Asians, Latinos Battle Over Redistricting

Representatives of Orange County Asian and Latino groups clashed Thursday night over competing proposals for redrawing the county’s five supervisorial districts.

The debate, part of a public hearing hosted by a special committee of supervisorial aides, focused largely around suggestions on how to draw the boundaries of District 1, which is represented by Roger R. Stanton. That district covers much of central Orange County, including Santa Ana and Fountain Valley, as well as part of Garden Grove. Because it encompasses areas with large numbers of Asian and Latino residents, it stands at the center of the complex and potentially divisive debate over how to divide the county political districts for the coming decade.

Stanton has proposed a new district that would drop Santa Ana but add other areas, in the process including more Asians in District 1 but decreasing the percentage of Latino voters. The Hispanic Committee for Redistricting, however, has submitted its own plan, which would result in a district that would be 50% Latino and 13% Asian.

The committee’s plan would lump together Garden Grove, Santa Ana and the city of Stanton into a single district.

“What we are trying to do is look for a fair, equitable plan,” said Arturo Montez, a member of the committee. “These things span beyond partisan politics.”

Members of the Hispanic Committee for Redistricting note that Santa Ana already is the nation’s most overwhelmingly Latino large city, and the rest of the central county also has a large and growing Latino population. And yet, that population is divided among supervisorial districts in such a way that Latinos represent only a relatively small fraction of any one district.

In the process of drawing their map, however, the Latino group has angered some members of the Asian community.

“We will not be gerrymandered,” Nam Wheeler, director of the community relations for the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce in Orange County, said as she left Thursday’s meeting. “Their plan is totally obnoxious.”

Representatives of that group and other Asian organizations spoke in favor of Stanton’s proposal.

In their comments, several representatives of the Hispanic Committee on Redistricting tried to reassure members of the Asian community. Ruben A. Smith, counsel for the committee, pointed out that Stanton’s proposal would create a district that was about 17% Asian, just 4% more than that being suggested by the Latino group.

“We’re not out to get any particular supervisor,” Smith said. “Roger Stanton has done more than any other supervisor for the Hispanic community.”

Nevertheless, to win approval, any map must garner the votes of at least three county supervisors, and the Hispanic Committee’s plan already has angered Stanton. Among other things, that group’s plan would create a district that Stanton does not live in.

Deputy County Counsel Benjamin P. de Mayo said during Thursday’s meeting that if such a plan is approved, Stanton would have until Nov. 1, when the redistricting plan takes effect, to move into the new district. Otherwise, his seat would become vacant and would have to be filled by Gov. Pete Wilson.

The supervisors’ aides on Thursday declined to elaborate on how they had drafted the maps that each office has presented. The group is scheduled to meet again next week, however, and will then begin the process of eliminating maps that the aides do not support.