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.
April 27, 2013|By Frank Shyong, Los Angeles Times
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.
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.
