Editorial:
A couple of weeks ago the San Diego County Board of Su-pervisors came one step closer to changing the way the Supervisors re-draw their districts every ten years. Couple this with the recently voter-passed term limits placed on the Board of Supervisors and change is inevitable.
For decades the County Board of Supervisors has been one of the last good old boy bastions in local politics. The Board has been a place where White Republicans have held forth, with the exception of Leon Williams in the 80s. The current roster of Supervisors have served on the Board since the mid 90s, often times their re-elections are mere formalities. This in part has been due to the fact that the County Board has had the responsibility of re-drawing their own districts every ten years in such a manner that they have been able to confirm their safe seats.
For minority communities, the supervisors’ race has been a constant frustration. With the exception of Williams, no minority has served on this Board. In addition, no Democrat has come close to winning a seat. Democrats consider it a small victory when they are able to force a run-off.
It is with this backdrop and the threat of a Voting Rights lawsuit that Supervisor Greg Cox put forth a plan to change the way future re-districting is done. The first step in taking this responsibility out of the hands of the Supervisors is to change the state election code that would allow the County to establish an independent redistricting commission. Current state law requires county supervisors to draw the electoral districts.
On a 4-1 vote, naturally the only dissent vote was from Supervisor Bill Horn, the first step toward legislative change was taken that would allow the County to establish an Independent Redistricting Commission. For this, Greg Cox and and his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors, with the exception of Horn, deserve kudos for doing the right thing!!!