Depositions Ordered on Remap Plan : Courts: City Council majority will be questioned by lawyer of critics who say certain areas were gerrymandered.

A Superior Court judge Thursday ordered public depositions of the five San Diego City Council members who approved last year’s reapportionment plan, but he sharply limited the kinds of questions they may be asked.

Superior Court Judge William Pate, ruling on a motion in a lawsuit challenging the redistricting plan, also gave the plaintiffs access to draft maps, population calculations and other documents generated as part of the redistricting process. He approved their request to question council members’ aides and advisers but rejected a demand to examine the council members’ personal calendars.

“We won, hands down,” said Patrick McCormick, the attorney for four city residents with close ties to Councilman Bruce Henderson who filed the politically charged lawsuit over the council’s September reapportionment. The legal action contends that the redistricting plan violates state and local law by gerrymandering certain areas, including Henderson’s new district.

At the request of city attorneys representing the council’s majority bloc, Pate put off depositions until after the April 9 recall election of Councilwoman Linda Bernhardt in an effort to avoid turning information from the depositions into a campaign issue.

McCormick plans to question Bernhardt and council members Abbe Wolfsheimer, John Hartley, Wes Pratt and Bob Filner, who voted for the reapportionment in September over the objections of the council minority of Henderson, Councilman Ron Roberts, Councilwoman Judy McCarty and Mayor Maureen O’Connor. McCormick promised to question Bernhardt even if she is recalled.

Also on McCormick’s list are former Bernhardt aides Chris Crotty and Aurie Kryzuda, former Bernhardt political consultant Rick Taylor, Filner aide Vince Hall, Pratt aide Daniel Morales and political consultant Bob Glaser.

Majority bloc members dismissed the suit and Thursday’s legal maneuver as politically motivated attempts by Henderson and his allies to overturn the redistricting and hurt Bernhardt’s chances of defeating the recall.

“Obviously, all this is is a continuation of Mr. Henderson’s plan to . . . hurt Linda,” said Heide Bunkowske, Bernhardt’s top aide. “She’s more than happy to answer any question and have an opportunity to set the record straight.”

“It’s all a political game,” Pratt said. “I don’t have anything to hide. (McCormick) can ask me what he will.”

But Henderson, pleased by the outcome, said that “it’s imperative that the process that resulted in the (reapportionment) map be brought to light.”

The 1990 reapportionment already has seen many days in federal court, where Judge John S. Rhoades approved a settlement increasing the Latino population of Filner’s 8th District to 53.8%, to enhance the voting power of that ethnic group.

On Dec. 14, Rhoades sent the suit to state court for review of claims by Henderson and O’Connor that the reapportionment was the product of secret meetings and gerrymandering by the council majority.

McCormick’s legal papers so far claim no violation of the state’s Brown Act, which prohibits a majority of the council from meeting in secret, but he said Thursday that he might amend the complaint after Thursday’s ruling.

The upcoming recall also may play a pivotal role in the lawsuit. If Bernhardt is ousted from office and a candidate sympathetic to the minority position is elected, the balance of power on the council will shift and a settlement of the suit favorable to Henderson could be approved.

On Feb. 19, the council rejected a settlement offered by McCormick in a vote that followed the same factional lines as the reapportionment vote. Bernhardt abstained in the vote, but under council policy, her vote was recorded as a “no.”

Pate told McCormick that he could ask council members and their aides whether maps conformed with the City Charter and how they justify such conclusions. But he prohibited him from questioning the lawmakers on their reasoning--why they drew lines in some places and not others.

McCormick said he expects the limits to lead to wrangling between him and city attorneys over whether certain questions are appropriate.