Board Backs Off Redistricting Panel

SANTA ANA —  The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday decided against establishing a three-judge panel to redraw supervisorial district boundaries, delaying reapportionment until after the 2000 census.

Then-Supervisor Don Saltarelli proposed the independent panel last year as a “nonpolitical” way of adjusting boundaries, which he faults for placing communities with widely different interests in the same district.

Several supervisors initially expressed support for the idea. But on Tuesday, most opposed spending $30,000 to as much as $200,000 on reapportionment this year when federal law requires that the county undertake another boundary change in four years, based on new census data.

“I don’t see the point of spending this money on a redistricting proposal now when we will have to turn around and do it again in a few years,” Supervisor Charles V. Smith said.

Supervisor Jim Silva agreed, adding: “I think it would be irresponsible for the board to spend that kind of money.”

Saltarelli, who since leaving office in January has resumed work at his Tustin real estate office, said he wasn’t surprised by the decision.

“It will never happen now,” he said. “It takes courage to change. Once a supervisor is elected to a district, he assumes he can win reelection from that district. There is no interest in change.”

Saltarelli originally proposed that the board approve a new boundary map that his staff developed last fall. He argued that with three lame-duck members, the old board could reapportion districts without the self-interest that usually accompanies such decisions.

But supervisors rejected the proposal. As a backup plan, Saltarelli proposed that a panel of three retired judges hold public hearings and craft a redistricting proposal for the new board, where most of the members are expected to seek reelection.

The current boundaries have been a source of frustration, especially to residents of District 3, which stretches from La Habra and Fullerton on the northern tip of Orange County down to Mission Viejo and Lake Forest in the south.

Fullerton City Councilman Don Bankhead urged the board Tuesday to move ahead with reapportionment, calling the current boundaries “ungainly” and the product of “gerrymandering.”

Representatives from the League of Women Voters urged the board to shelve the plan, arguing that early redistricting cannot be justified because recent county population growth has been the slowest since World War II.

“Redistricting now is unnecessary, and given the fiscal constraints on the county budget, it is unwise,” said Jean Askham, the league president. “Every dollar spent on extra redistricting is a dollar that cannot be spent on the health and human services severely cut in the post-bankruptcy budget.”