Sonoma County redistricting commission to expand following NAACP objections

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors will discuss expanding the commission responsible for redrawing supervisors’ districts, following objections from the local chapter of the NAACP that the current slate of appointees was not diverse enough.

The board set a discussion about boosting the size of the commission to 19 members for its next meeting July 20, after pushing back a vote Tuesday on what would have been the 15th and final member.

Three prior applicants for the commission, Kirstyne Lange, Lyndsey Burcina and Veronica Vences – all women of color – were named during Tuesday’s public meeting as picks to fill a portion of the new seats.

Former Santa Rosa City Councilman Mike Martini, the person who Supervisor James Gore had nominated to fill the 15th seat of the commission after an issue arose with one of his prior appointees, would also be included on the commission, the supervisors said.

Supervisor David Rabbitt, who on Tuesday asked that he too be allowed to submit an additional name, will select the final appointment for the expanded commission during next week’s meeting.

State and federal law requires counties to redraw supervisorial districts every 10 years, following the U.S. Census in order to achieve population balance amid demographic shifts.

“I personally support the idea of advancing at least … two extra names today so that we do respond and we do, to the public commenter’s point, show that we are listening and we are hearing what folks say,” Sonoma County Board Chair Lynda Hopkins said.

The board’s decision comes just over a week after the Santa Rosa-Sonoma County chapter of the NAACP blasted the board’s appointments to the redistricting commission in a letter signed by chapter President Segretta Woodard.

The letter said while they celebrated the strong Latino representation on the commission, other communities needed to be represented. It also put pressure on the board to pull Martini’s appointment from Tuesday’s consent calendar.

Attempts to reach Woodard via email and phone on Tuesday, following the board’s decision, were not immediately returned.

Before supervisors decided to expand the number of seats on the commission, several public speakers called for the board to appoint a person of color to the commission instead of Martini

Among those speakers was Herman G. Hernandez, who Gore had initially appointed to the commission but who was later removed because he did not submit an application.

Hernandez, who was told he did not qualify for the commission because he was a Sonoma County Office of Education board trustee, told supervisors it has a “golden opportunity to lead by example.”

“My intention is not to be disrespectful; it is to speak honestly about what equity is and what it is not,” Hernandez said. “Equity looks like a woman of color being appointed to 15th seat of the commission. It does not look that the current person you have nominated.”

Lange, one of the women advanced by supervisors on Tuesday to fill one of the new seats, said in public comment that she thought it was important for the board to show its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion through its actions, especially given prior concerns with past board appointments.

“After seeing a rise of diverse candidates, I personally want to see that pipeline continue to grow and thrive,” Lange said.

Supervisor Susan Gorin agreed with Lange’s comments about past appointments, saying supervisors needed to rethink how they selected people for the county’s various commissions.

“I think we need to ... take a step back and look more holistically at how we increase diversity in our outreach efforts,” Gorin said, adding that she meant both geographic and ethnic diversity.

Demographics of the 14 people already appointed to the committee indicate 57% of them are women and the rest are men. The ethnic/racial breakdown of the group’s members indicates 43% self-identify as Latino, a third as white and 7%, or one person, as Black. Two members did not state their race or ethnicity.

Looking at those figures, which Hopkins requested after reading the NAACP letter, revealed a group that had been left out of the commission, Hopkins said during Tuesday’s meeting.

“I realized ... that we really don’t have anyone that represents the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) community in Sonoma County, which has been the target of a number of hate crimes,” Hopkins said.

Lyndsey Burcina, one of the three women whose names were proposed by the board to fill the extra seats, said she applied to serve on the commission because she wanted to be a voice for young Sonoma County residents “who are struggling to continue to live here.”

Burcina, a 21-year-old member of the Sonoma County Commission on Human Rights who is Japanese-American, added that she had not expected supervisors to bring up her name Tuesday morning in connection with the redistricting commission.

“I really appreciate, beyond the words, that they are looking at this like, ‘We have a diverse group but it can be better than that,’” Burcina said.

Changes in state law last year regarding redistricting allowed counties to create advisory boards to undertake the work of redrawing the county districts, though county supervisors make the final approval.

Prior to this year, Sonoma County has historically doled out the task of redrawing the supervisorial districts to the sheriff, district attorney and the county’s Clerk-Recorder-Assessor.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com and Staff Writer Emma Murphy at emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com.