MALDEF sues FPUD over at-large elections, claims Latinos voting rights being violated

If San Diego County's Local Agency Formation Commission approves the proposed merger between the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District, the issue of whether board members will be elected at large as is the case with FPUD or by territorial unit as Rainbow does will be included in the decision. The LAFCO hearing on the merger is scheduled for July 6, but on June 24 the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed suit against FPUD's at-large system.

The MALDEF lawsuit claims that FPUD is violating the California Voting Rights Act because approximately 40 percent of the district's voters are Latino but no Latino has been elected to the FPUD board. MALDEF seeks an injunction to block FPUD's current system as well as a change in agency policy to utilize single-member districts for future elections.

"We find it puzzling to the extent that we have had, our attorneys have had, communications with MALDEF and we believe to be in agreement that the upcoming LAFCO action would satisfy MALDEF's advocacy for divisional elections. In fact, we expected that MALDEF would endorse the LAFCO merger proposal," said FPUD general manager Brian Brady.

The LAFCO staff recommendation on the proposed merger is to consolidate the two districts but to utilize elections by territorial unit. The two districts had discussed a merger before the issue of how to elect directors caused an impasse. FPUD submitted a merger application to LAFCO with a hybrid system of three directors elected at large and four by territorial unit. Rainbow officially provided opposition to the merger on grounds including the election system. Although the LAFCO staff recommendation included election by territorial unit, Rainbow's board voted at their May 23 meeting to oppose the proposal on the grounds that LAFCO does not have the legal authority to change the election process for a public utility district.

Section 15972 of the California Public Utilities Code stipulates that if the entirety of a public utility district is in the same county the board shall have five directors elected at large.

The combined area of FPUD and Rainbow includes four school districts, all of which elect directors at large, but none of those school districts were targeted in the MALDEF action and the at-large elections of the Fallbrook Healthcare District and the North County Fire Protection District were also not challenged. Lawsuits or legal threats have caused some city councils and school districts to replace at-large elections with elections by district. The issue of minority representation has law enforcement implications for city governments and curriculum implications for school districts, but the issue of how service to minorities for a water and sewer district would be improved is not as evident. "We treat everybody the same," Brady said.

Although MALDEF stands for Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the lawsuit accuses FPUD of discriminating against Latinos. Mexico is one of 18 Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America; that total does not include Puerto Rico, which is a Spanish-speaking United States territory but not an independent nation. "Which one are we talking about?" Brady said.

Since 2010 six candidates with Spanish surnames have been elected to water districts in San Diego County, and all of those water districts utilize elections by territorial unit. In 2010 David Gonzalez Jr. was elected to an Otay Water District seat and Jim Hernandez won election to the Vallecitos Water District. Hernandez was unopposed in 2014 and was automatically re-elected. Gonzalez faced Tim Smith and two opponents with Spanish surnames in the 2014 election; Smith won with 48.92 percent of the vote to unseat Gonzalez. Jose Preciado and Ernesto Zamudio were elected to South Bay Irrigation District seats in 2012, and Steve Castaneda won an election to the SBID board in 2014. Laney Villalobos was elected to Pauma Valley's Yuima Municipal Water District board in 2014.

The only known East County water district director with a Spanish surname was Tom LaMadrid of the Lakeside Water District, which elects directors by division. LaMadrid defeated an appointed incumbent in 1996 to win a two-year term but was defeated in his 1998 re-election attempt by Frank Hilliker, who is currently serving his fifth term. The 1996 elections made LaMadrid one of four non-whites to hold elected office in East County but the only one to do so in a district by territorial unit; La Mesa mayor Art Madrid, Grossmont Union High School District board member Nadia Davies, and Alpine Union School District board member John Hood were all elected at large.

Hispanics were elected to the Tijuana River Valley County Water District, whose elections utilized an at-large system and seated the multiple candidates who received the most votes. In 2004 LAFCO dissolved the Tijuana River Valley County Water District, which was entirely within the City of San Diego.

FPUD is the only public utility district in San Diego County. Imperial County's special districts include the Heber Public Utility District, whose five board members all have Spanish surnames but whose general manager has the last name of Fischer.