Columnists

“Travesty” is a word that is getting more usage these days and I am about to use it a whole bunch right here.For some reason, someone out there has decided for all of us that we need to change the way we select our School District Board of Trustees, and now City Council. Some party alerted an attorney who specializes in making money on “enforcing” the California Voters Rights Act (CVRA) that will forever change the way we elect our local officials. We are headed toward district voting for our city council seats, joining the MHUSD Trustees in this method of election.It’s a travesty because the well-intended CVRA is being used where it just won’t help. In fact, it will now limit our already limited pool of qualified candidates even more for our most important government bodies, and therefore possibly affect the quality of decisions made in our community.There is no way that a minority group can be represented as a majority in any way the city can be sliced up in any meaning manner—as was proven by a consultant. Mathematically, it just doesn’t work here folks.So what’s the purpose of the CVRA? To make sure that minorities are fairly represented.I look at our current city council and think that they are pretty darn diverse. We have a young professional mother, African-American firefighter, LGBT project manager, retired senior (sorry Mayor, you will be forever young to me) and a middle-aged caucasian man. They are one council member away from being entirely minority or an underrepresented group.What is going on? It’s a travesty.The focus of this application of the CVRA was to provide an opportunity for the Hispanic community to be better represented. We will have a Hispanic councilmember or mayor soon. I can virtually guarantee it but it won’t be because of the misuse of the CVRA. It will be because we have a good candidate at the right time. Unfortunately, that time may now be pushed out even further. This is serving to split up the Hispanic vote, not make it more powerful. What was somebody thinking?I have some nits to pick on this whole CVRA thing.First, what makes you think that an elected official has to be Hispanic to care about the Hispanic community? A good official cares about all of their constituents. I would almost hate to see the potential backlash from the public if there was an obvious bias on the dais on a regular basis.Second, just because the name of a candidate is Hispanic doesn’t mean that Hispanics will vote for them, I hope. Or do you think that minority groups only vote for members of their group? The CVRA is almost demeaning there.The travesty of district voting is virtually certain to be implemented due to the cost of litigation and precedent of success of the complaint filing party.The way we’re getting to a supposed solution is being forced down our throats in a way that is creating a great amount of resentment in the community. How is that a good thing?I hope it all somehow works out for the better, but I just can’t see it now. Nobody wins here, and that is the greatest travesty.John McKay is the president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be reached at [email protected].