Local NAACP objects to Sonoma County’s redistricting commission selection process

The local NAACP chapter is objecting to the new Sonoma County Advisory Redistricting Commission’s membership selection process, contending that its current slate of appointees does not equitably represent all of the county’s residents.

It argues that some racial demographics are not represented.

As a result, the Santa Rosa-Sonoma County NAACP wants the county Board of Supervisors to openly discuss, during Tuesday’s board meeting, who should be appointed to the committee’s last vacant at-large seat.

Its objections were outlined in a July 5 letter, signed by chapter President Segretta Woodard, which was published on the local group’s Instagram page.

“In its current state, this commission signals a continuation of the lack of equity at the county level and sounds a concerning alarm,” Woodward states in the letter. “When Black community leaders and organizations are restricted from the redistricting process, our voices are essentially silenced.”

Woodard did not respond to multiple Press Democrat requests for comment via email and telephone.

A consent calendar item on the Board of Supervisor’s agenda Tuesday, if approved by the board, would appoint Mike Martini, a white former Santa Rosa City councilman, mayor and the founder of Taft Street Winery to the remaining open committee seat.

If the board agrees to keep the item on the consent calendar, supervisors will be able to approve Martini’s addition to the redistricting commission without openly discussing it. All they would need to do is approve the overall consent calendar.

Removing the appointment from the consent calendar means the seat – and who should fill it – would be open for public discussion.

The 15-seat, citizen-led commission was established by the board in February to help redraw the county’s supervisorial districts.

A redraw is required by state and federal law to achieve population balance within the districts amid demographic shifts determined by data from the most recent U.S. Census.

Changes to California law that went into effect last year allowed counties to create advisory redistricting commissions similar to the one created in Sonoma County.

The commission recommendations, which include public input, are ultimately approved by the Board of Supervisors, Sonoma County’s County Counsel Robert Pittman said.

In the past, such recommendations were made by the sheriff, district attorney and the county’s Clerk-Recorder-Assessor and then approved by the board, Sonoma County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor-Registrar of Voters Deva Marie Proto said.

Sonoma County Board Chair Lynda Hopkins said Supervisor James Gore, who submitted Martini’s name for the at-large committee seat after issues with an earlier appointee, has signaled that he intends to ask the board to discuss Martini’s proposed appointment during Tuesday’s meeting, Hopkins said.

From there, the board would open the discussion to the public before deciding how to proceed. Should Martini be rejected, Gore, who did not respond to Press Democrat requests for comment Monday, would have to nominate a new person to fill the seat.

The board could also choose to table the discussion for a later date, Hopkins said.

She added that the NAACP letter gave her pause, especially considering that the board has made equity a pillar in its strategic plan.

Demographics of the other 14 people appointed to the committee indicate 57% of them are women.

The ethnic breakdown of the group’s members shows 43% self-identify as Latino, a third as white and 7%, or one person, as Black. Two members did not state their race.

“We don’t have anyone who identified as (Asian American and Pacific Islander), so that struck me as an omission,” Hopkins said.

Kirstyne Lange, a member of the Santa Rosa-Sonoma County chapter of the NAACP, and Herman G. Hernandez, a Sonoma County Office of Education board trustee, both called for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to appoint an additional person of color to the commission.

Lange, who said she could not speak on behalf of the local chapter, said there were people in the Sonoma County’s Eritrean, Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities that were not represented on the committee.

“One would love to see all that diversity on the commission, but there’s only one seat (remaining),” Lange said. “One would hope that those considerations would come into play.”

Hernandez, who was appointed to the committee as an at-large member last month, was removed from the seat because he did not file an application. He said he has recommended several qualified women of color, including Lange, to the board to fill the 15th seat in place of Martini.

He said that while he had been interested in being appointed to the committee, he didn’t apply because he was initially told people who held other elected positions in the county could not serve on the committee.

The county then decided to take a more lenient interpretation of the new state rules, though he missed the change.

A mix up with an application submitted by his father, Herman J. Hernandez, may have led to Gore appointing him instead, he said.

“It doesn’t represent equity in any way, shape or fashion, and that’s why I have to speak up,” Hernandez said of Martini’s appointment. “I was invited to the table and then I was uninvited.”

In an interview on Monday, Martini said he was not aware of the NAACP’s letter.

He said he put his name forward for the Redistricting Committee because of his interest in public policy, and said he believes his previous experience as a city councilman and mayor would be a benefit.

“Just because I’m an old white guy doesn’t mean I’m not sensitive to the issues that different people have,” Martini said. “I may not have the same experiences, that’s the whole lesson we’ve learned about white privilege, but at the same time that doesn’t mean I can’t learn and do a good job.”

Jeff Okrepkie, the founder of Coffey Strong, a committee appointee who submitted an incomplete application and did not include a resume, did not respond to a Press Democrat request for comment Monday.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeff Okrepkie, one of the appointees to the Sonoma County Advisory Redistricting Commission, submitted an incomplete application to serve on the commission. This story has been updated to clarify the status of his application.