Some Latinos Back Board in Redistriction Fight

Los Angeles County supervisors won the support Wednesday of some Latino leaders in the San Fernando Valley in the county’s effort to defend itself against a federal lawsuit that charges Latinos are discriminated against in the way supervisorial district lines are drawn.

The Latino leaders--all political supporters of conservative Supervisor Mike Antonovich--joined Antonovich at a news conference in the City of San Fernando to protest federal attempts to force a redrawing of the boundaries. They said they favor waiting to realign the boundaries until after the 1990 census is taken.

Districting Faulted

The Justice Department, in its lawsuit filed last month, accused the board of weakening the political strength of the county’s 2 million Latinos in 1981 when supervisors formed the current district lines by scattering Latinos over several districts.

In so doing, the suit said, the county violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The lawsuit asks the court to force supervisors to produce a new plan before the next countywide elections in 1990.

But Dan Acuna, the mayor pro tem of the City of San Fernando--a city that is predominantly Latino--said Wednesday that any redistricting should wait until new census information is available, even though that means waiting until after the next election.

Supporters of Board

“Let’s use some common sense and some logic, and let’s make a (redistricting) decision based on accurate information,” Acuna said.

Acuna was joined by fellow Latinos Ray Magana, an attorney and director of the Olive View Hospital Foundation; Sam Cordova, a founder and immediate past president of the Los Angeles Mission College Foundation; Sister Mary Dominic, executive director of the Home Visitation Center in Pacoima, and Bill Garcia, Antonovich’s field deputy in the San Fernando Valley.

“What we’re looking for is substantive change that will manifest itself in electing an Hispanic official to county office,” said Magana who added that the demographic information from the 1980 census is too dated to produce meaningful districts for Latinos.

Also present for the news conference in San Fernando was Ray Taylor, a black businessman from Pacoima, who said he and the others were part of an advisory committee to Antonovich on the county redistricting issue.

No Latino--nor any other minority group member--has ever been elected to the board.

In addition to the Justice Department suit, a similar complaint has been filed by the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. That class-action lawsuit also recommends expanding the 5-member board to enhance the election chances of a Latino candidate--a proposal that has already been rejected by Antonovich and the other conservative members of the board, Deane Dana and Pete Schabarum.