City recommends ‘No’ vote on Prop. 50

Santa Clarita City Council members shared several reasons Tuesday why they were unanimously recommending a “No” vote on Proposition 50 in November’s single-issue statewide election. 

Proposition 50, the Election Rigging Response Act, establishes new boundary lines for California’s congressional districts that would go into effect immediately. 

Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Marsha McLean complained about the language being used to promote the measure, Councilwoman Patsy Ayala felt it would weaken local representation and some questioned why the nonpartisan City Council was spending time on a debate that had been drawn nationally around partisan lines. 

The city staff report described the legislation as a “direct response to the Texas state Legislature’s adoption of new congressional district maps in Texas,” according to the report from Masis Hagobian, the city’s intergovernmental relations officer.  

“Following a letter from the United States Department of Justice, citing four congressional districts in Texas as discriminatory and unconstitutional, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session to address redistricting, among other issues,” the report notes, adding Abbott signed the new districts into law Aug. 29.  

Proposition 50 would have multiple impacts to the Santa Clarita Valley’s congressional representation, which is essentially entirely in the present 27th Congressional District, along with parts of the Antelope Valley.  

The new maps, which critics said were created in secret during a private session with Democratic Party lawmakers, divvy up the Santa Clarita Valley into three separate congressional districts. The eastern portions of the 27th District that include Acton and Agua Dulce would be placed in the 30^th District, which has a larger Democratic voter registration edge than the SCV; and some western pockets, including Castaic, would be added to Conejo Valley communities in the 26^th District. 

Ayala said that having two state Senate districts in the SCV during the pandemic caused problems when she was working in the district office as a representative for then-state Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita. 

“It was a problem because most of Santa Clarita was in (Senate) District 21, where I was working, and people were desperate, calling from Newhall and Stevenson Ranch. That was not part of the district of the Senate,” she said.   

“And it was like, ‘Help me, I have this unemployment issue or …,’ and we couldn’t, because the representative was another senator, and the district office … it still is … was in Calabasas,” she said, referring to Sen. Henry Stern, D-Calabasas.  

She said having the entire SCV in one district offers the city a stronger voice. 

McLean said she called for the talk because she had heard so much misleading language in reference to the promotion of a ballot measure. 

“Now the governor has decided that this nonpartisan commission should be put on hold, so that he can go back to the majority party in Sacramento, deciding how to manipulate the districts, to tear apart cities and parts of counties to make sure that the one-party rule stays in place,” McLean said, adding it would “obliterate” transparency. 
During public comment, Santa Clarita resident Carole Lutness said she recalled working with McLean and Mayor Pro Tem Laurene Weste on local environmental issues, and on behalf of the creation of the current bipartisan committee that draws up the state’s district lines every 10 years based on the U.S. Census data. 

“I worked many years on developing the citizens commission because I believe in fairness. And of course, gerrymandering is wrong, whether it’s a Republican or Democrat ruling,” she said.  

“But that didn’t stop (President Donald) Trump from getting the Texas governor to order an absolute, absolutely unfair mid-decade redistricting of more seats,” Lutness said. “Now Missouri is doing it. I am very sad that I had to vote for Prop. 50, but I had no choice.” 

Valerie Bradford said she was standing in opposition to the City Council taking up the discussion in the first place, noting the council is intended to be nonpartisan. 

“It has our state highly divided,” Bradford said. “It is an issue that our supposedly nonpartisan City Council should not take sides on, because to do so will alienate one side or the other.” 

The post City recommends ‘No’ vote on Prop. 50  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.