Critics say replacing at-large council races with district ones will give minorities clout

Salvador Vera

By ADAM ASHTON
BEE STAFF WRITER

He thinks that's because people don't get elected from there, creating a sense of futility at the polls.

"Folks don't feel their perspective is going to be respected anyhow, and more than anything, they think it's a waste of time," said Vera, 33. "I want to change that. I want them to see that anyone from their neighborhood can not only run, but win."

Vera and two other Latinos filed a lawsuit in Stanislaus County Superior Court three years ago seeking reforms to Modesto's City Council elections.

They contend Modesto's at-large races dilute the power of minority voters and stack the odds against minority candidates.

Vera wants Modesto to replace its citywide council races with district elections — a switch he argues would shift some political will from wealthier neighborhoods to poorer ones.

His lawsuit is at the center of three movements that could lead to district elections.

Another election reform is scheduled for a vote at Tuesday's City Council meeting. The council is expected to decide whether to put an initiative on the fall ballot that would let voters decide whether they want district elections.

The third is a review of city election law that could produce recommendations for change by late spring. Proposals from Modesto's Charter Review Committee — an 11-person group made up of people appointed by the council — would have to win approval in a citywide election.

City's power dynamic

Passion characterizes the debate on voting reforms because they stand to alter the city's power dynamic.

Modesto has seven council members, all of whom live east of Highway 99; five of them live east of McHenry Avenue, which roughly divides the city's population in half.

Only one Latino — Balvino Irizarry — has won a council race in nearly 100 years, even though Latinos make up nearly 30 percent of the city's population.

"There is a very real perception that the current City Council is not representative of the city as a whole," Councilwoman Kristin Olsen said. "I work very hard to make sure I do represent people of the entire city.

"Nevertheless, I'm not Latina. I'm not African-American. I'm not Asian, and that reality is not going to change. There is a feeling out there that they can't be represented when there is a very monolithic face on the City Council.

"We can do more and we can do better at trying to encourage a council that is more diverse," said Olsen, who added that she has not made up her mind on district elections.

Two blacks have served

Modesto is 55 percent white, 30 percent Latino, 7 percent Asian and 5 percent black, according to 2005 census estimates.

Two black men, Philip Newton and Richard Patterson, won citywide elections. Newton served from 1969 to 1977. Patterson was elected in 1981, and he won re-election in 1985, 1989 and 1993.

Of the 14 cities in California with populations larger than Modesto's 207,000, only two — Anaheim and Chula Vista — use at-large elections.

To Modesto Councilman Brad Hawn, much of the problem the city faces in electing representatives from different groups and neighborhoods boils down to who votes.

Latinos make up about 23 percent of eligible voters when age and citizenship are taken into consideration, according to census records.

A Bee review of two recent elections shows that the voting precincts with the lowest turnouts tend to be in west and south Modesto, which traditionally have a majority of minority residents.

In Modesto's 2003 mayoral race, turnout at precincts in those neighborhoods hovered around 5 percent to 10 percent. Central and east Modesto neighborhoods, by contrast, usually had turnouts greater than 15 percent.

Results weren't much better in the November election, when a precinct at the King-Kennedy Memorial Center in west Modesto had a turnout of 8.7 percent.

Conversely, turnout peaked at 34 percent at an Enslen Avenue precinct in central Modesto.

"The real issue is people getting out and voting," said Hawn, who is neutral on district elections.

Dave Lopez, who lost a bid for a council seat in 2005, opposes district elections because, "We've really got to concentrate on bringing the city together, not separating it."

He said the south and west side neighborhoods might be better served by stronger efforts to bring people to the polls.

"A good candidate is going to run first and foremost as a Modestan," Lopez said. "Myself, I've been a Modestan as long I've been a Hispanic."

Arguments about who votes bring Vera back to the beginning of why he filed the election lawsuit. Vera said he watched people from his neighborhood run for office and fail. He said Miguel Donoso was the last to do so in 2001.

Vera said a lack of representation for his neighborhood cultivates a perception that the council diminishes the needs of his area. Council members deny that suggestion, but the feeling remains.

"We have less attention to what's going on with our streets, less attention to simple things like potholes, simple things like a broken streetlight; simple things that get taken care of quickly in another side of town kind of drag out over here," Vera said.

Abdulla Mused, who owns a convenience store in south Modesto's airport neighborhood, echoed Vera's sentiments.

"We're like any other neighborhood. We have problems," said Mused, 59. "If the people here had somebody close to them, if somebody (on the council) lived here, they would listen."

Districts spur turnout?

Representatives from other cities that adopted district elections say the localized races spur increased voter turnout and keep council members in touch with residents.

Salinas voters in 1988 approved district races with some prompting from a Latino group that was threatening to sue for election reforms. One year later, Simon Salinas became the city's first Latino councilman.

Salinas went on to win election to the state Assembly. He termed out of office last year and returned to Monterey County as a supervisor.

Now, four of the council's seven seats are occupied by Latinos. Latinos make up 64 percent of the city's population.

"It has been transformed," Salinas said.

Stockton uses a two-tier election that requires council candidates to come in first or second in a district race. The top two vote-getters then compete in a citywide race to represent their districts.

Stockton adopted that process in 1986 after some residents raised concerns about council members focusing only on their districts at the expense of the city.

Stockton has a diverse council with three whites, two blacks and two Latinos.

"We need representation from all of the areas, if nothing else just to make people aware of the plights people go through in other communities," said Councilwoman Rebecca Nabors, who is black and represents Stockton's south side.

A lawsuit forced Dinuba to adopt district elections in 1994. Since then, Latinos have kept about two seats out of five, said Dinuba Mayor Terry McKittrick, who is white. The Mexican American Political Association, a Los Angeles-based group, in 1991 filed a lawsuit against the city because Latinos weren't getting into office.

Opponents of district elections in Modesto worry that council members would focus only on their neighborhoods instead of advocating for the city's larger interests.

Some say district races also would lower the bar for candidates by eliminating the culling that goes on in a citywide campaign, leading to weaker representatives.

"At some point, we have to get (to district elections)," former Mayor Carol Whiteside said. "I don't think there's any question about that. But my experience is that we do better when everyone feels responsible for every nook and cranny of the city."

Previous attempt failed

Those arguments beat back a 2001 initiative that would have brought district elections to Modesto. That measure lost by 66 percent to 33 percent.

Gladys Williams, a former president of Modesto's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, helped write a statement opposing district elections that appeared in voter guides six years ago.

She said she was concerned that district elections would lead to bickering on the council. She also said she wasn't convinced they would help create a more diverse council.

Williams said she still has those concerns, but said it might be time for the city to revisit district races.

"I would like to see a more diverse council that reflects the community," she said.

Elections for other boards in Stanislaus County and in nearby communities regularly yield representatives from different neighborhoods and ethnic backgrounds without turning to district races.

The Modesto City Schools Board of Education, for example, includes members of Latino, Asian and African-American descent.

Smaller cities, such as Livingston and Merced, often elect council members who represent most of their neighborhoods and ethnic groups.

"It's much easier in a smaller city to have more contact with everyone in the community," said Merced Councilman Jim Sanders, who is white. "As the town gets larger, if all the members of the council were from one part of town, I can see how people could feel underrepresented."

Not truly at-large races

Robert Rubin, a San Francisco civil rights attorney representing Vera, said part of the problem stems from Modesto's form of at-large elections.

Candidates choose a citywide "chair" to run for instead of facing off against a wider field of opponents for all the open seats. In effect, the candidates get to pick their opponents when they select a chair.

Other elected bodies, such as the Merced council and the Modesto City Schools board, take the top vote-getters in an open field to fill the open seats.

Former Councilman Irizarry said he'd like to see a new discussion on district elections in Modesto.

He questions the effectiveness of the Charter Review Committee and of Modestans for Fair District Elections, the group that is working to put a district election initiative on the fall ballot.

"We need to have a system that most people believe gives them a fair chance of getting elected," he said.

Irizarry lost his bid for re-election in 1991. He said he looks forward to the day when he no longer can be called the city's first and last Latino councilman.

"You always want pioneers," he said. "You want (Rosa) Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. that can open the door. But the door needs to remain open. What happened with me is the door was opened and the door was quickly closed."

Bee staff writer Adam Ashton can be reached at 578-2366 or .

West Modesto resident Salvador Vera says a lack of representation on the City Council for his neighborhood means City Hall downplays its problems. The trash, above, is one of the concerns of airport neighborhood residents.
THE BEE