Huntington Beach tries to squelch democratic reform
After giving a speech a few years ago, I was approached by an activist who wanted to tell me about what he believes is California’s most significant political problem. I’m usually leery of enthusiastic people touting political solutions and toting stacks of papers, but Michael Warnken made a great elevator pitch that has forever changed my thinking.
California, the Santa Barbara resident told me, has the worst political representation in the country. We have the most people represented by the fewest politicians. I’ve used his number before, but it’s worth repeating: Each California Assembly member represents 483,000 people, whereas each lower house member in New Hampshire represents around 3,290 people.
As a result, few voters here can speak to — let alone influence — their elected state officials. Those “representatives” don’t need to worry about what voters think given that there are so many of them. They do, however, need to worry about the demands of special-interest groups, given how much money it takes to win in such highly-populated districts. As Warnken emphasized, California suffers from a severe “representation” problem.
There’s a corollary problem at the local level. Most city councils in the state elect their members on an “at large” basis, meaning that each official represents the entire city rather than a specific district within the city. This also dilutes representation. In at-large races, each candidate must run a citywide race. In big cities that means they need to raise lots of money from special interests, usually developers or unions that represent the city’s public employees.
In cities with at-large elections, we also find that many, if not most, of the council members often come from one or two neighborhoods — typically, some of the fanciest neighborhoods in the city. Concerns in other neighborhoods get short shrift. Often, poorer minority neighborhoods are overlooked in the process, which is why a law firm has been calling on local cities to adopt district elections — or face a lawsuit under the California Voting Rights Act.
Many cities have agreed to adopt (or have already implemented) that neighborhood-oriented system, including Lake Forest, Buena Park, Garden Grove, Fullerton, Placentia, Costa Mesa, Anaheim and others. However, as the Register reports, the city of Huntington Beach has vowed to fight the proposed change — even though the last city to fight the firm’s efforts (Palmdale) ended up paying $4.5 million in fees.
“We are prepared to vigorously defend any lawsuit,” said Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates, according to a Register report. That’s a foolish move for anyone who cares about improving our representative government.
“When you have district elections, you know who your rep is and you can go to them directly and they can take up the issue themselves,” Warnken said. “When you have districts, it becomes very clear who the representative for the district where (a) problem is occurring and there becomes a bit of a need for that representative to look heavily into the problem or lose their seat.”
Some conservatives have cheered the city’s defiant stance, given the effort is pushed by an attorney trying to expand the representation of Latinos, who tend to vote Democratic. But regardless of the political views of those supporting it, district elections are better than at-large elections because they create a more responsive government.
Conservatives had supported district elections in Huntington Beach in the early 2000s, back when environmental groups seemed to have outsized control over the council. The city squelched the effort, but a prime backer at the time, former GOP Assemblyman Scott Baugh, remains enthusiastic about district elections — even though the current plan is advanced by those with different political views.
“Elections that are closer to the people are better for democracy, period,” Baugh told me. Going to districts may or may not lead to a more liberal or conservative city council, but that’s not that point. The results may be mixed in any one election, he said, but it comes down to a simple question: “Is it better for democracy?” Baugh says the answer is yes because districts give citizen politicians the chance to run an effective campaign without having to raise a fortune.
Anaheim recently expanded its council to seven members and adopted a district model — the result of a settlement with civil-rights groups. Republican Mayor Tom Tait champions the concept. “It brings the government, City Hall, closer to the people,” he told me. “Now you have somebody from the neighborhood who stands a fighting chance against the moneyed special interests.” Two candidates recently won in Anaheim despite opposition from the major interest groups.
Whether one is talking about statewide representation or council races, the concept is the same. Instead of wasting tax dollars defending an unfair and outdated electoral system that dilutes the power of voters, Huntington Beach officials ought to take the advice of Warnken and find ways to create smaller districts, which are “more in sync with proper democratic traditions.”
Image by Vin Le
