Malibu Lawyer’s Lawsuit May Soon Result In SM Council Getting Ejected
Written by 991KBU on March 8, 2019
In news from down the coast … Santa Monica’s city council may get ejected from office under a ruling from a Superior Court judge.
A lawsuit brought by an attorney who lives in Malibu … Kevin Shenkman … has resulted in the judge tossing out citywide voting for city council …
Shenkman’s lawsuit … filed on behalf of Santa Monica Malibu school board member Oscar de la Torre … alleges that the citywide voting in Santa Monica discriminates against Latinos.
71 of the last 72 elected City council members in Santa Monica have been non-minority.
The judge agreed as ordering a new election by midsummer.
The city council there is appealing the decision … and has not scheduled a new election.
The judge … Yvette Palazuelos … has ruled that the city council does that at risk of getting tossed out of office in August and declare the council seats to be vacant.
In addition to the role played by the Malibu lawyer in this case … there is more than passing impact on Malibu.
The voting system that the judge has ruled as discriminatory … is the same voting system used for Santa Monica Malibu school board seats.
And while the school board issue is not before the judge … it is possible that Santa Monica may implement District voting for the local Santa Monica Malibu school District.
Stay tuned.
This story was based on reporting from the Santa Monica Daily Press.
