Countywide : Most Officials Skip Redistricting Confab

State senators criticized local elected officials for their poor showing at a public hearing Friday on legislative redistricting, the only hearing to be held in Orange County among 13 planned throughout the state.

In fact, only 11 people offered comments about what the 1990 census will mean to the state’s political map.

“I commend those who did bother to come, but I am disappointed that many of the elected officials here did not see fit to come here today,” said state Sen. Milton Marks (D-San Francisco), chairman of the Senate Committee on Elections and Reapportionment.

The only elected officials who offered opinions were Santa Ana Unified School District trustee Audrey Yamagata-Noji, Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes and Mission Viejo Councilman William S. Craycraft.

Marks and state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), who is also a member of the committee, said officials should have taken more of an interest because of the changes redistricting will mean for representation at the state and federal levels.

Seven new congressional districts will be added to California’s current 45, but by law the state will still have only 40 Senate districts.

Some of those at the hearing told committee members that they want the new districts to reflect the emerging ethnic communities that are under-represented at most levels of government, especially the growing Latino and Asian populations in central Orange County. The old boundaries, they say, break up communities of similar interests and cultural backgrounds.

Richard P. Fajardo, a staff attorney for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said his organization is studying Orange County’s ethnic makeup to come up with recommendations on new district lines.

“There is a significant opportunity for Latinos to participate and elect representatives of their choice,” he said. “But what we think is important is the ability to maintain those communities of interest and not split them up.”

Patricia Harrigan of the Women’s Voter Registration League of Orange County said there should be more than a five-day waiting period for public comment between the time the committee presents its proposal for redistricting and the date the plan is approved.

She said officials in New York City, who are charged with redrawing boundaries of 51 City Council districts, have pledged to provide the public with computer software and hardware on the proposed maps.

“We hope the California Senate will also meet the challenge of the Information Age,” she said.