County Will Spend Big to Fight Hispanic Coalitions

The Black, Latino and Puerto Rican Alliance for Justice is calling on Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and County Commissioners to stop wasting taxpayer money by continuing to fight a lawsuit that seeks fair representation for Latinos in the county.

The call comes on the eve of Jacobs and the County Commissioners voting to spend $340,000, for legal representation to defend a lawsuit brought by LatinoJustice PRLDEF and several residents, over the redistricting plan adopted by the County in 2011.

“This insanely expensive initiative is a slap in the face for the County’s growing Latino community,” said Alliance President Pura Delgado, who has a long history and national reputation as an advocate for racial and ethnic justice. “It directly reflects the kind of resistance to change which I saw in the 1960s and 1970s when the Black people sought justice and representation.”

Delgado added, “It is just not acceptable, 50 years later, to spend taxpayer dollars to fight taxpayers and citizens and voters in the Hispanic community who seek fair representation on the County Commission.”

In the lawsuit, LatinoJustice pointed out that the plan adopted by the Orange County Commission is “unlawful and void” as the “[district] lines do not afford the Latino community an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.”

The suit also contends that, notwithstanding the near doubling in size of the Latino population in the county from 18.8 percent in 2000 to 26.9 percent currently, Latinos still do not have a Latino-district in the County Commission. Particularly in District 3, the County Commission chose to adopt a redistricting plan with a Latino population of 41% (down from 45% in 2000), notwithstanding the submission of several community plans with an over 50% Latino voting age population, the suit also claims.

A non-Latino Pete Clark went on to win District 3, in last November’s election and nearby District 4, which also has a large Latino population, is also held by a non-Latin representative, Jennifer Thompson.

Vice President of the Alliance, David Rucker also reacted sharply to the potential waste of taxpayer dollars:

“This is the sort of thing we might have seen in Orange County in 1965, but the new Hispanic Community deserves representation just as much as the Black Community deserved it in the ’60s.  We had to wait twenty years, until 1988, to get a seat at the table and that kind of waiting is not acceptable.”

Last week, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), lent his voice to the growing chorus, rejecting the notion that $340,000 taxpayer dollars might very well be spent saying, “This is money that could be used for education or public safety. Instead, it will be used to defend a questionable redistricting plan that allegedly discriminated by diluting the voice of Hispanics. I sincerely hope the Orange County Government finds a better, more appropriate use, for these taxpayer funds.”

One alternative proposed by the lawsuit is that a special election be held in 2013 with a revised County Commission redistricting plan and/or a court-ordered redistricting plan that “does not dilute, cancel out or minimize the voting strength of Latinos.”

The Alliance is urging residents to attend the Orange County Commission meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, April 30, make their voices heard and protest plans by the Commission to spend $340,000 of taxpayer monies, to fight against the legal challenge brought by LatinoJustice and District 3 residents.

“Tell them [County Commissioners] this is wrong!,” the Alliance said in a statement.