District Boundaries Affect November 2014 Election

In July Judge Craig Riemer of the Riverside County Superior Court upheld his tentative decision that Yxstian Gutierrez could not hold the Moreno Valley City Council’s District 4 seat due to a definition of District 4 boundaries. “I did no wrongdoing,” Gutierrez told the City News. “The council appointed me; I did not appoint myself to the council. I haven’t moved and I was still living in the same house; it’s not like I was living in the wrong house and lying about it. The city knew where I was living and the Riverside County Office of the Registrar of Voters knew where I was living,” Gutierrez said. “They (the city attorney and city clerk) advised the mayor and the people who appointed me that where I lived was within the new boundaries.” Gutierrez served as Moreno Valley’s District 4 representative for 10 months after the council appointed Gutierrez to fill a vacancy left by former councilmember Marcelo Co, who was elected in November 2010 and resigned from the seat following his arrest and guilty plea to bribery charges in August 2013. At the time Co was elected in November 2010, Gutierrez’s home was not part of the council district, but after redistricting was done to reflect updated census figures in October 2011, Gutierrez’s home became part of District 4. According to court documents three District 4 residents, Radene Ramos Hiers, Basil Kimbrew and Deanna Reeder, brought a case against Gutierrez claiming Gutierrez could not represent District 4 because his home was not yet part of the district. Judge Riemer ruled that the 2010 boundaries remain in effect until November 2014, the first general election occurring after redistricting. Riemer used a similar 1942 California Supreme Court Case, Sloan v. Donahue, involving a vacant congressional district seat to make his judgment. Gutierrez maintained that the Moreno Valley city attorney and the city clerk asserted that Gutierrez’s appointment to the dais was permissible and held that the updated district boundaries as of October 2011 were effective immediately. Gutierrez’s Los Angeles-based attorney Thomas Long said after redistricting was done in 2011, there was no provision that the boundaries’ “implementation would be delayed.” Gutierrez and his attorneys argued the new boundaries should apply in order to keep some 2,000 other residents from remaining unrepresented until the upcoming election. Gutierrez issued a public statement in July, likening the ruling to “placing residents in a limbo where they do not reside in any council district for years,” saying it was “unnecessary and disrespectful of the constitutional rights” of these residents. Gutierrez said residents should look at the case and ask “the broader question of what happens to the political rights of citizens who are shifted between city council districts.” “The fact of the matter is the citizens of District 4 will have the final say when they cast their vote for city council,” Gutierrez said. Gutierrez was seeking an appeal to the decision, and explained it could be as far away as March 2015 until he hears back on a decision from an appellate court. In a candidate feature published Sept. 11 Gutierrez said if elected to the seat he has plans to continue “reducing crime in our area, expanding our after school programs and bringing jobs to the unemployed,” all programs he said he began implementing when he was appointed to the seat last September. TIMELINE: • November 2010 – Marcelo Co elected • October 2011 – Redistricting Occurs • November 2012 – Regular Election for Districts 1, 3 and 5; elections were done using new redistricting boundaries • August 2013 – Marcelo Co arrested, immediately resigns • September 2013 – Yxstian Gutierrez appointed to fill vacancy by council; council uses Oct. 2011 redistricting boundaries to select Gutierrez for the appointment • July 2014 – Riverside County Superior Court Judge Craig Riemer rules that 2010 boundaries remain in effect until November 2014 General Election