Remap Proposal Called ‘Nonsensical’ by Judge : L.A. County: He rejects supervisors’ plan. Hearings will begin on alternative maps drawn by plaintiffs.

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a Los Angeles County redistricting map as a “nonsensical distortion” of supervisorial districts that is “insensitive” to the voting rights of blacks and Latinos--a decision that could end a decade of conservative control of the Board of Supervisors.

U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon said he will begin hearings today on alternative maps drawn by plaintiffs in the historic voting rights suit against the county and could adopt a new reapportionment plan by Friday.

All three maps submitted by the plaintiffs would carve out a new, predominantly Latino district bearing the designation of retiring Supervisor Pete Schabarum’s 1st District and would jeopardize the board’s three-man conservative majority.

The plans are designed to improve chances for election of the first Latino to the powerful five-member board. But the remapping also would change the political representation for many of the county’s 8 1/2 million residents by shifting supervisors to new neighborhoods.

The three maps submitted by the plaintiffs each would create a similar Latino district--stretching from El Sereno and Lincoln Heights through downtown Los Angeles east to Irwindale and La Puente and southeast to Pico Rivera and Santa Fe Springs. They differ in how they affect the incumbent supervisors and the two candidates seeking to succeed Schabarum.

The map rejected by Kenyon on Wednesday was submitted by the board’s conservative majority in response to the judge’s June 4 ruling that the supervisors intentionally diluted the voting power of the county’s 3 million Latinos when redrawing district boundaries in 1981.

“The court rejects the county’s plan as constitutionally invalid,” Kenyon ruled from the bench Wednesday. He said the new plan was “not the result of a good-faith attempt” by supervisors to correct voting rights violations.

“The court concludes that the proposed remedial plan and the circumstances surrounding its adoption constitute a nonsensical distortion of existing supervisorial districts, a callous interpretation of the Voting Rights Act and is insensitive to the needs and interests of Hispanic and black residents.”

Conservative Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who attended Wednesday’s court hearing, said of the judge and the plaintiffs, “They are trying to draw a district in the shape of a donkey,” a reference to the Democratic Party symbol.

Antonovich said the judge’s decision, if upheld, would probably end control of the board by conservatives, who have shifted funding away from health and welfare programs to law enforcement since 1980.

Under the plaintiffs’ plans, the composition of Schabarum’s 1st District would increase from the present 49% Latino to roughly 71% Latino. The district--which is now 50% Democrat and 41% Republican and tends to vote for conservatives--would become about 65% Democratic and 24% Republican.

Conservative Supervisor Deane Dana said he is confident that Kenyon’s ruling will be overturned on appeal. County lawyer John E. McDermott said the judge’s decision Wednesday is “utterly contrary to the law.” County lawyers said they will seek a stay of Kenyon’s ruling once he approves a new plan.

Schabarum could not be reached for comment because he was out of town fishing, an aide said. In a statement issued by his office, Schabarum said: “I was not surprised by the decision. It is consistent with the lack of objectivity Judge Kenyon has displayed during the entire trial.”

The plaintiffs--the Justice Department, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)--praised Kenyon’s decision, and liberal supervisors gloated over the defeat of the county’s plan.

In Washington, John R. Dunne, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said: “We believe that Judge Kenyon’s decision to reject the redistricting plan proposed by the Board of Supervisors is another wise step on the path to preserving and protecting the voting rights of Hispanic and black citizens.” He said the Justice Department wants a redistricting plan that “will ensure that all citizens are fully and equally able to participate in the political process.”

Richard Fajardo, MALDEF attorney, said of the supervisors: “What they’re worried about is that Hispanics are going to have a say in what happens in Los Angeles County.”

The county map rejected by the judge created a predominantly Latino district but placed incumbent liberal Supervisor Ed Edelman in the district.

The plaintiffs complained that putting a well-entrenched incumbent in the new district and splitting of Latino neighborhoods in the East San Gabriel Valley “impede the ability of Hispanics to elect a candidate of their choice” to the board. In addition, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund objected that the supervisors’ map diluted the voting rights of blacks by adding Beverly Hills and West Hollywood to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn’s South-Central Los Angeles district.

Edelman, whose political career was threatened by the board majority plan, said: “I predicted at the time I voted against it that Judge Kenyon would ultimately reject such a cynical ploy.”

Hahn, who also voted against the board majority plan, said that if the supervisors had made Schabarum’s 1st District the Latino district from the start, it would have saved the county $6 million--$4 million that the county has spent fighting the case and $2 million that the county may have to pay if ordered to pick up the plaintiffs’ legal bills.

Hahn also renewed his call for expansion of the board to seven members. If Kenyon’s ruling is upheld, board expansion may be the only way for conservatives to maintain control. The conservative majority has consistently opposed expansion. Antonovich and Dana said Wednesday they remain opposed to it.

MALDEF had planned to submit a plan that expanded the board to nine members, but decided against it for fear of delaying a final ruling, Fajardo said.

Under two of the plaintiffs’ maps, Edelman’s 3rd District--which now includes heavily Latino East Los Angeles, the Westside and part of the San Fernando Valley--would keep his Westside political base but move north to pick up much of the San Fernando Valley from Antonovich. In a third map, Edelman would gain Malibu from 4th District Supervisor Dana.

In all three maps, Antonovich’s northern county 5th District would move east to take in more of the San Gabriel Valley from Schabarum.

Hahn’s heavily black 2nd District would be changed only slightly.

Under one alternative, the new, Latino district would encompass the Glendora homes of Sarah Flores and Greg O’Brien, the top vote-getters in the June primary to succeed Schabarum and opponents in a November runoff. Two other maps put their homes in Antonovich’s district.

Flores and O’Brien, both Republicans, said that their chances for election in the new heavily Democratic, Latino district would be more difficult.

Flores, who attended the court hearing with O’Brien, said: “I have every confidence that I can win (in the existing district).”

The plaintiffs have asked the judge to call off the November runoff and hold a new election in the redrawn 1st District. The county has asked the judge to allow the runoff between Flores and O’Brien to proceed in the existing district and allow the winner to serve until elections can be held in 1992 in new districts.

REDISTRICTING PLANS

After rejecting the county’s attempt to redraw supervisorial district lines, Judge David V. Kenyon will now consider alternative maps submitted by the plaintiffs in the landmark voting rights suit.

In all three maps submitted for Kenyon’s consideration, the new Latino majority district would carry retiring Supervisor Pete Schabarum’s 1st District designation. The new district would be created by joining heavily Latino East Los Angeles with similar San Gabriel Valley neighborhoods, extending east to Baldwin Park, Irwindale and La Puente and southeast to Pico Rivera and Santa Fe Springs.

In each of the maps, Supervisor Kenneth Hahn’s largely black 2nd District, encompassing South-Central Los Angeles, would change slightly.