Districts won’t benefit residents

Tim Geddes

On Nov. 25, 2003, ballot arguments were filed for the March 2, 2004

Special Municipal Election that contains the Scott Baugh-sponsored

districting measure. Let me be one of the first to claim that Baugh’s

argument in favor of the measure is totally false and misleading.

Let’s look at some of his assertions, and then at some of the

facts.

In paragraph two, Baugh’s argument asserts “With district

elections, council members will be accountable to you the voters --

not special interests.”

That is not necessarily so. Special interests will have ample

opportunity to contribute money and influence to district races, and

the winners will most likely be determined by who has the most

financial backing.

In paragraph three, Baugh’s argument states that the current

at-large system was last changed in the 1960s. So what! Many cities

in Orange County have had at-large systems in place for that long or

longer, and they do a good job in representing their communities.

This is a red herring. As far as special interest funding goes, is

Baugh including the special interest campaign contributions of

developers, AES and other business interests that he represents?

In the fourth paragraph, Baugh’s argument claims “With smaller

districts, every neighborhood in the city will be represented. You

will have council members who are accountable to you and your

neighbors.”

That is completely misleading. Let’s take a case study.

I live in Southeast Huntington Beach near Brookhurst Street and

Pacific Coast Highway. I would be in proposed District 1, which runs

up the coast to Goldenwest Street before going east on Clay Avenue to

Beach Boulevard, south on Beach to Atlanta Avenue, and then east on

Atlanta back to my neighborhood. There are 29 precincts in my

proposed district, 17 of them west of Beach on the Downtown side.

Only about 35% of the roughly 24,500 registered voters in my district

live in the 12 precincts east of Beach Boulevard. How many voters in

my district would identify themselves as Southeast residents? Only

about 5,500.

How often, Baugh, do you think the interests and concerns of 5,500

Southeast voters would win out against 19,000 voters in the rest of

the district? How often, Baugh, do you think my “neighborhood” will

be able to choose its own council member that will be accountable to

me and my neighbors? The answer is just about never!

Under the Baugh districting measure, accountability and

representation are illusions. The measure is nothing more than a

divide and conquer strategy that serves the political interests of

its backers and not the best interests of the community. Voters

interested in real fairness in representation should just say no to

this unfair measure.

* TIM GEDDES is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute to

“Sounding Off” e-mail us at hbindy@latimes.com or fax us at (714)

965-7174.