Citizens urge status quo in North Bay legislative districts

How to divvy up Sonoma County in drawing new legislative district lines emerged as an issue at a public hearing by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission on Friday night at Santa Rosa City Hall.

"Keep Sonoma County as whole as possible," Elizabeth Gatley of Santa Rosa told 13 members of the commission charged with drawing lines for congressional and state legislative districts based on principles such as compactness and county lines rather than politics.

Gini David, a Marin County resident, sounded a prevalent theme in asserting that Sonoma and Marin counties "make a logical grouping" and are "worlds apart" from San Francisco.

"I do not want my voice to be lost in San Francisco," she said.

Bob Stephens of Marin said the adjoining North Bay counties are "two members of the same family."

In response, Commissioner Maria Blanco, a registered Democrat from Los Angeles, told the standing-room-only crowd that the two counties, with a combined 736,287 residents, are too populous to form either a congressional or a state Assembly district.

Where would you draw the line in Sonoma County, she asked?

South of Santa Rosa, Stephens said. "I'd hate to have that happen. We want to keep this together."

Later, Blanco asked Joe Maclorowski of Sebastopol the same question. "Give some of the (Sonoma) coast to the northern district," he said.

The commission is in the midst of a three-month, multicity series of hearings, collecting public sentiment on how to shape California's 53 congressional, 40 state Senate and 80 Assembly districts.

Jim Judd of Rohnert Park called it a "historic endeavor," taking politics out of the redistricting that follows every census.

California voters approved ballot measures in 2008 and 2010, empowering an appointed citizens commission to do the work previously controlled by the politicians whose careers depend on favorable districts.

Judd, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully in the 6th Congressional District covering Marin and most of Sonoma County last year, said that Sonoma has "more commonality" with its northern neighbors than with Marin.

Democrats hold a better than 2-to-1 voter registration advantage over Republicans in the district, which Democrat Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma has held since 1992.

Alec White, a high school student from San Rafael, got a round of applause for telling commissioners that Marin and Sonoma are two "upscale suburban communities" that belong together.

Woolsey sent the commission a letter urging it to keep Sonoma and Marin together and adding about 38,000 residents to the 6th District "by moving deeper into Sonoma County either north or east."

If southern Marin were lumped into a San Francisco congressional district, "its interests would be overwhelmed by those of the larger city and therefore not properly heard at the federal level," Woolsey said.

Bay Area congressional districts, all held by Democrats, are smaller than the nearly 703,000 target population and therefore must expand.

Woolsey's potential retirement in 2012 has prompted speculation that her district might be carved up to meet the population needs of adjacent districts.

Mike Healy, a Petaluma city councilman, sent the commission a letter asserting that the Golden Gate Bridge should be a firm boundary, insulating North Bay residents from "the arcane and over-caffeinated politics of San Francisco."

The commission is scheduled to release the first draft of new district maps June 10, with the third and final draft to be approved Aug. 15 and applied to the 2012 election.

Efren Carrillo, a first-term Sonoma County supervisor and board chairman, said he likes the political boundaries the way they are, with Sonoma divided into two state Senate and three Assembly districts.

"We think what we have right now has served the county well," Carrillo said.

Tim Smith, a former county supervisor, advised the commission to "do as little as humanly possible" to the county's political lines.

"I have no dog in this fight," Smith said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.

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