Local media consensus: County gerrymandering effort corrupt, flawed
In a rare turn of unanimity against local labor interests, both the San Jose Mercury News Editorial Board and San Jose Inside news desk ("The Fly") have come out critical of the county's discredited "Yellow Map" redistricting proposal. The "Yellow Map" would take away Right of Candidacy for more conservative politicians, suppress the Vietnamese vote, and is shot full of ethical and legal policy debacles. Excerpts from both publications below.
San Jose Mercury News Editorial Board:
The Yellow map, put forth by labor and civil rights groups, doesn’t pass the smell test. It not only very likely fails to meet the criteria set by the Voting Rights Act but also excludes two strong candidates — former San Jose City Councilman Johnny Khamis and Los Gatos Town Council Vice Mayor Rob Rennie — from running for the District 1 seat currently held by termed-out Supervisor Mike Wasserman. That in turn advances the candidacy of the two labor-friendly candidates, Santa Clara County Board of Education President Claudia Rossi and Morgan Hill Mayor Rich Constantine.
The Yellow map also violates the California Election Code criteria governing the redistricting process. The criteria says the county should “preserve the integrity of neighborhoods and local communities of interest, which are populations that share common social or economic interests that should be included within a single supervisorial district for purposes of effective and fair representation.
Communities of interest do not include relationships with political parties, incumbents, or political candidates.”
Finally, lumping together nine different cities in District 5, ranging from Palo Alto to Los Gatos, would place an impossible burden on the supervisor representing the district. It’s hard enough for supervisors to represent three or four cities. Meeting the needs of residents in nine cities will inevitably lead to some cities getting unfairly shortchanged.
Read the whole thing here.
San Jose Inside:
But while waiting to learn if {Johnny Khamis and other conservative policians are} even eligible to run for the district they’re campaigning to represent, another concern has emerged before a decision is made by Dec. 7.
Should all five supervisors ethically be allowed to approve a map, choosing from the Advisory Redistricting Commission’s "Yellow," "Purple" and "Equal and Equitable 2.0" models?
Supervisor Susan Ellenberg endorsed Rossi and Supervisor Cindy Chavez hosted a fundraiser for Constantine on Oct. 30, meaning two of the people voting aren’t exactly impartial decision makers.
Additionally, Chavez was previously the executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council and director of Working Partnerships—two groups that helped craft the Yellow "Unity" map.
Elected officials regularly abstain from votes that even remotely impact their lives outside of their jobs—whether involving family members, personal investments or non-financial interests.
Average voters rarely get worked up over these wonky skirmishes. Still, it doesn’t take a political scientist to see there’s at minimum an appearance of conflict in voting on a redistricting that determines the futures of candidates they’ve endorsed in a race that’s already underway—and whose winner could support a supervisor’s future legislation or next election.
Read the whole thing here.
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Photo taken by Roger H. Goun.