As Orange County Republicans snooze, blissfully ignorant of the dangerous possibility of council districts being imposed on Anaheim (or in some cases, providing misguided support for them), the OC Democratic Party is lending its voice to the left-wing coalition pushing for them. This just came over the transom from the OC Dems:

DPOC Calls On The City Of Anaheim To Enact Elections By Single-Member Districts

Santa Ana, CA – 2/21/2013 – The Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC) calls on Anaheim to enact elections by single-member district for the 2014 election cycle.

In June 2012, Anaheim community leaders and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the City contending that Latinos are effectively shut out of the current electoral process. Currently, council and mayoral elections are conducted through an “at-large” system.


“The DPOC reaffirms the California Democratic Party’s support of single-member district elections in cases where underrepresented groups’ electoral success would be enhanced by the adoption of single-member districts. It is time for the City of Anaheim to settle the lawsuit and place a districting plan on the ballot as soon as possible,” stated DPOC Chair Henry Vandermeir.

Until the November 2012 election, at least three of the five members of the council lived in the eastern part of the city known as “Anaheim Hills.” Moreover, the area of the city west of Euclid Street, known as “West Anaheim” and where more than 125,000 people live, has not had a resident elected to the council since 1998.

2012 DPOC- endorsed candidate and now Councilmember Jordan Brandman, has called for the City to move to single-member districts for the 2014 election cycle.
Vandermeir hopes that, “The entire Anaheim City Council will join Councilmember Brandman and others in calling for single-member district elections and develop a system that promotes equal representation among its residents.”

Note: Because Anaheim is a Charter City, voters must approve any districting plan in order for district elections to be enacted.

There is much to say about council districts, but I’d like to point out that the single-member district system being pushed by the OC Democratic Party, Mayor Tom Tait, OCCORD and others is the least representative option.

Under such a system, Anaheim residents would be governed by a council the majority of whom they had absolutely no voice in electing. How on earth can anyone rationally claim that is more representative, more democratic than Anaheim’s current at-large system?