Vista Is Examined for Bias
SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the northern San Diego County city of Vista has prevented Latinos from holding public office.
Latinos make up 40% of Vista's 90,000 residents. But in a city that elects a mayor and four council members at large -- each representing the entire city -- no Spanish-surnamed candidates have been elected in the community's 40-year history.
Last fall, Elvin Vega, a tow-truck company manager, ran a low-budget campaign for mayor. He had no political experience, but figured his efforts to reach Latino business owners and place signs in their neighborhoods would win over many voters. He finished fourth in a field of six candidates. "I don't know what happened," he said. "All I know is that I tried."
Frank Lopez, a city planning commissioner, suffered the same fate in his two attempts at a City Council seat. Still, neither candidate said he had found flaws in the city's electoral system. And an advocacy group for a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Vista said it had never heard a complaint.
"I don't think there's a problem here, and that's all I want to tell you," Lopez said.
Some cities in southeast Los Angeles County did not elect a majority of Latinos to their city councils until the group was by far the predominant ethnic group. Three Latinos held the majority on the South Gate City Council after a 1992 election, when the city's population was 83% Latino.
Political observers said Latinos needed a super-majority of the population before making political gains in southeast Los Angeles County because so few were registered voters. Many were not legal residents, others were too young to vote and others had a general distrust of government.
Justice Department investigators want to determine whether a pattern emerges in Vista. They plan to check whether members of minorities and whites vote differently; whether whites in Vista vote as a block against minority candidates; and whether whites are able to beat minority candidates, even when minority voters are unified at the polls, said Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez.
Lopez is one of several Vista residents the Justice Department has interviewed since it began its investigation earlier this month. Officials also are combing through maps, census data and voting records of the last 10 years. Vista's Latino population jumped more than 10% from 1990 to 2000.
