L.A. Area to Get State’s New Congressional Seat

SACRAMENTO —  State lawmakers proposed new political boundaries Friday for California’s congressional delegation that would create a new, Latino-majority district in Los Angeles County but overall have limited impact on the partisan balance of the House.

The proposal--backed by both Democratic and Republican leaders--is designed to increase the Democratic edge in the state delegation by just one seat--to 33 Democrats and 20 Republicans. The state’s delegation will expand to 53 seats in the next Congress from the current 52 because of population growth.

The proposal is a setback to Democratic hopes for recapturing control of the House. National Democratic leaders at one time had hoped that redrawing California’s district lines could produce anywhere from two to four new seats for the party--offsetting losses in other states where Republicans control the process. But California Democrats had called those hopes unrealistic and warned that any effort to reach for more Democratic seats could backfire by making several incumbents vulnerable.

The plan would protect incumbents of both parties except for Rep. Steve Horn of Long Beach, one of the dwindling number of moderate Republicans left in Congress, and Rep. Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres). Horn’s district would be carved up, and Condit’s would be redrawn in a way that would make him vulnerable to challenge in a primary if he ignores increasingly strong hints from party leaders who would rather he not run again.

The boundaries unveiled Friday may be changed slightly as a result of hearings to be held next week, but the bipartisan agreement all but rules out any major changes, redistricting experts in both parties said.

“There might be some room for tweaking, but the Republican delegation at this point plans to support it,” said Brad Smith, a spokesman for Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), chairman of the state GOP delegation.

In addition to the congressional redistricting, the Legislature plans hearings next week on remapping proposals for the state Senate, Assembly and the tax-collecting State Board of Equalization.

The Senate and Assembly plans, released earlier this week with bipartisan agreement, were largely designed to protect incumbents of both parties--a move that has the effect of locking in Democratic majorities in both houses for the next 10 years. The new district would be in effect in time for the primary election in March.

Under the plan, the state’s newest congressional district would be a U-shaped swath stretching from Uptown Whittier south to Cerritos and Lakewood then back north through South Gate. The proposed district’s population is at least 55% Latino and Democratic and is expected to elect a Latino Democrat. The new district would exclude much of east Whittier, which tends to be whiter than other parts of the city.

To draw that district, the map-makers did away with the 38th District, currently held by Horn, who barely won reelection last year. Horn could choose to run against an incumbent in a neighboring district, but if he decides to retire, Bush administration officials have suggested they would find a job for him, a senior Republican aide said.

That Republican loss would be offset by a new Republican-leaning district in the southeastern part of the Central Valley, including Tulare County.

The final uncertain element in the electoral math is the district of Condit. Under the plan, the district’s boundaries would be realigned. A long, thin section of territory that reaches northward into Stockton would be added. That would pack more Democrats into what is now a closely divided district.

As a conservative Democrat who won many Republican votes, Condit had prospered in the current district until he was caught up in the Chandra Levy disappearance case.

Many Democratic leaders believe they would lose the seat if he were to run next year. If Condit does decide to run, the new district would be hospitable to a primary challenge by a more liberal Democrat.

There seems to be no shortage of possible successors, including such Democratic veterans as state Sens. Mike Machado of Linden and Jim Costa of Fresno and former state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi.

Latino redistricting advocates cheered creation of the proposed 53rd Congressional District. Some, however, were angered by what they said was the arbitrary splitting up of Latino communities in the San Fernando Valley between districts now held by Democrats Howard L. Berman of Mission Hills and Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks.

“The San Fernando Valley has been divided, cut and fractured. The voting strength of the Latino community has been diluted and diminished,” charged Armadis Velez of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The Latino population in Berman’s 26th District was reduced from 65% to 40% when heavily Latino communities were moved into Sherman’s district, Velez said. The share of registered voters in the district who are Latino fell from about 40% to 17%, he said.

Those objections drew support from state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), the dean of the Latino caucus in the Legislature, who said the redistricting proposal “is going to have a lot of work done on it” before it will be approved by the Legislature.

“The plan protects incumbents. There ought to be more ‘influence seats’ that do create opportunities . . . for communities to elect people of their choice regardless of who they may be,” he said.

But state Sen. Don Perata (D-Alameda), chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee, said he had heard no other complaints about the plan’s treatment of the San Fernando Valley.

“The United Farm Workers wanted Berman saved and returned to Washington,” Perata noted. “He’s legendary on farm worker issues.”

National Democratic leaders who wanted to use the California redistricting process to create even more Democratic seats ran into objections early on from California Democrats, including Gov. Gray Davis.

State Democratic leaders warned that the party already had won so many seats in California that the only way to create additional Democratic-majority districts would be to endanger seats the party already held. Democratic Congressional incumbents, including Reps. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, Jane Harman of Venice, Susan A. Davis of San Diego and Lois Capps of Santa Barbara, would have been put at risk, they said.

“You could produce additional Democratic seats by making a lot of other Democratic seats marginal,” said state Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco). Democrats might win in such a “marginalized” district in 2002, but lose the seat in later years, he said.

That gamble would have been too risky, said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), a redistricting veteran. “You would have made every one of them a Republican target,” she said.

With the defeat of four Republican incumbents in the last election, along with the proposed new Democratic seat, “the national Democratic Party should be very pleased,” Pelosi said. “We did our heavy lifting.”