Time for End to Redistricting Brawl : City Council and Chicano Federation Need to Reach Compromise

Unfettered political infighting--like bare-knuckle boxing in its day--can be a fascinating, if brutal, pastime for those of us watching from the safety of ringside. The past three weeks of brawling over the city of San Diego’s reapportionment shows that, when politicians take off the gloves, a new spectator sport is born: Nearly 600 people attended Monday night’s reapportionment hearing.

While this title bout between the council’s ruling bloc and their four bitter foes may be riveting for political junkies and those whose agendas stand to gain or lose, time spent in court and strategy sessions are distracting the council from other important issues.

It’s time for both sides to declare this battle royal a draw.

San Diego needs a compromise on reapportionment, a solution worked out among the two council blocs and the Chicano Federation, which has taken the matter back to federal court. And it needs one soon. A lengthy court case would put the city’s political processes on hold and could end up invalidating the 1991 council elections.

“Everyone must recognize the heavy cost to the city in both reputation and money if a compromise is not reached,” U.S. District Judge John S. Rhoades observed in a memo Tuesday, when he chose to remain out of the fray, for now. “These cases take weeks to try. Each party may need separate counsel. If the plaintiffs prevail, the plaintiffs’ lawyers may require that the city pick up the tab.”

The council moved in the right direction by holding Monday’s public hearing and scheduling two more for August.

If nothing else comes out of those sessions, they will at least partly remove the perception that the public had no opportunity to comment on the “Hartley map” endorsed by the majority July 9.

Councilman Wes Pratt now says he has a compromise solution to offer, one that would bring Latino representation in District 8 to 52%--the same proportion that the Redistricting Advisory Board arrived at in developing its competing map. The council, with input from the Chicano Federation, should take a long look at Pratt’s map, and any other that promises fairness to all sides.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor, who represents no council district, could have been the peacemaker. But she has allied herself with the council’s three Republican conservatives, effectively blowing that opportunity.

So the only official with the clout to end this brouhaha apparently is Rhoades.

The judge noted that he can determine later whether the council violated the Voting Rights Act. In the meantime, by threatening to depose council members and others associated with both maps, he may have given them some incentive to end the fight. If not, he can always deliver the haymaker he mentioned in his recent memo: “I will, if necessary, intervene and prescribe a constitutional solution.”

The nine council members and the Chicano Federation have the power to prevent that. They should use it.