Monterey County’s Redistricting Commission gets political before it starts.

If you attend a lot of government meetings, you get accustomed to a certain flow. Sometimes there’s extensive discussion and sometimes just a little, but the rhythm is the same. So when there’s an awkwardly long pause, it stands out.

So it was on Tuesday, July 27 when the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted to appoint a 15-member Advisory Redistricting Commission. There’d been a lengthy process to get to this point, so by the time the list of 15 nominees was published, there was no debate. County Supervisor Luis Alejo made a motion to approve the commission members. What would normally happen next is that someone quickly seconds the motion, then comes a vote. Instead, there was an awkward silence. It was so awkward that Supervisor Wendy Root Askew, chair of the board, interrupted it: “Should we offer everyone some coffee for the afternoon to keep us going?” Finally, Supervisor Chris Lopez made a second, all five supervisors voted yes and the 15 commissioners were appointed.

What the other four supervisors might have been thinking in that awkward silence I don’t know for sure, but I do have a guess. First, it helps to understand what this redistricting commission is and why it’s so important: Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau releases new data, used to chart the map of our democratic representation. District lines are redrawn, all the way from small school boards to the U.S. House of Representatives, to give roughly equal populations equal voice. Thanks to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, there are also requirements to ensure the new district lines do not discriminate. There are other considerations, like preventing gerrymandering for political gain, and defining what feels like a “district.” Should Big Sur and urban Salinas, for instance, be in the same district? (At the State Assembly level, in District 30, they are.)

Back to the county process. Each of the five supervisors represent a district, and each nominates three representatives to the Advisory Redistricting Commission. It’s not easy to entice people to serve. In an effort to get more applicants, the board extended the deadline and also eliminated certain requirements. Alejo asked to remove the prohibition on members of political central committees – elected political roles.

“I tend to agree with, it’s important we keep politics out of it,” Supervisor John Phillips said. He joined Alejo and Lopez voting 3-2 to allow members of Republican or Democratic central committees to serve anyway.

In the end, 58 people applied for the 15 seats. Commissioners include former Salinas city councilmember Sergio Sánchez, former county supervisor Jane Parker, former county planning commissioner Cosme Padilla, current Moss Landing Harbor District Commissioner Vince Ferrante and former Spreckels Community Services District board member Ron Eastwood.

Of course people with an interest in redistricting are unlikely to be purely apolitical actors – no surprise.

So what about that awkward pause? In all likelihood it had to do with the two central committee members who made the cut. One of Alejo’s appointees, Ernesto González, is on the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee. The 2020 Salinas mayoral candidate is also the father of Linda González, who is Alejo’s chief of staff. And in his role on the Central Committee, González represents District 3, where he lives – not District 1, which he will represent on the commission.

González sees none of this as problematic, and notes that he would engage in redistricting anyway: “One way or the other I was going to participate, whether it be as a commissioner or a community person.”

González has participated in redistricting at the city, county and school board level every decade since 1991. “We try to create districts that would be equitable for the entire community,” he says. “There is no conflict. I have been involved forever and a day.”

One other commissioner, David Kong (who serves on the board of the Greenfield Unified School District), is also a member of the Democratic committee, and last year was a delegate for Joe Biden.

The commission’s first meeting is Monday, Aug. 9. They have an important task ahead: As González says, to create districts that are equitable to the entire community.

SARA RUBIN is editor of the Weekly. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com.