Democratic Club

by Mary Larson

LW contributor

The Democratic Club is against the potential recall of three members of the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board of Trustees. All three of these trustees were elected to the Board in 2020. The Democratic Club believes that they, along with the two trustees who will be running for re-election in 2022, have been doing an outstanding job of governing the school district in these troubled times. Such a recall will cost the district up to $192,948, plus about $3.40 per signature for verification. Members are urged to not sign petitions to recall the three trustees.

The club is also closely following the redistricting of the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Unlike in Los Angeles County, which has delegated redistricting to an independent commission, Orange County supervisors have final say on the outlines of the districts they will represent if they seek re-election.

The Supervisors’ vote on Nov. 22 wrapped up nearly a month of meetings during which they reviewed maps submitted by the public. They then went through numerous revisions to create new maps.

The final map (dubbed 5A-1) was drawn by Supervisor Doug Chaffee. Chaffee and Katrina Foley are the two Democrats on the majority-Republican board. They were joined in supporting 5A-1 by Republican Lisa Bartlett, who will be termed out of office at the end of 2022. The adopted map created a majority-Latino district for the first time in history.

Another map under consideration prompted allegations of gerrymandering. This rejected map would have put Foley at a disadvantage. Now, because the adopted map puts all of Costa Mesa and neighboring Newport Beach in her new District 5, Foley could be re-elected next year. Until then, she will be representing District 2, which is now centered on Santa Anna, where she does not live.

Leisure World voters—along with voters in the rest of Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Fountain Valley, Midway City, Westminster and a portion of Garden Grove—are now going to be in Supervisor Andrew Do’s District 1. Thirty-three percent of the voters in Do’s district are Asian American. There will be no election in this district until 2024, when Do will be termed out of office. Candidates for election to the Board of Supervisors to represent the new Districts 2, 3 and 5 will be on June 2022 Primary ballots.

The effort to recall all five members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors that began earlier this year ended due to the required paperwork not being submitted by the deadline.

LW Democrats and supporters who are interested in more in-depth, up-to-date reporting on relevant issues can subscribe to the club’s free electronic newsletter. Email democraticclubsblw@ gmail. com, or call editor Mary Larson at (562) 296-8521.