The Patten proposal is partisan, defective, and fails to meet the California fair redistricting guidelines and requirements:
• It disenfranchises voters by deferring and accelerating district elections as well as by cracking and packing districts for partisan Republican advantage.
• It grossly divides communities of interest.
Communities have been diced and sliced, moved around like pawns on an abstract chessboard which bears no relationship to reality. Geographical barriers and cultural-sociological-economic-political differences are completely ignored. The map is a creation of pure fantasy.
For example, Morro Bay and Los Osos are split from their closely aligned and naturally associated coastal communities of Cayucos, Cambria, and San Simeon to the north while the completely unrelated and alien inland communities of Atascadero, San Miguel, and Lake Nacimiento—way to the east—are now included in a coastal district.
This is a classic example of gerrymandering districts.
The Patten map blatantly fails to comply with fair redistricting criteria. Adopting such a flawed and untenable map is grossly irresponsible.
The Republican majority of the SLO County Board of Supervisors has thumbed their noses at a majority of county residents, a majority of whom are Democrats.
Donald Archer
Cambria
This article appears in Dec 2-12, 2021.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Donald. A blatant take-over here in our County as we are seeing across the country, with total disregard for the rules, regulations, and ignoring the majority of public and/or written comments and the majority of voters. Any reasonable and fair-minded individual, couldn’t have made up this disgusting scenario if they had tried!
The final scene at the BOS meeting on November 30, was about as ugly and unbecoming to an elected official as I could envision. Chair Compton ignored Supervisor Gibson’s request to comment, while a motion and second were still subject to “discussion;” this was the right of any Supervisor as Chair Compton should have been well aware. But then to ask for a roll call vote from the Clerk before allowing Supervisor Gibson to speak, was remarkable, especially when the clerk didn’t appear to have followed that instruction, so Compton herself did the roll call vote. Unbelievable behavior for an elected official!
I join with many others in our County who are totally disgusted and feel betrayed by the BOS Republican majority; they have shown themselves for what they truly are: arrogant power grabbers who have resorted to gerrymandering to serve THEIR best interests and not those of the majority of the County. There was NO justification for what they did, but I’m not giving up, as legal recourse could have a different outcome–I live with that hope!
The conservative Board majority once again extend their middle fingers at the residents of SLO County. RECALL ARNOLD 2022 !
Total disregard for the welfare of our communities.
What else can you expect from elected officials?
Certainly not passing up a chance to help their Party.
After all, it is control they sought and exercise.
Represent the people, not very likely . . .