Judge Delays Verdict on Redistricting Battle : Politics: Revised boundaries for Districts 4 and 8 are expected to be announced at a Dec. 14 hearing. Both sides claim victory.

The answer to the much-discussed question of City Council redistricting was put on hold again Tuesday, with U.S. Dist. Judge John Rhoades saying he will make a final decision Dec. 14 but will “probably” approve revised boundaries for Districts 4 and 8.

Mike Aguirre, the attorney for the Latino coalition that favored redrawn boundaries for 4 and 8, said afterward that Tuesday’s session was “significant in that any objections to the 4th and 8th portions of the map were essentially withdrawn.”

Aguirre said his side could claim victory, because, “we sought relief with respect to 4 and 8. That was really our only objective.”

But Donald McGrath II, the attorney representing Mayor Maureen O’Connor, who remains opposed to citywide redistricting, said his side considered Tuesday’s session a victory.

“The judge has looked at 4 and 8 and said, ‘Everybody seems happy with the realignment of those districts. So, do I have to go out and validate an entire map just to see those redrawn? No, I don’t think I do.’ ”

McGrath said Rhoades essentially has three choices, come Dec. 14:

* He can approve the new map, which would redefine council boundaries citywide.

* He can approve the redistricting of 4 and 8 but set aside considerations of what to do with other council districts.

* He can reject the entire redistricting plan.

Attorneys for both sides said Tuesday that, most likely, the judge will select the second option and let future skirmishes over redistricting be decided by the City Council or in state courts.

“One reason we considered it a victory,” McGrath said, “is that, once a federal order goes down, that puts a lid on it. And, there just haven’t been enough hearings on this to warrant such a federal treatment.”

Aguirre said that any elation on the part of the mayor’s attorney or council members Judy McCarty, Bruce Henderson and Ron Roberts, who side with the mayor, “is like the wailings of somebody on Death Row--they’re just happy if they get another month.”

Aguirre said he wasn’t so sure that the judge would not rule in favor of the entire redistricted map. “I don’t think he eliminated that option at all,” he said.

Aguirre’s client, the Chicano Federation of San Diego County, last month reached a settlement with a five-member majority of the City Council over the redrawing of district boundaries. Members of the five-member majority are Bob Filner, Linda Bernhardt, Wes Pratt, John Hartley and Abbe Wolfsheimer.

As a result of the redistricting, District 8 was given a majority of Latino voters. The Chicano Federation believes that the ethnic composition of the district, which stretches from downtown to the South Bay, will greatly enhance the opportunity for a Latino to be elected to the City Council.

No Latino has served on the council without first having been appointed to the position.

The vocal minority on the council--led by Mayor O’Connor--maintains that new district boundaries in other parts of the city, mainly those north of Interstate 8, were gerrymandered to punish the majority’s political enemies on the council and in the process split neighborhoods and communities.

McGrath, the mayor’s attorney, said that his side was never opposed to the redefinition of Districts 4 and 8.

“Today really was a victory for us,” he said Tuesday. “We said, ‘Fix 4 and 8 but give us the rest of the city.’ My hope is that that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”