Hardball in County Remap Fight Puts Mild Edelman in the Middle

For mild-mannered Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman, the legal and political battle over redistricting has been the most disquieting time of a quarter century in public office, according to close aides.

Earlier this month, the one-time American Civil Liberties Union “man of the year” and the other supervisors were found by a federal judge to have intentionally discriminated against Latinos in drawing district boundaries in 1981.

And now Edelman, who has never faced a tough campaign since his election to the board in 1974, may find himself in a fight for his political life. Wednesday the liberal Edelman was placed by his colleagues in a new, heavily Latino district where he could face a strong challenge from a Latino. The plan still requires the approval of a federal judge.

The incidents have been troubling to Edelman, a cello-playing, professionally trained mediator who hates public controversy and would rather arbitrate than fight.

Edelman attempted unsuccessfully to settle the voting rights lawsuit by pushing for expansion of the board from five to seven seats. Expansion was blocked by the board’s conservative majority.

But attorneys for the plaintiffs, including the ACLU, attacked Edelman for failing during the 1981 redistricting to allow his 3rd District to represent a Latino majority.

Edelman, denying that he sought to discriminate, has contended that Latino leaders opposed concentrating Latino voters in a single district for fear it would limit their influence to one supervisor.

But the plaintiffs’ attorneys have pointed out that Edelman resisted making his district the Latino district after the lawsuit was filed in 1988.

Edelman, 59, nonetheless has championed liberal causes on a conservative-dominated board.

Although often on the losing end of 3-2 roll calls, he has occasionally pushed through favorite programs--an anti-AIDS discrimination law, a voluntary ban on the sale of cheap wine on Skid Row, and construction of a Hollywood courthouse--by artful persuasion, compromise or old-fashioned political horse-trading.

The ever-placid Edelman, the board’s only lawyer, prefers to work behind the scenes to build a consensus. Last fall, just hours before county nurses were poised to strike in a salary dispute, Edelman summoned both sides to his office for a closed-door meeting. Hours later, the strike was averted.

During a board meeting, Supervisor Pete Schabarum applied a tongue-lashing to Edelman that would have brought an angry response from most politicians. But Edelman sat stoically through the attack, then calmly responded, “I don’t think it serves any useful purpose to throw barbs.”

Edelman’s low-key, non-confrontational style, however, has brought criticism from constituents who claim that he is slow to speak out, often spending too much time trying to build a consensus.

Last spring, Edelman was one of the last officials representing Medfly-infested neighborhoods to introduce a resolution calling for an end to aerial malathion spraying.

Born Sept. 27, 1930, in West Los Angeles, Edelman graduated from UCLA Law School. He later served as a special assistant to the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.

He served nine years on the Los Angeles City Council before defeating Councilman John Ferraro in a bitter race for a vacant seat on the county board in 1974.