Marina's Democracy Has Been Stolen!

Marina's Democracy Has Been Stolen!

Who is Dan Cagape? According to a report from the Monterey County Weekly, he was the “resident” of Marina named by H. Frederick Seigenfeld, an attorney in Santa Barbara, in a letter sent to the City of Marina that threatened litigation if the Marina City Council did not transition from at-large elections to district elections.

The city had two options, pay a ransom in the sum amount of $30,000.00 to keep your democracy intact until 2022, or immediately transition and forfeit your democracy without a fight. It is regrettable that the City Council did not have the gull to stand their ground and fight for the voters of Marina. The City Council under the leadership, or rather lack thereof, of Mayor Bruce Delgado decided to cower to a bully in the name of “diversity”. Apparently your democracy was not worth the fight.

Some members of the council even voiced their support for the district elections. In an article published on December 12, 2019 by the Monterey County Weekly entitled “An effort to diversify representation in Marina draws lines that protect incumbents.” by Marielle Argueza, Council Member Adam Urrutia was quoted saying, “Even beyond the question of race and ethnicity, this is about the voters picking their representatives.”

The lines have been drawn and by a City Council vote of 3-2 the voters of Marina have been segregated under the guise of diversity. In actuality the lines appear to have been drawn to protect the incumbent seats on the council. To quote Council Member Urrutia from the same article referenced above the City Council, “ended up picking goofy districts and gerrymandering them like crazy, specifically to protect those who are sitting now.” The voters of Marina have now lost the ability to vote for all 5 city council seats, including the mayor. Instead they are now limited to only 2 votes; 1 district council member and 1 at-large mayor. To add insult to injury, only 2 council members are up for re-election in November 2020, which means that over half of the voters in Marina will NOT have a voice in this upcoming election.

Reference:

http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/an-effort-to-diversify-representation-in-marina-draws-lines-that-protect-incumbents/article_70a82de2-1c8d-11ea-91c4-5b2859256246.html

http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/opinion/squidfry/squid-fry-sea-sick/article_b3dc62d2-e578-11e9-94dc-a38bbb157080.html