Politics

Housing costs and inflation are the top concerns for California's 9 million Latino registered voters, according to a report issued Sept. 10 by the Latino Community Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to Latino voter engagement.  Although some blame political candidates for high costs, most blame...

A union of physicians earning up to $1 million a year is the biggest funder of the ballot measure to raise local sales taxes. A week after the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to raise county taxes, the county’s largest...

The U.S. Department of Justice has sued the cities of Morgan Hill and Petaluma over their ordinances banning natural gas infrastructure in new construction. The complaint, filed Jan. 5 in the Northern District of California, says the cities’ bans violate federal law by restricting consumer...

City officials posted a new website containing interactive maps, meeting and workshop schedules and information devoted to the upcoming switch to a by-district election system for electing city council members.The website, found at drawmh.org, allows residents and voters to participate in the effort to create four council districts within the city limits. The section titled “Draw a Map” allows voters to propose their own preferred district boundaries that reflect the area or areas they think should be represented by a single elected official.An “Interactive Map Viewer” features layers of data such as the boundaries of individual U.S. Census population units within the city limits, and the number of residents within each unit. Draft maps, to be created in the coming weeks with input gathered from the public and a professional demographer, will be posted to the website.The site, which can be viewed in English and Spanish, also gives voters instructions on how to draw a proposed district map—on paper or electronically—and submit it to city officials.“The primary goal when drawing council election districts is to draw lines that keep neighborhoods together. So the council wants to know: what do you consider the boundaries of your neighborhood?” reads the “Welcome” section of the website.The next chance for voters to interact in person with city officials regarding the effort to draw new council districts will be at a July 10 community workshop, from 7 to 9 p.m. at City Council meeting chambers, 17555 Peak Ave.Under the by-district election system, each district will be represented by a single council member who resides within that district. Voters within each district will elect only one council member to represent them.This is a stark change from the at-large system that has elected council members for the last 100-plus years. Under that system, all voters throughout Morgan Hill could vote on every council seat that was up for election, regardless of where in the city each candidate lived.The council voted June 7 to make the change to a by-district system, in response to a “demand letter” from an Oakland law firm denouncing the at-large system as being in violation of the California Voting Rights Act. By adopting the change, the council is taking advantage of legal protections that limit the damages and costs that can be claimed in a potential civil rights lawsuit.The by-district system will start November 2018, when two seats—currently occupied by Councilman Rich Constantine and Councilwoman Caitlin Jachimowicz—will be up for grabs. The other two seats—now held by Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr and Councilman Rene Spring—will be subject to the by-district change when they next appear on the ballot in November 2020.The mayor of Morgan Hill will continue to be elected at large under the change, according to city staff and drawmh.org. The mayor serves a two-year term.The May 2 demand letter from Oakland law firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho, alleges that the current at-large system results in “vote dilution” and prevents under-represented groups such as Latino voters from “influencing the results of elections.”The city council has held two public hearings—on June 21 and June 28—on the election system change since it was adopted.At the June 28 meeting, Douglas Johnson, President of the National Demographics Corporation, gave a presentation about NDC’s proposal to offer mapping and demographic services to the city during the transition to a by-district system.Public meetings and workshops on the subject will continue until Aug. 23, when the council is expected to adopt official district maps created with input from the voters and NDC.NDC has recently offered similar services to the Morgan Hill Unified School District, when its seven-member board of trustees voted to change to a by-district election system in 2015, also under threat of a lawsuit. It has also offered redistricting services for the Santa Clara Valley Water District.The company’s contract with the City of Morgan Hill cost $43,000.

For the first time in Morgan Hill’s history, candidates for local political office are subject to limits on how much money their individual contributors can give to their election campaigns. But city council members want to convene on the issue in the near future to consider imposing even tighter limits than those approved at a recent meeting.

An independent investigation found no evidence to support allegations that Morgan Hill Mayor Mark Turner physically assaulted Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Martínez Beltrán during a February council meeting, according to findings presented at a special city council meeting July 22. The investigation concluded that all...

Julie Raia is running for Morgan Hill City Council District A in order to bring “some fresh perspective” to the city’s government.

The Nov. 8 ballot will be filled with choices for candidates and issues at every level of government. Two local organizations and the City of Morgan Hill aim to help local voters become informed by sponsoring three public candidate forums in the coming weeks.  Candidate...

Retired Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin holds a steady lead in the four-way race for the 28th Assembly District, according to election officials. Results from the June 7 primary election, posted on the California Secretary of State’s website, show Pellerin leading the vote tally...

Palo Alto Police Chief Robert “Rob” Jonsen led retired sheriff’s captain Kevin Jensen in the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s race Tuesday, widening an early lead in his bid to be the first new county sheriff in more than two decades. With 90% of precincts reporting,...