Remap Talks Moving to Washington

Los Angeles County officials, both surprised and angered by the threat of a federal lawsuit, will meet next week with Justice Department lawyers to discuss allegations that the county discriminated against Latinos in its 1981 reapportionment plan, County Counsel DeWitt Clinton said Thursday.

The delegation, which will travel to Washington for the closed-door session June 2, will respond to a letter from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division that contends that Latinos in Los Angeles County were victimized in the redrawing of supervisorial boundaries.

The letter from Assistant Atty. Gen. William Bradford Reynolds points out that despite the county’s large Latino population, no Latino supervisor has ever served on the board. He informed county officials that the department intended to file a lawsuit alleging violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Although neither the county nor the Justice Department would release the contents, several supervisors who had read the letter confirmed the federal allegations published Wednesday in The Times.

“This action by the Justice Department makes no sense,” said Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who complained that federal authorities were advocating a “quota system” by trying to force the board to redraw its political boundaries to accommodate Latinos.

“I think there are some zealots in the Justice Department who are attempting to intervene in local government and who are attempting to run Los Angeles County from Washington, D.C.,” Antonovich said.

Supervisor Pete Schabarum also defended the board’s 1981 reapportionment, which Latino activists--with the apparent backing of the Justice Department--contend unfairly split Latino voters, diluting their political strength.

“I think those allegations are preposterous,” Schabarum said. “I think we were responsive to what the law requires.”

Under state law, the county is required to redraw its supervisorial lines after each census as a way to evenly distribute the population and apportion political power. In addition, the federal Voting Rights Act bars any governing body from reducing the electoral participation of any minority group.

In 1981, the supervisors--all of whom are still on the board--divided the county’s 7.5 million population into the present five districts.

The two districts with the largest numbers of Latinos are Schabarum’s 1st District, taking in Pomona and the east San Gabriel Valley, and Supervisor Ed Edelman’s 3rd District, which includes such communities as Lincoln Heights, Highland Park, Panorama City and the unincorporated area of East L.A.

“We certainly didn’t intend to discriminate, and in my judgment, we did not,” said Edelman of the 1981 redistricting, which passed unanimously.

Although it was known that the Justice Department was investigating the county, the letter from Reynolds caught most officials by surprise. The department had filed a similar lawsuit in 1985 that forced the Los Angeles City Council to shift a district from the suburban, mostly white San Fernando Valley to the heavily Latino Eastside. As a result, the first Latina, former Assemblywoman Gloria Molina, was elected to the council.

A lawsuit against the county could have even more dramatic results because of the smaller number of seats and the enormous political power that rests with each supervisor.

In an effort to head off any lawsuit, Supervisor Kenneth Hahn said Thursday that he will resurrect the idea of expanding the board to seven members in order to enhance the chances of a Latino or black member.

“The board now has already been warned, and if we wait too long, some federal judge is going to tell us what our districts should be,” Hahn said.

Although voters have rejected two previous efforts, in 1962 and 1976, to expand the number of board members, Hahn said he will seek to put the measure on the November ballot.

Meanwhile, if the Justice Department follows through with its planned lawsuit, Latino activists are expected to step up the pressure for the board to reshape its districts.