Suen is running scarred - seeks to Gerrymander away neighborhoods where he has strong negatives



The age-old process of a politician engaging in Gerrymander is as American as apple pie and corruption, and Elk Grove politicians are not immune from its temptations. In a display of what is best described as political fear, Elk Grove City Councilmember Darren Suen openly engaged the self-serving practice during the most recent city council meeting on Wednesday, September 25.  

For Suen, the topic of redrawing his Elk Grove City Council District 1 came up during the second of four public hearings on the city impending switch to by-district elections. Although Suen has aligned himself with three of his colleagues - Steve Detrick, Pat Hume, and Stephanie Nguyen on their opposition to the legally mandated by-district systems, he nonetheless attempted to throw one of his colleagues under the bus.

As you will see in the video below, Suen sought to have the boundaries of District 1 redrawn to have portions of the area assigned to another councilmember. While Suen did it in broad terms of issues like flood control, it was an act of self-perseveration.

Suen, who has been an unwavering supporter of the controversial California Northstate University project, has seen his unpopularity grow in the Stonelake and Landside neighborhoods. Residents in those neighborhoods largely oppose the controversial $1 billion hospital project.

Faced with reelection in 2020 in what will be a hostile by-district electorate, what better way to preserve your butt than drawing a portion of those out of your district to another one. Borrowing from the French colonial practice of drawing boundaries, Suen even suggested establishing long-thin narrow districts that would probably foist some of these angry voters into Nguyen's District 4 boundaries. 

So while the Detrick, Hume, Nguyen, and Suen might appear to be buddy-buddy, especially in their opposition to the by-district voting, when it comes down to it, they'll push another one in front of a speeding train if it is in their self-interest. If you doubt that, listen carefully to Suen.  


Copyright by Elk Grove News © 2019. All right reserved.










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4 comments

D.J. Blutarsky said...

The proposed redrawn district maps aren't even available for public review, and yet our city designer-engineer-traffic guru-council member has already cooked up a scheme to preserve his distinguished political career!

Could it be possible that Suen is not really throwing Nguyen under the E-tran bus at all, but Nguyen has decided to not run for re-election and the next candidate to replace her can worry about the CNU mess? What better going away present than to hand Suen a cherry-picked district which all but ensures him another victory. Now that's engineering at its finest!

Unknown said...

Suen says he'd like to see a second member advocate on the West Side? I'd love to know who the first member advocating on the West Side is because it sure as Hell isn't Suen. If only there was someone in that area who could represent the residents. Maybe someone who could self fund and wouldn't have to take the blood money. If only... ;-)

Eye on Elk Grove said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eye on Elk Grove said...

Unknown. . . you pot stirrer! "Maybe someone who could self fund." You've got a secret and I know what it is! Oh happy day. . .!

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