Santa Ana Left Intact in New District Map

Orange County supervisors adopted new boundaries Tuesday that keep Santa Ana--the county’s largest city, with the biggest Latino population--intact, thus increasing the chances for a serious attempt to put a Latino on the board in 2004.

The approval of the new boundaries came despite last-minute pleas from city officials to move portions of Newport Beach and Anaheim into other districts to ease the cities’ future planning decisions.

“It definitely opens the door for a Latino,” said Frank Barbaro, chairman of the county Democratic Party. “But I don’t think that’s the criteria, because philosophy is the criteria. But the demographics being what they are, it opens the door wide for a Latino candidate.”

The supervisor most affected politically is Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad, an El Toro airport proponent who lost much of Anaheim--her political stronghold--and Orange. The new plan puts Fullerton into Coad’s district, which could spark a challenge from Fullerton City Councilman Chris Norby, who opposes an El Toro airport.

The once-a-decade process of redistricting--from federal to state to county districts--has produced some bizarre boundaries over the years. But it’s changing demographics, rather than political party affiliation, that have dramatically transformed the county.

The board had scheduled another redistricting hearing for next week. But a secretary of state’s memo received Monday set Tuesday as the deadline to adopt new boundaries, prompting the board to approve the plan with the possibility of allowing county staff to make minor amendments concerning Anaheim and Newport Coast.

The new boundaries take effect in 30 days.

The plan was approved, 3 to 1, with Supervisor Todd Spitzer dissenting and Coad abstaining.

Spitzer said he wanted more time to consider the plan and Coad wanted to first see results from an informal poll Spitzer had taken. The poll found, according to Spitzer, that some cities in his district expressed reluctance to be moved into Coad’s.

There has been criticism by some elected Republicans in the county that the new boundaries--created with Census 2000 data--may give an edge to Democrats in the 1st District. The office of supervisor is nonpartisan, but all five board members are Republican.

Figures from the 2000 census show that whites are no longer the majority in 10 of the county’s 34 cities. That was true of only one, Santa Ana, in 1990. In Buena Park, the percentage of the white population dwindled from 71% in 1990 to 38% in 2000, as the percentage of Latinos increased to at least 30% and Asians to at least 21%.

Under the new plan, Latinos, who tend to register as Democrats, will have a population majority of 56% in the 1st District, which includes Santa Ana and Westminster, part of Garden Grove and some unincorporated areas. Whites make up 20%; Asian and African Americans represent about 21% combined. Current 1st District Supervisor Chuck Smith will term out in 2004.

Republican Gaddi Vasquez was the last Latino supervisor; he served from 1987 until his resignation after the bankruptcy in 1995.

Several political consultants said the “perfect” Latino candidate would have to be a moderate, pro-business Democrat who is able to raise at least $250,000 and be capable of bridging cultural gaps.

One of the keys to the redistricting process was the concept of keeping “communities of interest” in the same district, said Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim), whose name has been included among top potential Latino candidates.

But good representation “is the key,” Correa said, rather than whether a candidate is Latino. He added that Smith is doing a “good job.”

“It’s important to recognize that the Latino constituency is looking for good education and health care, and clean, safe streets--[as] are most of . . . the people in the district,” Correa said.

While Latinos may have greater numbers in the new district, political consultants say they always have to push voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns on election day. It’s conceivable that a campaign by a strong Latino candidate might not result in an easy victory, they said.

The League of United Latin American Citizens had submitted a plan that would have included parts of the county’s ethnic core--including Garden Grove, Orange and all of Santa Ana--in one district. That plan also called for redrawing the 1st District’s boundary southward to include the closed El Toro Marine base and a portion of Irvine, so that a second district in north Orange County could be carved to help minority supervisorial candidates.

But supervisors said they could not back the plan because it split too many cities.

One of the advantages of the approved plan, a modification of a Spitzer-Tom Wilson proposal and submitted by Smith, is that it splits only two cities: Anaheim and Garden Grove.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Newport Beach requested that Newport Coast, an unincorporated area south of Newport Coast Drive to Laguna Beach that the city hopes to annex, be kept in the 2nd District with the rest of the city for continuity’s sake.

Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said the city did not have a problem moving from Wilson’s 5th District into Jim Silva’s 2nd District. In fact, he said, Newport has “more affinity” with Silva because he supports a smaller John Wayne Airport and construction of an international airport at the closed El Toro Marine base, while Wilson opposes El Toro.

Anaheim officials had requested that an industrial area in the northern part of the city remain in the 4th District for planning purposes.

Both cities’ requests could be addressed by a minor change of the boundaries, which supervisors instructed staff to do with the motion they approved.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

New Boundaries

Source: Orange County