Edelman, Hahn Hire Attorney in Remap Case

Los Angeles County Supervisors Ed Edelman and Kenneth Hahn, who opposed a redistricting plan approved by the board’s conservative majority, announced Friday that they hired a private attorney at county expense to represent them in the voting rights case.

“We believe that we must be represented by separate counsel in the redistricting litigation to protect our interests . . . which are in conflict with the interests of the remaining members of the Board of Supervisors,” Edelman and Hahn said in a letter Thursday to County Counsel DeWitt Clinton.

Clinton approved the hiring of Jonathan Steinberg of the law firm of Irell & Manella to represent the liberal supervisors, starting with a July 5 hearing before U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon on the new redistricting plan.

The plan, drafted in response to a court order to remedy discrimination against Latinos in the current districts, places Edelman in a new, predominantly Latino district.

The county already has spent $4 million fighting the case. On Wednesday, the conservative majority authorized spending another $500,000 for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary. In addition, the county may have to pay several million dollars in fees to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

County attorneys said they were still drawing up the contract with the law firm representing Hahn and Edelman. Steinberg, who represented the Los Angeles City Council when it settled a similar voting rights lawsuit in 1986, refused to disclose his fee.

Clinton is authorized by the board to spend an unlimited amount to hire private attorneys for any county litigation without a public vote of the supervisors, said a county attorney.

Edelman and Hahn said that they used county funds, instead of their own campaign funds, to hire the law firm because they are seeking to protect the public interest, not their own political interests.

“I can win in that Hispanic district,” Edelman said. “This is not done to help Ed Edelman. It’s done to bring justice to this issue.”

Edelman earlier paid for his own redistricting attorney out of campaign funds.

Conservative Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana said they had no objections to the liberal members’ action.

Supervisor Pete Schabarum could not be reached for comment.