Voting rights act trial opens with dueling numbers

LOS ANGELES -- Opening statements began Wednesday in the trial of a neighborhood association's lawsuit against the city of Santa Monica, seeking to replace the at-large city council election system with voting by area to increase the numbers of Latino council members.

In a packed courtroom at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, Milton C. Grimes of the Law Offices of Milton C. Grimes argued for the Pico Neighborhood Association, saying, "The Hispanic and the African American population is significant in the Pico neighborhood, but they have no representation on the city council." The plaintiffs allege one Latino had been elected since the city's at-large voting law went into effect in 1946.

Lead defense attorney Marcellus McRae of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP denied Grimes argument and numbers, stating the city's case that the lawsuit fails as a matter of law because the at-large election system plaintiffs challenge under the California Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the California Constitution has not caused any dilution of Latino voting strength in Santa Monica.

"The facts are that one-seventh of the city council is Latino," McRae told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Palazuelos, who is presiding over the bench trial. He referred to Councilman Tony Vazquez. "The man is a three-time winner of the city council, former mayor of the city of Santa Monica and he is a Latino," McRae said. He also said the mayor pro tem is Latino on her father's side.

Several lawsuits have been filed against cities up and down the state under the voting rights act, and most have paid the plaintiffs' lawyers and changed their city charters. Few if any of the cases have gone to trial.

The lawsuit was filed in 2016 by the Advocates for Malibu Public Schools and Maria Loya, who ran for the Santa Monica City Council in 2016 but lost. While giving his opening argument to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Yvette M. Palazuelos, Grimes motioned to Loya sitting in the audience with her husband and two sons and asked her to stand up. Pico Neighborhood Association et al. v. City of Santa Monica, BC616804 (filed in LA Super. Ct. April 12, 2016).

"We accuse the City of Santa Monica of violating the equal protection clause of the Constitution," Grimes said. "At-large election system is a way of diluting minority votes. I feel confident at the end of this trial I will show evidence that supports these statements."

According to the plaintiffs, represented by Shenkman & Hughes and Parris Law, the current at-large voting system put into place in 1946 was purposely designed to prevent non-white voters from receiving representation in their local government.

In a recent response to the suit, the City of Santa Monica filed a motion seeking summary judgment in its favor. It stated in a trial brief filed in July, "There is no history of overt or subtle racial appeals in political campaigns."