Bad news out of New Jersey this morning, where a decision has been reached as to how the Garden State's 13 Congressional districts will be reduced to 12, and what they will be comprised of (population-wise and politically alike).
As in Arizona, New Jersey has an "independent" Redistricting Commission, with 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans on each side. The tiebreaker vote (lucky #13, one supposes) is either selected by mutual agreement of the other 12 or is decided by the State Supreme Court Chief Justice, per state law. The 13th vote is supposed to be a non-partisan, open-minded citizen who will break the inevitable impasse between the proposed Democratic and Republican maps.
In this case, both sides agreed to choose former New Jersey Attorney General John Farmer. Unfortunately for Democrats, Farmer has chosen the GOP's proposed map for New Jersey's Congressional districts.
Read below the fold for the details.