Commissioners Approved for Los Angeles County Citizens Redistricting Commission
LOS ANGELES – After a lengthy selection process, the Los Angeles County Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC) finalized the names of the 14 Commissioners who will be responsible for adjusting the district boundaries for electing the Board of Supervisors, based on the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau data.
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk received 741 applications by September 8, 2020 and narrowed the applicants to a pool of the 60 most qualified names. The Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller conducted a random drawing at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting on November 24, 2020, selecting one Commissioner from each of the five existing Supervisorial Districts and three Commissioners randomly drawn from the remaining 55 applicants.
The eight randomly selected Commissioners met between December 14 and December 28, 2020, to select the final six Commissioners from the remaining 52 qualified applicants.
The 2021 CRC Commissioners are:
|
Commissioners |
Supervisorial District |
Los Angeles County Residency |
|
Apolonio Morales |
4 |
Whittier |
|
Brian Stecher |
3 |
Santa Monica |
|
Carolyn Williams |
2 |
Hawthorne |
|
Daniel Mayeda |
2 |
Culver City |
|
David Holtzman |
5 |
Burbank |
|
Doreena Wong |
3 |
Los Angeles |
|
Hailes Soto |
4 |
Downey |
|
Jean Franklin |
2 |
Long Beach |
|
John Vento |
5 |
Palmdale |
|
Mark Mendoza |
5 |
La Verne |
|
Nelson Obregon |
1 |
Los Angeles |
|
Priscilla Segura |
1 |
Los Angeles |
|
Priya Sridharan |
5 |
South Pasadena |
|
Saira Soto |
1 |
Los Angeles |
The Commissioners reflect the County’s diversity:
- 8 Democrats, 2 Republicans, and 4 who are either No Party Preference or affiliated with other political parties
- 6 females and 8 males
- Age ranges between 31 and 73
- 6 Latino/Latina, 3 Asian, 3 White, and 2 Black representatives
- Geographic representation
The CRC is unlike past practices when the Board of Supervisors appointed an advisory Boundary Redistricting Committee to study proposed changes to the boundaries and could make revisions before adopting the final redistricted boundaries.
Today, the CRC is independent of the Board of Supervisors as a result of the California Legislature Senate Bill 958, which passed in 2016. The CRC’s redistricting efforts follow the Federal Decennial Census and must be completed by December 15, 2021. This redistricting can shape a community’s ability to elect the representative of their choice and to:
- Re-balance district populations so they are reasonably equal in population
- Meet the constitutional principal of “one person, one vote”
- Ensure districts are geographically contiguous, taking into account topography, geography, cohesiveness, contiguity, integrity, compactness of territory, and community of interest of the Supervisorial Districts
During this next year, the CRC will be conducting a series of public hearings and meetings to solicit community input regarding future Supervisorial district boundaries.
The assigned CRC staff are Executive Director, Gayla Kraetsch Hartsough, Ph.D., of KH Consulting Group in Los Angeles, and Independent Legal Counsel, Holly O. Whatley, Esq. of Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC, in Pasadena.
For more information visit bos.lacounty.gov.
