Matthew Leslie

Paulette Marshall Chaffee, wife of current Fullerton Mayor Doug Chaffee, is evidently so desperate to get elected to the Fullerton City Council this year that she has filed papers of intent to run in District 5. As far as I know, Mr. and Mrs. Chaffee reside in District 2. Ms. Marshall Chaffee filed both a Form 501 Candidate Intention Statement and a Form 410 establishing a candidate committee called “Paulette Marshall Chaffee For Fullerton City Council 2018 District 5.” Candidates may not actually file for the office until this summer. According to law, candidates must be registered to vote in the district in which they intend to run for office.

Fullerton voters adopted district-based city council elections in 2016, but were given only one map, divided into five districts, to approve. One of the lawsuits that prompted the change specifically cited the difficulty Latino candidates have historically faced in at-large elections. Although severely flawed, the map the council ultimately recommended to the voters did at least include a district with a Latino majority—District 5.

Despite Doug Chaffee’s best efforts, District 2, where the Chaffees live, was not selected by the Fullerton City Council as one of the two districts scheduled to appear on the ballot in 2018. The at-large terms of both Doug Chaffee and Greg Sebourn end in 2018.

The question of which two districts would be selected to go on the ballot in 2018 was taken up by the city council last year. On February 21, 2017, Doug Chaffee voted in a majority with Jesus Silva and Bruce Whitaker for Districts 2 and 5 to be up for election in 2018. However, then-Mayor Bruce Whitaker re-agendized the item for the following council meeting. Less than three weeks later, on March 7, he brought the same item back for reconsideration by the council. This time, Districts 3 was selected, instead of District 2, to appear on the ballot in 2018 along with District 5. Jesus Silva and Doug Chaffee opposed the change.

During public comments preceding the March 7 vote, I asked council members to divulge whether or not they were aware of any members of their households who might be planning to run for election to the council in 2018 so the public might consider whether or not any such plans might have a bearing on the decision scheduled to be made that night. No council members responded.