from the Los Angeles Times
San Gabriel council deems itself judge over election results
Officials hold their own hearing — with sworn witnesses — to decide if the second-highest vote-getter should be seated because of a local-residency challenge.
San Gabriel City Councilman-elect Chin Ho Liao listens to arguments during… (Don Bartletti, Los Angeles…)
San
Gabriel Councilman-elect Chin Ho Liao was the second highest
vote-getter in the city's March elections, but his first time on the
council dais last week was as a witness under cross-examination.
The City Council voted not to seat Liao after resident Fred Paine filed a complaint alleging that Liao's true residence is outside of the city's borders. Though Liao has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court to contest the council's vote, the city has also created its own hearing process to determine Liao's residency.
The City Council voted not to seat Liao after resident Fred Paine filed a complaint alleging that Liao's true residence is outside of the city's borders. Though Liao has filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court to contest the council's vote, the city has also created its own hearing process to determine Liao's residency.
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Many
of Liao's supporters have accused the City Council of discriminating
against Liao because of his race. More than 60% of San Gabriel's
population is of Asian descent, and just two other council members of
Asian descent have won seats since the city was incorporated in 1913.
Several reporters from Chinese-language media were among those who filled San Gabriel's rustic City Council chambers Thursday when it was transformed into a crude courtroom. Four council members became judges. A city clerk's desk briefly functioned as a makeshift witness stand, and the clerk herself swore in witnesses.
Over three days of contentious debate, attorneys presented battling explanations for Liao's changing residency status.
Liao had twice rented an apartment within city borders before running for City Council. After losing the first race in 2011, Liao returned to a home in an unincorporated neighborhood known as East San Gabriel before allegedly moving back to an apartment within the city's border.
Paine's attorney, Arnold Alvarez-Glasman, painted Liao's moves as cynical attempts to meet residency requirements for council office.
"He is merely a carpetbagger who has come in, time and time again, for the sole purpose of being seated up there next to you," Alvarez-Glasman said to the council. "This is not about politics, or ethnicity or race, or the people on the council. It's about the law."
Liao's testimony was alternately halting and emphatic as he admitted to splitting time between residences in and outside of the city borders. But he insisted that running for office was not the only reason behind the moves, pointing to deep community ties in San Gabriel. Both he and Paine are past presidents of the Rotary Club of San Gabriel, and Liao is listed on the club's website as the vice president.
"My heart is in San Gabriel. I'll live and die here," Liao said twice during testimony.
The Asian Pacific American Legal Center has represented Liao for free, calling questions about his residency "meritless" and warning that the council's actions threaten to disenfranchise Asian American voters.
Liao's attorney Nilay Vora said that Liao has always intended to move permanently to San Gabriel and argued that Liao was not simply renting apartments within city borders, that he was living in them as well.
Vora subpoenaed three neighbors who testified that they had met Liao, regularly saw his car parked at the building and heard his movements in the apartment through shared walls. Liao also submitted a receipt from a moving company and described his possessions, among other evidence.
Liao's moves, Vora argued, were partially the product of a troubled 25-year marriage.
Both Liao and his wife, Tracy Huang, admitted to "communication problems" during testimony. They slept in separate beds when they lived together, Huang said. She had no idea that Liao planned to run for office.
Several reporters from Chinese-language media were among those who filled San Gabriel's rustic City Council chambers Thursday when it was transformed into a crude courtroom. Four council members became judges. A city clerk's desk briefly functioned as a makeshift witness stand, and the clerk herself swore in witnesses.
Over three days of contentious debate, attorneys presented battling explanations for Liao's changing residency status.
Liao had twice rented an apartment within city borders before running for City Council. After losing the first race in 2011, Liao returned to a home in an unincorporated neighborhood known as East San Gabriel before allegedly moving back to an apartment within the city's border.
Paine's attorney, Arnold Alvarez-Glasman, painted Liao's moves as cynical attempts to meet residency requirements for council office.
"He is merely a carpetbagger who has come in, time and time again, for the sole purpose of being seated up there next to you," Alvarez-Glasman said to the council. "This is not about politics, or ethnicity or race, or the people on the council. It's about the law."
Liao's testimony was alternately halting and emphatic as he admitted to splitting time between residences in and outside of the city borders. But he insisted that running for office was not the only reason behind the moves, pointing to deep community ties in San Gabriel. Both he and Paine are past presidents of the Rotary Club of San Gabriel, and Liao is listed on the club's website as the vice president.
"My heart is in San Gabriel. I'll live and die here," Liao said twice during testimony.
The Asian Pacific American Legal Center has represented Liao for free, calling questions about his residency "meritless" and warning that the council's actions threaten to disenfranchise Asian American voters.
Liao's attorney Nilay Vora said that Liao has always intended to move permanently to San Gabriel and argued that Liao was not simply renting apartments within city borders, that he was living in them as well.
Vora subpoenaed three neighbors who testified that they had met Liao, regularly saw his car parked at the building and heard his movements in the apartment through shared walls. Liao also submitted a receipt from a moving company and described his possessions, among other evidence.
Liao's moves, Vora argued, were partially the product of a troubled 25-year marriage.
Both Liao and his wife, Tracy Huang, admitted to "communication problems" during testimony. They slept in separate beds when they lived together, Huang said. She had no idea that Liao planned to run for office.
