District voting in Benicia
On Tuesday Jan. 21, the Benicia City Council will consider a proposal to change our electoral process from atlarge voting for council candidates to four newly-defined small geographical districts. Benicia citizens need to pay attention to this — it may sound OK, but consider ...
I think our ability to join forces against the massive and mean-spirited outside corporate influences we saw in our 2016 election would be immeasurably weakened by adoption of district voting.
In 2016, a PAC funded by Valero Services and organized labor spent more than $200,000 to smear and defeat council candidate Kari Birdseye. (See benicia-independent. com/i-remember-the-beniciasmear-campaign-of-2018 for background.) A similar campaign was waged against candidate Elizabeth Patterson in 2007.
A council campaign funded and run in a small Benicia district would not be capable of standing up to limitless corporate PAC money. And Benicia is way too small to be divided into four districts capable of finding and supporting multiple competitive candidates across the political spectrum.
In many cities, district voting makes sense as a measure to strengthen and empower concentrated minority groups. Note that I am decidedly in favor of empowering minority voting strength, especially when it comes to racial and ethnic minorities. Most of us would agree. But Benicia’s racial and ethnic mix is not concentrated in any linear district, so district voting would do absolutely nothing to advance minority voting strength.
What about other subgroups in geographically defined parts of Benicia?
Take our Southampton Hills:
• Already represented by Mr. Largaespada.
• Could have elected Kari Birdseye as a Southampton neighbor if she hadn’t been targeted and smeared.
• Had Mark Hughes as a resident council member for years. I’m guessing Southampton probably had a few more council members going back before my time.
A case can probably be made that Benicia’s East Side has been underrepresented over the years – but district voting would create more problems than it would fix for Eastsiders. Important: How could an underfunded campaign in a smaller population on the East side possibly put up a fight against Valero and organized labor?!
District voting would only give outside big money greater strength to stack our city council.
Your voice is important! Share your thoughts at the Jan. 21 meeting, Benicia City Hall, 250 East L Street, 7 p.m. If you can’t make it, share your thoughts in writing: beniciaindependent.com/benicia-where-to-write.