All three GOP Fresno County supervisors have links to man who drew district maps they favor
Fresno County supervisors are close to picking a new map for county districts drawn by a conservative strategist — leading detractors to claim the three Republican members of the board are using the redistricting process to stay in power as the county turns increasingly blue.
The Board of Supervisors threw its support behind a map drawn by Alex Tavlian, a Republican attorney who has been paid as a strategist by all three of the Republican supervisors. Nathan Magsig, Steve Brandau and Buddy Mendes each have hired companies Tavlian heads. Park West Associates has worked for Brandau, and Sultana Media for the other two.
And in recent years, Magsig, Brandau and Mendes have paid for services from Central Valley Group, a fundraising company run by founder Terra Brusseau, whose clients also include several local Republicans.
Brusseau serves as the chief philanthropy officer for the nonprofit Valley Future Foundation, a self-described public benefit organization for which Tavlian is named as the chief financial officer. Tavlian, Brusseau and other representatives of the foundation did not return requests for comment.
Brusseau drew controversy in 2019 when while in her capacity as Fresno Housing Authority commissioner she said a housing project in Clovis was not the “best place” for diversity. She later apologized — an apology some called disingenuous — after residents called for her resignation.
The Valley Future Foundation Inc. in 2019 announced its first initiative would be The San Joaquin Valley Sun, a news outlet also run by Tavlian.
In a detailed report on the rise of partisan news sites in California, CalMatters found that Tavlian used his role as executive editor of the Sun to write a story that was cited in political advertisements attacking then-Rep. TJ Cox, who was running for re-election against David Valadao, Tavlian’s former boss and client. Tavlian didn’t disclose his relationship with Valadao in the story. The attack ads were produced by two outside conservative groups and generated a wide paid audience on Facebook.
Having connections between more than one member of the conservative foundation and Fresno County supervisors is a sticking point because it’s unclear who is funding the foundation, according to Juan Arambula, a former supervisor and state legislator and a detractor of the Tavlian map.
“I think the supervisors were looking out for themselves,” he said.
The foundation’s filing with the Secretary of State’s Office names its CEO as William Bourdeau, who served as a delegate for former President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in 2016, and the secretary is listed as Anthony Ratekin, a former chief of staff for Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare.
Brandau, who is chairperson of the Board of Supervisors, said he knows Tavlian but said it’s only in passing. “I see him at events just like I see other community leaders,” he said. “I didn’t take a meeting with him.”
He also said he is neither aware of the Valley Future Foundation nor who serves as its officers.
“People are going to believe what they want to believe,” Brandau said. “Some people’s comfort level might be stretched a little, but, for me, it didn’t matter who drew that (map).”
He said he was open to meeting with any map supporters, noting he did meet with representatives of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
Magsig said he knows both Tavlian and Brusseau, but brushed off criticism.
“I consider them both friends,” he said. “Looking at the process that we used, there were 22 different maps. No matter what map was chosen, there are still people upset.”
He stressed that the maps all passed through an advisory committee, which was tasked with vetting them and making sure they met legal standards. The map drawn by Tavlian meets those standards, he said, including having three majority minority districts.
Elections loom
The supervisors have not officially voted on a final map, but directed staffers to use the map drawn by Tavlian as the basis for the next map.
The next supervisors to face re-election (in the March 2022 primary) are Mendes and Supervisor Brian Pacheco, who would be placed in the same district under another map that got widespread vocal support but was dismissed by the supervisors.
That dismissed map was developed by the Equitable Map Coalition, which is made up of the Central California Coalition for Equitable Realignment, Dolores Huerta Foundation and a slew of other community-based groups.
Those groups have denounced the supervisors’ decision and said the officials could face litigation.
Fresno County Supervisor Sal Quintero — the only Latino on the board — told The Bee on Wednesday that he was “disappointed” by the majority’s decision. He tried to get the supervisors to consider the map they dismissed, but failed to get the four votes needed.
“I felt that all of the other maps basically maintain the status quo,” Quintero said.
Pacheco, who along with Quintero is registered Democrat, said he was open to examining the dismissed map, but said he saw the writing on the wall when the Republican supervisors expressed opposition to it.
“In the end, we needed four votes,” he said. “I’ve been described as pragmatic. I didn’t see the point of belaboring it.”
Demographics
The Board of Supervisors districts are drawn every 10 years. The board appointed the commission that took input and made recommendations, but the board gets the final decision on which map they pick.
They also can decide on whatever map they like, assuming it meets legal requirements like a balanced population and other guidelines.
The voting population looks different in Fresno County than in past decades. The percentage of Democrats registered in the latest numbers is almost eight points higher than Republicans, 39.7% to 32%, respectively, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Ten years ago, the split was almost dead even with the difference being about a tenth of 1%.
Latinos are also the majority now in Fresno County.
It’s not unusual for an interest group or lobbyists to be involved in governmental affairs and it routinely happens in Washington, D.C., according to Jessica Trounstine, a professor and chairperson for the political science department at UC Merced.
“From the sound of it, there is nothing illegal going on here (in Fresno County),” she said. “And yet, just like with lobbying, the fear is that democracy has been distorted by these relationships and this process because it gives more weight to some voices than others.”
Redistricting is typically political, she said, which is why some municipalities use nonpartisan redistricting commissions to make the final decision.
The district map in Fresno County has not been significantly changed since 1991, according to Michael Evans, a member of the Central California Coalition for Equitable Realignment. He said the map needed an overhaul if it was ever going to be fair to people in rural communities of color.
Evans said conservative map-makers are aware of that.
“They’ve been pretty open and blatant about what they’re doing,” he said. “It’s clearly an attempt to hold onto power.”
The supervisors can cast an official vote on a map on Nov. 16.
This story was originally published November 15, 2021, 5:00 AM.
