Lawsuit Against Santa Paula

Dismissal of the voting rights lawsuit by the Department of Justice will be a victory for Santa Paula and citizens of every ethnic background.

The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that racial and ethnic gerrymandering is not constitutional.

Experience also shows that such balkanization destroys communities.

Redistricting and annexation policies using racial and ethnic classifications are inappropriate everywhere.

With a 71% majority of residents and 52% majority of registered voters in Santa Paula, Hispanics no longer have “minority” status for Section 2 Voting Rights Act claims.

Nor would Hispanics benefit by packing their votes into two “super-majority” districts.

Having found no evidence to sustain voting rights violations, the department seeks to condition dismissal upon stipulation to “statistical facts”--insulating the federal government from paying the city’s litigation expenses.

The department should unconditionally accept what was informally offered by the city prior to filing: Wait until after the 2000 United States census and resulting data are released, wait until the 2000 elections are held, and/or let the voters choose freely by referendum, without the threat of litigation hanging over voters’ heads.

Rejecting such proposals in 1999 and 2000, department civil servants precipitated needless expenditures of city, county and federal tax dollars.

Nevertheless, DOJ’s dismissal after nearly four years of investigation, without obtaining even a single form of relief, concedes that claims of racial polarization in Santa Paul have no merit.

They owe the citizens of Santa Paula more than money. The Department of Justice owes them an apology.

Vincent T. Lechowick

Attorney for Intervenor

Santa Paula Voters Opposed

to Electoral Redistricting