Gale McNeeley seems overjoyed that free and democratic rule has finally come to Santa Maria (“Help our leaders to create fair districts,” March 23). Except that he as well as Mrs. Putney-Davalos, Jason Dominguez, and Gil Sanchez all seem to dismiss the un-democratic shake-down tactics that are being used to “convince” the people of Santa Maria that they “actually want all of this”!
May I remind all 100,000-plus citizens of Santa Maria that you never asked for or even had the chance to vote on whether or not you wanted their voters’ paradise. One sole losing candidate from the last election cycle threatened the city, and thereby all of us, with economic blackmail to get his way. The others simply jumped on the un-democratic democracy bandwagon, and have sold the rest of us down the river.
I would have had no problem, and actually, would like to see this whole charade ended and the district election option put up for a ballot measure. But, I bet that they would not dare withdraw their threats to the city, and thereby we the people, in exchange for such an option. Because, you see, democracy is only democracy when they control the rules. It’s more politically expedient that way.
A simple view of both the CAUSE and Sanchez district map in the Santa Maria Times (both eerily similar) show that once again it’s not so much fair and just representation that they are after, but more like a generationally entrenched political piece of the pie. The facts are that since 1998, each two-year cycle of Santa Maria City Council seat elections have had anywhere from one to three Hispanics elected to the council. And on several occasions in that time either through appointment or election, another racial minority held a council seat. This is a 22 year proven track record of fairness to all!
But, the aforementioned individuals seem to want us to want to think differently about the facts. They want to scare us with the threat of a lawsuit similar to the one in 1994, where a district judge stated that it was a moot point after the overwhelming elections of both Abel Maldonado and Joe Centeno. Our current political trend began that year! But, all the mind-game manipulators had to do was convince a simple majority of the City Council with extortion tactics. They did not care one iota about their fellow citizens as long as they simply got their way in the face of the facts.
Instead of praising this move as pied piper McNeeley is doing, we should be shaming these denigrators of true democracy. They fallaciously condemn and lump Santa Maria in with Santa Barbara, which in 2008 had eight persons running for council, with zero of them Hispanic. Or, even in the election before they were forced into district voting where out of nine candidates there were two Hispanics running. Santa Barbara, Madera, and Lancaster are not Santa Maria, not even close. Yet, they pipe the tune that we are just as lopsided, just as bad, and now we will be the free and righteous ones if we adopt their way.
Again, let me emphatically state, I personally would welcome a ballot initiative that would allow all of Santa Maria to vote either for or against it. That is the American way. But the real question at this juncture is, do Mr. Sanchez and associates believe that way too?
Robert Scott is a resident of Santa Maria. Send your thoughts to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 6-13, 2017.