, by at least raising the problem for public discussion, this bill is arguably a step in the right direction.