SACRAMENTO -- Senate Democrats proposed a redistricting plan Tuesday that they said could lead to a deal with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Republicans said it would give lawmakers too much control over the design of their districts.

"You can't dress up a pig and think we are going to vote for it," Assembly Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, told reporters.

Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Margita Thompson, also said the Democrats' plan would maintain too much of a link between the Legislature and redistricting, but she said it was a "positive sign that they were willing to put something in writing."

"It should not surprise anyone that the first proposal that they gave in writing is the one that they had the most self-interest," she said.

The Democrats' plan, in a constitutional amendment by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, would take the power to draw legislative and congressional districts away from the Legislature and give it to a seven-member commission.

The governor, the Democratic and Republican leaders in the state Senate and Assembly, the California Judicial Council and the president of the University of California each would appoint one member of the commission, which would draw new districts beginning after the 2010 census.

Schwarzenegger is backing a November ballot measure that would give redistricting duties to a panel of three retired judges who would try to draw new districts in time for 2006 elections, a step Democrats see as an attempt to elect more Republicans. The state's primary is in June of next year.

It is one of three initiatives the governor has placed on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. The others would implement a state spending cap and require teachers to work longer to gain tenure.

But Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said there have been talks on a staff level with the governor's office about trying to reach a compromise that could be added to the Nov. 8 ballot by the Legislature to give voters an alternative.

He said the Lowenthal legislation was "our effort to show the governor that we, in fact, are interested in the issues he believes are important."

"This is the beginning, not the end," he said at a news conference with Lowenthal and Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles. "We embrace and encourage everyone to participate. We are very hopeful that our Republican colleagues will join the discussion as well."

McCarthy said he was willing to negotiate, but he said the Lowenthal measure was a "step backward" that would still allow legislative leaders to dominate the redistricting process and produce a bipartisan plan to protect incumbents.

"This is about politicians picking their friends (for the commission) and drawing it up," he said.

Lowenthal contended that redistricting standards in his legislation, including requirements for compact districts that respect communities of interest, would prevent pro-incumbent plans.

McCarthy also said other provisions in the amendment could run afoul of the single-issue requirement for ballot measures. The proposed initiative also would requiring the commission to recommend ways to improve legislative procedures and bar the Senate or Assembly from starting a summer recess each year before lawmakers approve a new state budget.

Democrats need some Republican support because it would take two-thirds votes to add the amendment to the ballot.

Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause, and Jacqueline Jacobberger, president of the League of Women Voters of California, praised the Democrats for trying to reach a compromise but indicated they had some problems with the Lowenthal legislation.

The measure is scheduled to be considered Wednesday by the Senate Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee.