2 Franklin commissioners vote to reverse Latino voting rights settlement

Franklin County voted Thursday to ask a judge to reverse an agreement that would have ended a lawsuit over Latino voting rights.

Commissioners Clint Didier and Rocky Mullen approved the resolution seeking to overturn an order that requires the county to come up with new commission voting district maps by Nov. 8.

Commissioner Brad Peck opposed the measure.

The resolution says county Prosecutor Shawn Sant didn’t listen to their concerns about “our innocence, inexperience of outside council (sic), or the strategy in defending Franklin County.”

The county needed to switch private attorneys for the case after John Safarli took a short leave of absence from his law practice. The case was taken over by Casey Bruner, another attorney with the same firm.

While the details of the commissioners allegations haven’t been filed as part of the case, they are trying to use civil court rules to argue to the judge that they weren’t properly represented by Sant’s decision — either because he willfully didn’t listen to them or because he made a mistake.

Most of the nearly two-hour special meeting was behind closed doors as Sant talked with the commissioners about their options in the lawsuit filed in April in Franklin County Superior Court.

While it’s clear Didier wants to reverse the court settlement, it is unclear the judge will agree.

Didier also tried to get the commissioners to approve a statement to go with the resolution, saying the attorneys “entered a guilty plea” opposed to what the commissioners wanted.

“In explanations, discussions, long closed-door executive sessions gave clear direction to Mr. Sant of our innocence,” he said. “Mr. Sant disagreed with our direction and advised a guilty plea would be best for the county. Ultimately, he refused to act on our desire to enter an innocent plea and mount a defense.”

Peck opposed adding the statement, arguing Didier’s motion went beyond the agenda for Thursday’s special session.

Peck said any “reasonable person with access to the meetings and discussions” of the board would find the Didier’s description is “inaccurate, incomplete, biased, prejudicial and any other adjectives that might fit into that category.”

Didier approved the motion, Peck opposed it and Mullen abstained from voting.

Disagreement about decision

The dispute follows an admission by Franklin County attorneys that the system to elect county commissioners and the district boundaries shut Latinos out of picking candidates to represent them.

The agreement submitted to the court gives the two sides about two months to redraw the districts and create a system that doesn’t violate state and federal voting laws.

After the decision was reported in a story in the Tri-City Herald, Didier and Mullen have been pushing to change the decision, saying they weren’t aware of the agreement.

The issue was raised at a contentious meeting with Sant on Sept. 14. And they repeated their concerns during Tuesday morning’s commission meeting.

Currently, the county has agreed to a court order to redraw the three commission boundaries by Nov. 8. As part of that, the county would have district-only voting in general elections.

Three local members of the League of United Latin American Citizens with the help of the UCLA Voting Rights Project sued the county in April claiming discrimination.

They argued the districts were drawn in a way to divide up the heavily Latino east Pasco between the three commissioner districts.

According to an analysis done by the county, east Pasco has the highest percentage of Latino voters. They also vote differently than the majority white sections of the county.

Didier contends the people included in the analysis aren’t registered to vote.

He opposed the idea of going to district-only voting in general elections saying he wants commissioners to represent the entire county.

Mullen was skeptical that the county needs to move to district-only elections.

He said in Yakima County there were commissioners who won their primaries, but lost in the general election. That was something that was rare in Franklin County.

Attorneys for the League of United Latin American Citizens have argued the reason for that is because the heavily Latino areas of the county are divided among the commission districts.

“None of the (districts) are a majority Latino or a majority Hispanic districts, either by population or by citizen voting age population, that’s why there has not been, at least the allegation is, a win at the primary and a loss at the general,” attorney Casey Bruner said at Tuesday’s commissioner meeting.

Didier argues redrawing the lines to create a majority Latino district would shut out conservative Latinos.

Redistricting committee

Didier and Mullen said they want to see two commissioners, not just one, representing the less-populated North Franklin County.

Currently, the only district entirely contained in the city of Pasco is Commissioner Brad Peck’s district, which is situated in the western part of the city.

Mullen said he wants to protect the agricultural community.

“I feel that if there was any negotiating of the lines to make it more fair and equitable for everyone,” he said. “I don’t want to disenfranchise anyone in North Franklin County. I feel to have true representation of the county as a whole, the lines should be adjusted to where the biggest district is in city limits, maybe that should be the majority minority district.”

That was one direction they gave to the committee created to redraw new boundaries for the commissioner districts.

The nine-person group was formed just weeks after the county was sued.

It includes members of the county auditor’s office, Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Pasco Chamber of Commerce, Franklin County Farm Bureau, Franklin County’s Cattleman’s Association and an expert with the county’s mapping system.

Each of the commissioners also was allowed to appoint someone to the committee.

Meetings for the committee have been on hold pending the results of the lawsuit, Sant said.

The meetings are expected to get started, though it’s unclear how Thursday’s meeting will affect that process.

Peck said he just wants to comply with the current requirements of the Washington Voting Rights Act. Outside of that, he didn’t care how the boundaries were decided.

“I think at the end of the day, the people of Franklin County know each of us. They only have to watch the meetings. They will elect people that they trust,” he said. “I believe they will elect people who will honor their oath of office, respect the law, change it when the law is improper or imperfect.”

He suggested coming up with three options, including one that most complies, one that minimally complies and one in the middle.

Didier disagreed, saying he wanted to start with the current map.

“If we show that we’re willing to go to the full extent, then we’re showing weakness.” Didier said.

This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.