35th District Plan Should Be 86ed

Let me be among the first to voice my disgust and outrage for the proposed 35th Senate District as outlined in “Plan Deletes Sen. Green, Clusters Minorities” (Sept. 5).

The proposed district would “take in portions of conservative Corona” and tack it onto a particularly conservative portion of Orange County, while losing progressive portions of Orange County. It appears I would be stuck in this district.

Another plan would place all of Corona in this new district. As I see it, the only “minorities” being clustered and protected are Orange County Republicans and their incumbent representatives. Republicans are not a protected “minority” group under the federal Voting Rights Act!

Sen. (John R.) Lewis (R-Orange) admits rather candidly that “every good Republican state senator in Orange County has a good district, a district that will reelect them handily.” This amounts to no more than sanctioned and legalized stuffing of the ballot box.

Gov. Pete Wilson has said “he will not sign a plan, even if it has bipartisan support, if its purpose is to protect incumbents while minimizing the number of competitive districts.” I hope Gov. Wilson sticks to his guns and opposes this plan.

Democrats statewide account for 49.49% of the state’s voters to the Republicans’ 39.26%. The as-proposed 35th, with a voter registration of 1 Democrat to 1.75 Republicans, clearly epitomizes the archetypal uncompetitive district Gov. Wilson finds repugnant.

Realistically, a Democrat is precluded from winning in such a district; in fact, I doubt that even a Corona-based Republican could win in it--voters support “their own”--and the lion’s portion of the district’s voters are in Orange County. Hence, I believe that Corona, under the proposed plan, could be the odd man out in Orange County-based and Republican-dominated politics for the next 10 years!

GEORGE BALDERAS

Corona