A day after releasing evidence that alleges Carlos Marquez is no longer qualified to serve on the Redistricting Committee, the San Diego Republican Party has announced it will call for his resignation at tonight’s regularly scheduled commission meeting.
The Redistricting Commission meets at 4 p.m. at at the City Administration Building, 202 C Street, in the Committee Room on the 12th Floor.
The commission is responsible for redrawing the city council boundaries to accommodate for population shift as well as adding a ninth council seat. Marquez serves as the commission’s vice chairman.
Yesterday and today, several news outlets released the results of a Republican-lead investigation that alleges Marquez no longer lives in San Diego.
Derrick Roach, a private investigator and secretary for the San Diego Republican Club, and his wife Elizabeth have been following Marquez for the past four weeks. Their report alleges that Marquez now resides in Los Angeles.
“A Los Angeles resident should not be deciding the district lines that actual San Diego residents will have to live with for the next ten years,” said Chairman Tony Krvaric in a statement. “Mr. Marquez should do the honorable thing and resign at tonight’s meeting. We will publicly be calling for him to do so.”
When appointed to the commission, Marquez was serving as Director of Community Programs and Public Affairs at The LGBT Community Center and living in San Diego, according to documents obtained today by LGBT Weekly from the City Clerk’s office. He has since left The Center to become the Executive Director for HONOR Fund, a Latino LGBT advocacy group based in Las Angeles. His residence, however, is still unclear.
The redistricting office said Marquez is not allowed to speak with the press, citing commission regulation. He did not answer questions about his current address when asked by Channel 10 News, but said that information was on file with the city clerk. The 10 News reporter claims the document lists his address to be 3909 Centre Street (The LGBT Community Center); however, the document lists that address as his employer, not residence.
Marquez did appear on an episode of He Said, She Said on March 30.
“I’ll actually be starting a new job on April 11. It’s actually located in LA, but until August I will be telecommuting and driving back and forth here and there because I am still on the Redistricting Commission,” Marquez said during the interview broadcast. “I am not going to step down from that because it’s a huge roll I wanted to fulfill and it’s a responsibility that I take very seriously.”
During an interview with KUSI, Roach said, “He claims, in the past, that he lives in San Diego and commutes to Los Angeles for work, when it’s actually the opposite. He’s living in Las Angeles and commuting to San Diego when he has to come down here for commission meetings.”
In reaction to the Republican accusations, several organizations and community leaders are rallying to defend Marquez.
“This is an attack on the process itself. Please come to the 12th floor of City Hall today at 4 p.m. to speak out against this absurd attack on the Redistricting Commission,” wrote Linda Perine, chairwoman of the LGBT Redistricting Task Force.
Marquez wrote on his Facebook page, “Thanks all his friends for being so supportive during this challenging time.”
thank you to LGBT Weekly for actually crediting the source. Would be nice if other ‘media outlets’ did the same. I guess a ‘letter from a lawyer’ is in order.