Deukmejian Vetoes College Election Bill

For the second year in a row, Gov. George Deukmejian has vetoed a bill aimed at boosting minority representation on the Los Angeles Community College governing board by requiring trustees to run for election by district.

In vetoing the measure on Tuesday, Deukmejian reiterated objections he raised last year about the state interfering in local issues. Currently, the seven trustees run for election at large.

“I do not believe it is appropriate for the Legislature to dictate the form of election used by a specific local governing body,” Deukmejian said. “Local government election matters have traditionally been placed in the hands of local citizens and should remain there.”

Deukmejian said current law allows voters in the sprawling community college system to petition for district elections. In addition, he said, the governing board can create districts on its own.

“These procedures provide the voters of this district with the tools they need to originate election changes, if they so choose, without the intervention of the state,” he said.

Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), who authored the bill both years, argued that district elections would increase the chances of minorities winning more seats on the governing board because several districts would contain large minority populations. The seven-member board currently has three minority members.

The governing board, however, has officially opposed the legislation, arguing in a letter to Polanco that it is “the most ethnically diverse community college governing board in the state.” The letter, signed by board President Lindsay Conner, said members fear that district elections would erode members’ systemwide perspective.

“The political reality all too likely to emerge from this . . . is that trustees will no longer concern themselves with the welfare of the entire college district,” Conner wrote.

In an effort to head off a predicted veto, Polanco tried to highlight the cost savings of the bill. Deborah Ortiz, Polanco’s chief assistant, said district balloting would save the college system at least $700,000 each election. “It is money that could be shifted back to the education of students,” Ortiz said.

Duekmejian did not respond to the fiscal arguments in his veto message, but Conner said a majority of board members “strongly believe that the increased cost--both in fiscal and education terms--of a highly politicized, logrolling board and a paralyzed central administration would dwarf the savings produced by ward elections.”