[EL] More on the California Redistricting Commission

[Bruce Cain]

The press coverage on the Commission's first draft of a CD plan focused
primarily on incumbent displacement and the plan's possible political
implications, but
few have noted that the CRC has created two over 40% Asian CVAP seats--one
in San Jose an the other in LA.  These are higher concentrations that we
have ever had
before on the CD level in CA..  In the last round of redistricting, the
Asian-American community felt short-changed by the legislature's effort,
particularly in the San Jose area.
This caused some tensions the civil rights/reform community.  In the 80's
and 90's African-American districts at various levels had to make way for
new Latino seats.
This time the story in LA is that a few Latino disticts were substantially
altered to make way for a crescent shaped Asian-American district.  This is
not the first time that
we have seen Asian-Latino tensions.  In the mid-80's working on the LA city
redistricting with Richard Alatorre, we created a draft that moved Mike Woo
into more Asian areas
to make way for a new Latino seat, and this sparked a lot of controversy
(including a visit from the Justice Department with a warning that we might
be igniting a race war).
In addition to the two plus 40% seats, the growth of the Asan American
community is evident in the additional five seats that are plus 20% Asian
American CVAP.  To date, and if not
the lawyers will correct me, there are no examples of successful
Asian-American VRA challenges.  This seems to be motivated less by the legal
incentives and more by community
of interest and diversity considerations.
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