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Justice Department suit alleges Hazleton City Council elections unfair to Hispanics

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A U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit accuses Hazleton and its leaders of violating federal law by thwarting the election of Hispanic City Council candidates.

City leaders do that through an at-large system of electing council members that violates the Voting Rights Act, the suit alleges.

At-large means all voters can vote to elect five council members instead of only the one who would represent their geographic district.

Kristen Clarke, the department’s civil rights division chief, and Middle District of Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam jointly filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District.

Both will leave their positions soon, but their suit contends the at-large system “results in Hispanic citizens not having an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and to elect candidates of their choice,” despite being in the majority by voting age population, the suit says.

The suit names Hazleton, its City Council and Mayor Jeff Cusat as defendants.

The Department of Justice wants a federal judge to order Hazleton to implement districts for electing council members.

In a joint statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Cusat and City Council President Jim Perry Sr. said the city would respond to the suit, but denied the city discriminates against Hispanics.

"The current at-large system ... gives equal voting rights to all citizens regardless of their race or gender," they said.

The city also always advocates and encourages "all citizens to run for office and to participate in the public process," they said.

"We have worked diligently with leaders in our communities to foster an environment that encourages public participation for everyone," they wrote. "In Hazleton, our diversity is truly our strength."

In an interview, Perry said the suit surprised city officials because change advocates broached the subject with Cusat only last month.

No one has come to council meetings complaining about the system, he said.

“We don’t know where it’s coming from,” Perry said.

He acknowledged the municipal election this year may have something to do with the suit’s timing. He declined to comment further.

Hazleton voters will choose two council members and a mayor in November.

The joint statement said the Department of Justice contacted the city with allegations of Voting Rights Act violations only last month and the city worked "in good faith for the last several weeks to address their concerns."

Instead, the department filed the suit "hurriedly ... this past Tuesday night before any meaningful discussions could take place," the statement says.

The suit doesn't mention any city refusal to change, but instead points to city history. It refers to at least seven competitive primary and general elections with Hispanic candidates between 2014 and 2023.

“No Hispanic candidate has ever been elected to the Hazleton City Council,” the suit says.

The council also refused to appoint a Hispanic to fill a vacancy in 2022, the suit says.

Based on voting-age population, the suit says, Hazleton could have at least two majority Hispanic districts in a five-district plan, according to the suit.

As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Hazleton had a voting-age population 39% white, 57.6% Hispanic and 1.5% Black, according to the suit.

Overall, the city’s population was 33% white, 63.1% Hispanic and 1.67% Black.

Voting-age population does not mean all voting-age residents are registered or eligible to vote.

The suit says Hispanic votes “are politically cohesive” and regularly vote for Hispanic candidates in recent elections, but white voters turn out “sufficiently as a bloc usually to defeat the preferred candidates of Hispanic voters.”

“Racially polarized voting patterns characterize elections for the Hazleton City Council,” the suit says.

The suit alleges the city has a history of official discrimination that “affected the right of Hispanic citizens to register, to vote and to participate meaningfully in the democratic process.”

The suit does not detail that history but says the city’s Hispanic community continues “to suffer from the effects of discrimination in education, employment, housing and policing.”

The suit also blames language barriers that prevent Spanish-speakers with limited English understanding from obtaining critical city services.

“Community contacts describe low turnout among Hispanic voters in Hazleton, as well as obstacles to political participation that contribute to low turnout (including many Hispanic voters working long shifts at nearby industrial parks),” the suit says.

The suit claims poll workers have prohibited limited-English speakers from using helpers of choice to cast ballots. With no help, some Spanish-speaking voters can’t or don’t even try to vote.

“At least one Hispanic candidate received threatening phone calls during the campaign, some of which included people yelling obscenities,” the suit says. “The candidate believed the calls were tied to anti-Hispanic sentiment.”

The suit cites former City Councilwoman Lauren Sacco’s March 2022 statement to a Hazleton Standard-Speaker newspaper reporter asking about about an update of the city’s “quality-of-life” ordinance.

“If you want to keep breaking the rules and keep living like a slum or pig, go back to wherever you came from,” Sacco said.

The suit portrays that as a derogatory comment aimed at Hispanic residents.

Sacco later said she did not direct the comment toward any specific ethnic or racial group.

“The Voting Rights Act is an important tool to ensure that underrepresented citizens have an equal opportunity to choose their elected officials,” Clarke said in a statement announcing the suit. “We look forward to working with officials to achieve a more perfect union by bringing Hazleton, Pennsylvania, into compliance with the Voting Rights Act.”

In the same statement, Karam said Hazleton’s Hispanic citizens “should have the ability to choose candidates that represent their interests.”

In their statement, Cusat and Perry said Hazleton voters should continue to elect all five council members and promised to follow all state and Luzerne County election laws and procedures.

They said the appropriate place to evaluate a district-based system is through a study of city government. They said the city is working on developing a ballot question asking voters if the study should take place.

"The concerns that have been raised by (the department) would be addressed as part of that study," they wrote.

In the interview, Perry said the council will vote on the ballot question at its Jan. 14 meeting.

The suit mirrors one filed against the Hazleton School District in February by two Hazleton mothers.

That suit, which remains pending, seeks geographic-district-based elections, too. It cites a student population that’s almost two-thirds Hispanic in a district without a single Hispanic school board member.

Borys joins WVIA News from The Scranton Times-Tribune, where he served as an investigative reporter and covered a wide range of political stories. His work has been recognized with numerous national and state journalism awards from the Inland Press Association, Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors, Society of Professional Journalists and Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association.

You can email Borys at boryskrawczeniuk@wvia.org