[LWVNM Action] New Mexico InDepth article – L.A. City Council redistricting issue reminds us of New Mexico

[Richard Mason]

New Mexico InDepth article – L.A. City Council redistricting issue reminds
us of New Mexico

At a meeting last year with two other Latino city councilors and the head
of that city’s federation of labor, Los Angeles City Council President Nury
Martinez made a series of racist and ugly comments about a Black child,
indigenous immigrants from Mexico, and fellow city councilors. A recording
of the comments was leaked online last week and subsequently reported
<https://nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&id=9a9c971158&e=abe34880ce>
by
the Los Angeles Times, outraging the public and roiling the city council.

So far, both Martinez and Ron Herrera, who was president of the Los Angeles
County Federation of Labor, have resigned their positions. All business of
the city council is effectively on hold as the public and other members of
the city council demand the other two city councilors who participated in
the meeting––Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo–resign as well.

Several members of the public who demanded resignations at Tuesday’s L.A.
city council meeting also questioned whether laws had been broken since the
four strategized at the meeting about how to draw new political maps in a
way that ensures they can remain in office.

Herrera referred to the group as a Latino caucus, and said his primary goal
was to ensure their ability to win re-election. Within that context they
discussed how they’d like to see districts of Black, Asian and white city
council members changed.

While Los Angeles has an independent redistricting commission, the city
council wasn’t required to adopt the maps it produced – just like New
Mexico’s lawmakers weren’t required to adopt maps produced by our own
independent redistricting commission in 2021.

When I read the reports coming out of Los Angeles, I couldn’t help but
imagine similar conversations happening among New Mexico state lawmakers.

I prefer to believe that such meetings, if they happened in New Mexico,
weren’t racist.

But in the wake of a new report
<https://nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&id=310449ee11&e=abe34880ce>
on
New Mexico’s redistricting process that finds lawmakers' mainly protected
their own seats–which we refer to as “buddymandering
<https://nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&id=216b7474ee&e=abe34880ce>”--it’s
highly likely, in my mind, that such meetings did occur.

The redistricting process can seem like a snoozefest to many, but it’s
incredibly important. There are federal laws meant to ensure the voting
power of racial minorities isn’t diluted through redistricting. But all
other communities of interest – for instance, those based on geography,
culture, or income – rely on a transparent and politically neutral process
for the once-a-decade redrawing of district maps that shape political
outcomes well into the future.

The report co-authored by University of New Mexico political science
professor Gabriel Sanchez was crystal clear in its conclusion that New
Mexico lawmakers shielded themselves and colleagues in both parties from
competition when drawing our state’s new political maps. The outcome: less
competitive legislative elections.

One can see the outcome right now. With all 70 of our state representatives
up for re-election this year, there are only about ten with truly contested
elections.

Competition is good because it forces elected officials to grapple with the
complexities and nuances of diverse constituents. But generally, most
members of the New Mexico Legislature have safe seats, because lawmakers
are in charge of drawing their own political maps. And their focus on
drawing maps that reduce or eliminate competition for their own seats is a
principal reason for a growing movement
<https://nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&id=f86d1520f2&e=abe34880ce>in
New Mexico demanding that an independent commission have final say over how
political districts are drawn.
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