Politics

Escondido Ready To Fight Voting Rights Suit

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published December 14, 2011 at 3:09 PM PST

This story was published more than 12 years ago.

Escondido appears to be headed to court over the question of whether the city’s Latino population has a fair chance to be represented on the council. The city risks being sued because it has not decided to change from city-wIde to district elections.

Escondido is not the first city to be sued for failing to comply with the State and Federal Voting Rights Acts. Modesto lost a $3 million legal battle when it fought to keep city-wide elections.

Escondido Mayor Sam Abed is adamantly against district elections.

“I would rather pay $3 million and not divide this community,” he said.

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Cezar Diaz of the State’s Building and Construction Trades Council was one of those who appeared before the council last night to urge them to make the change. He said the Council is willing to pay for a lawsuit because it has many members living in Escondido who do not feel they are fairly represented. He said candidates without big campaign war chests have a better chance of winning in district elections.

“Our council has a mission," he said, “to promote our members’ participation in democratic institutions from school boards all the way up to the federal government level. Right now their participation is being hindered as a result of not having district elections.”

The Escondido city council did discuss the issue as a legal matter in closed session. The one Latina on the city council, Olga Diaz, is in favor of district elections, but she said the rest of the council members are unlikely to make the change without a fight.

Politics

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.