More objections than testimony in Santa Monica voting trial

LOS ANGELES -- There seemed to be more objections than actual testimony in a bench trial Wednesday over minority representation in the city of Santa Monica.

The trial slowed to a crawl as the plaintiffs' witness testimony of historian Morgan Kousser continued, although punctured by repeated objections from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP partner Marcellus McRae, who is defending the city from a lawsuit alleging it violated the California Voting Rights Act. Pico Neighborhood Association et. al. v. City of Santa Monica, BC616804 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed April 12, 2016).

Kousser testified that the city's at-large voting system leads to racially polarized voting because the city's Pico neighborhood, which the plaintiffs allege has the largest concentration of Latinos in the city, gets repeatedly shut out at the polls by not succeeding in electing Latino-preferred candidates.

The city has argued no Latinos have been kept from winning elections by the at-large voting system and says the neighborhood in question is mostly white.

During direct examination by plaintiffs' attorney Kevin Shenkman, Kousser gave his impressions of Santa Monica city meetings dating back to the 1980s in which charter revision members voiced their support for switching to a by-district system.

McRae spent the morning objecting on grounds of lack of foundation and vagueness and at one point asked to strike the words "people believed" from Kousser's response to voters shooting down a change to the city's election system in 2008.

"He is not an expert in Santa Monica politics. He's a historian. It doesn't give you license to posture like you're a mind reader," said McRae.

Kousser went on, testifying that people were aware potential voting discrimination could attract a legal suit.

McRae objected again, arguing Kousser "parroted" the testimony of another witness.

R. Rex Parris, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, interjected, saying Kousser was simply giving his impression of testimony. He said McRae didn't make a proper objection.

"If he has an objection, he should make the objection and not give the closing argument," Parris said.

"I wasn't making a closing argument. I said, 'mischaracterization of the evidence,'" McRae responded.

Kousser testified there was little support for keeping the at-large system during public city meetings.

At one point, Parris got up to speak.

"What we're seeing here is people in power doing all kinds of [things] to stay in power. Let's not kid ourselves," he said. "What's going on today is just the same thing we're seeing in Santa Monica but on a much broader scale. What we are experiencing in this country now is about the vote," said Parris, eliciting glances between defense attorneys.

McRae stood up, saying, "I have to interrupt."

"No, you don't get to interrupt, counsel. I don't interrupt you," Parris shot back.

"Is this allowed, your honor? My objection is he is making a speech," McRae said.

Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos addressed Parris, warning him about going "off the deep end on politics."

"You're going on making a speech that is related to national politics," she said. "Let's keep it to the evidence."

In the end, Kousser got to finish a sentence before an objection was made.

"It has been recognized that at-large elections make it more difficult for ethnic minorities to elect candidates of their choice," he said.

Attorneys for the city of Santa Monica argue the city's Latino population, about 13 percent, is a small figure that supports the position that an at-large system is not discriminatory. The plaintiff said it's the law, not the statistics, that matters.

There has been one Latino candidate elected to city council since the at-large system was adopted 72 years ago, according to plaintiffs' testimony. The defense said there have been two, including a former mayor and current Pro Tempore Mayor Gleam Davis, whose father is Latino.