[EL] Koreatown residents sue L.A. over redistricting - latimes.com

[Kathay Feng]

Some additional facts to ponder:
The Executive Director and mapper for the LA's advisory Redistricting Commission was Andrew Westhall, a staffer of Wesson's who returned to Wesson's employ after the Commission completed its work.
The two African American City Council members mentioned in the article, Council members Jan Perry<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/jan-perry-PEPLT007543.topic> and Bernard C. Parks, who "accused Wesson of orchestrating changes that stripped their districts of economic assets" were the two who did not vote for.
Maybe these are coincidences, maybe not.
Kathay Feng
Executive Director
California Common Cause
kfeng at commoncause.org
(213) 252-4552

Please note that we will be moving our LA office to
453 S. Spring Street, Suite 401, Los Angeles, CA 90013
as of September 2012.

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of David A. Holtzman
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2012 3:46 PM
To: [EL]
Subject: [EL] Koreatown residents sue L.A. over redistricting - latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0801-koreatown-lawsuit-20120801,0,7093984.story


Interesting case.  I have a question about it (please see below).


Some of the LATimes article:

"Appearing before an audience at the Baptist Ministers Conference of Los Angeles, Wesson said he worked hard during the redistricting process to ensure that 'a minimum of two of the council people will be black for the next 30 years.'

'The most important asset that we have as people is to make sure we have a black vote or two on that council,' Wesson said in the taped remarks. 'And that was my priority.'"


Some things to know about this case:

1. The redistricting map was drawn first by a 21-member appointed commission -- with one member appointed by Councilmember Herb Wesson.

2. The City Council made some 18 adjustments to the map before adopting it by ordinance.  (Wesson was council president then, but not when the commission was appointed.)



MY QUESTION: would this case be different if the City Council had enacted the commission's map unchanged?


  - dah





--
David A. Holtzman, M.P.H., J.D.
david at holtzmanlaw.com<mailto:david at holtzmanlaw.com>

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