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Without much public notice, something important is happening in Los Angeles County’s fascinating ethnic politics and it could result in greater Latino and Asian American representation on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in the next few years.
A group of Latino demographers, lawyers and others are trying to persuade the U.S Department of Justice to sue Los Angeles County to force the county board of supervisors to realign the five supervisorial districts. They would change the boundaries to create another district where a Latino could be elected to the board.
At present, there is only one district with enough eligible Latino voters to elect a Hispanic supervisor, the First, represented by Supervisor Gloria Molina. Plans for a second such district were rejected by the board in 2011 because they would have hurt the re-election plans of Supervisor Don Knabe by depriving him of a large number of loyal constituents.
The plan also proposes a district that would improve an Asian American’s chances of being elected to the board for the first time.
The effort faces a long and challenging path. The Justice Department would have to agree to file the suit and then win its case in federal court.
But the number of Latinos eligible to vote is increasing rapidly, strengthening arguments for a second potentially Hispanic district, according to Alan Clayton, an expert in political representation who is coordinating the Latino effort to persuade the Justice Department to sue.
Clayton said the Latino leaders are supporting a plan proposed in 2011 by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who is African American.
It would assure Ridley-Thomas of a district much like his present one, with a large number of African American voters. But the proposal—if it were adopted—would not affect incumbents Molina, Zev Yaroslavsky, Knabe and Mike Antonovich. They are serving their last four-year terms under the county’s three -term limit law. Ridley-Thomas, first elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012 can run one more time.
The one district now favorable to Latinos, the First, would be redrawn to include heavily Hispanic Southeast Los Angeles as well as Central Los Angeles, and strongly Latino communities in the San Fernando Valley, including Canoga Park, Reseda, North Hollywood and Sun Valley.
The second potential Latino district would be the Fourth, which Knabe now represents. Its present boundaries would be extended into Latino areas of the San Gabriel Valley. These two districts would be adjoining in some areas. Thus if Latinos were elected from each in a future election, they, their constituents and campaign contributors could form a powerful bloc.
The present Third District would be extended down the coast and also include West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Studio City and Encino, making it sort of a Gold Coast of local politics and giving Yaroslavsky’s successor a huge fund raising base.
The proposed realignment could also increase the chances of the board having its first Asian American member. The boundaries of the Fifth District, now represented by Antonovich, would be extended deep into the San Gabriel Valley to include heavily Asian communities such as Monterey Park and Rosemead. In the next election, with the termed-out Antonovich out of the picture, the seat would open up to some well known Asian American contender. One possibility is Rep. Judy Chu, a former Monterey Park mayor who also represented the area in the state Assembly.
