Party Feud in Assembly Race Fuels Cross Fire

Alex Salazar didn’t know it, but when his boss took sick leave and he was put in charge of a Boyle Heights social service agency, he was going to land smack in the middle of a bare-knuckle political fight for an Assembly seat in Los Angeles’ Eastside.

The facilities of the nonprofit International Institute had been booked for a $10-per-person fund-raiser on March 15 for the Democrats’ 56th Assembly District committee.

Some members of that committee support Mike Hernandez, a candidate for the Assembly in the neighboring 55th District special election April 8. Word about the fund-raiser reached Richard Alatorre, the Eastside City Councilman who vacated the Assembly seat last December. Alatorre has given his full support and $20,000 to candidate Richard Polanco, a friend and former aide.

Source of Displeasure

Alatorre was obviously displeased that the institute was allowing its premises to be used on behalf of allies of Hernandez in a neighboring Assembly district.

Salazar said Alatorre called him in late February and told him that it was not in Alatorre’s political interests to allow the fund-raiser to be held at the institute, which is financed by the city and federal government. “I’ve had nicer phone calls from our political friends,” Salazar said.

Alatorre said last week that he did not recall saying the fund-raiser was against his political interests. The call was “my way of expressing displeasure. I didn’t force them to cancel. I just don’t think it’s appropriate for a nonprofit agency to be involved in partisan politics.”

Salazar called his boss, and the board of directors later decided to cancel its booking of the fund-raiser. “We didn’t want to get in the middle of it,” Salazar said. To avoid controversy, “we thought it was best stay out of it.”

Political Rivalry

“It” is the rivalry between Polanco and Hernandez, who with seven others are candidates for the vacant Assembly seat. Lined up behind Polanco are Alatorre, state Sen. Art Torres, (D-Los Angeles), Mayor Tom Bradley and several other elected officials and unions. Lined up behind Hernandez are Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles), Assemblywoman Gloria Molina (D-Los Angeles) and an influential community newspaper chain.

The competition between Polanco and Hernandez, the best known candidates in the race, has led to a series of controversial mailers in which Polanco charges that Hernandez, as a bail bondsman, “earned his living putting up bail for dangerous criminals.”

Some of the mailers have carried headlines such as “Lewd and Lascivious act upon the body of a child under the age of 14”; those were the words, the mailer said, used to describe the crime “committed by a man that Political Candidate Mike Hernandez bailed out of jail.” Hernandez denounced the mailers as mudslinging and “attacking me for what I did as a professional. It’s like attacking attorneys for what they do, or judges.” He counters that Polanco is a candidate “bought” by Alatorre and others.

Stand on Issues

On the issues of the campaign--controlling crime and alleviating overcrowded schools--Polanco and Hernandez differ little. At a community forum two weeks ago sponsored by the United Neighborhoods Organization (UNO), both said legislation to help curb crime and finance better salaries for teachers and smaller classrooms would be top priorities for them.

But the candidates’ appearance before UNO, an activist group that usually draws packed houses, drew only half capacity, indicating this race is lacking the high interest of other recent Eastside elections. That could be because there have been so many elections recently.

Most of the voters in the 55th District, which includes Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, Highland Park, El Sereno, much of Pasadena, Mount Washington, Atwater and Elysian Valley and Elysian Heights and a section of Eagle Rock--have already gone to the polls three times in three years. A regular election, a recall election and a special December election all have taken place since 1983 in the City Council district that covers about 80% of the Assembly district.

Now, Eastsiders face a fourth election. If a campaign-weary electorate fails to give a majority vote to one candidate, a runoff will take place in June between the top candidates of each party. Since Hernandez and Polanco are both Democrats, only one would go beyond the primary. The Democratic candidate would be heavily favored to win a partisan runoff in the district, which is 68% Democrat.

Importance of Names

In a race where the candidates are all relative unknowns and their philosophies differ little, the bigger names behind the candidates have taken on importance. Polanco misses few opportunities to run down his long list of endorsements and former positions with ex-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman, and Alatorre. At the UNO meeting he managed to mention--all in one breath--how he would support a law and how he had won the endorsement of both Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and local school board member Larry Gonzalez.

Polanco, 35, has so many endorsements, Alatorre said, “because he’s paid his dues, he’s worked the vineyards, he’s knowledgeable about government.” So far Polanco has raised $233,000 but is $61,000 in debt, according to his latest campaign contribution report. After he ran in 1982 and lost against Molina in another Assembly race, Polanco was fined $3,000 by the state Fair Political Practices Commission for inflating the amount of contributions he received and for receiving a cash contribution of more than $100. Polanco calls the fine “a very embarrassing moment in my life” and said he has a new system to ensure accuracy in reporting contributions.

Polanco’s campaign is run by Richard Ross, chief aide to Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. Ross said he agreed to work voluntarily for Polanco based on the recommendation of Alatorre and United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez.

Designed Mailer Attack

Ross designed the mail attack on Hernandez’s family bail bond business, which Polanco defends as “a legitimate issue.” But the attack strategy went too far in one case for endorser Bradley, who was miffed when his letter supporting Polanco was included with a brochure that said Hernandez bailed out child molesters.

And now Deputy Mayor Grace Montanez Davis, the highest ranking Latino in Bradley’s Administration, has broken ranks and said she supports Hernandez. “The mayor knows. He said I’d probably raise holy hell but he understands,” Davis said. “I live in the district (Highland Park) and I’m disturbed with the campaign tactics.”

Davis in 1982 actively supported Molina when she ran against Polanco. She signed a Molina mailer aimed against Polanco that said Polanco was late in his child support payments to his ex-wife. Polanco says that controversy “is behind me now,” as he has remarried and has custody of both of his sons.

Hernandez, 33, has been stressing his longtime residence and interest in the district, and his family business there. One of his mailers shows arrows pointing outside the district to Duarte, where Polanco owns a home. Polanco said he recently rented a home in Highland Park with an option to buy, although he stresses that he has been a part of the general East Los Angeles community “all my life.”

Academic Background

Hernandez often refers to his roots in the district and “I was one of the few from the neighborhood who went on to graduate from Franklin High and Occidental College,” he told the UNO audience. “I am of the community. You don’t need a representative in Sacramento to represent the people in Sacramento.”

Both Molina and Roybal, in supporting Hernandez, stressed what they called his “independence . . . someone who will vote his conviction without being dictated to by anyone”--a thinly veiled slap at Polanco’s closeness to Alatorre.

The Roybal and Molina endorsements, said both supporters and opponents of Hernandez, legitimized him as a candidate. Largely from immigration lawyers and the Bea Hernandez Bonds and Insurance Agency Inc. family business, Hernandez so far has raised $114,000, and as of last week he had $44,000 in the bank.

Other Candidates

Seven other candidates are hoping to push the election into a runoff by splitting the vote. Other Democrats are: Lowell (Ernie) Akui, 43, vending machine company owner who wants the state to provide additional financing for the homeless and elderly; Gonzalo Molina, 60, an educator and former legislative aide who wants to push for expanded senior citizen services; Thomas Williams, 30, an engineering designer who supports tuition credit for private schools and opposes the proposed Metro Rail subway and trash burning plants; Clarence (Clayton) Moore, a minister.

Moore and the lone Republican in the race, dentist Loren L. Lutz, could not be reached by The Times.

Michael Zinzun, 37, of the Peace and Freedom Party wants to promote black and Latino unity and channel more lottery money into schools; Libertarian Sarah E. Foster, a writer, could not be reached.