Latinos Try to Settle on Consensus Candidate : Politics: Community leaders hope to avoid divisive and expensive confrontation in the 1st District. Some doubt political ambitions can be set aside.

Though a federal appeals court has stayed creation of a new Latino-majority supervisorial district in Los Angeles County, community leaders remain locked in talks to determine a unity candidate who could become the first Latino on the powerful Board of Supervisors.

The political stakes are so high and the seat so important to the Eastside community that at least four prominent Democratic elected officials and one Republican activist are busily campaigning behind the scenes to be the Latino candidate for the newly created 1st District.

The unity that Latino community leaders, especially Democrats, had hoped for two weeks ago when a lower federal court drew new district lines and set a special election is apparently slipping away.

Four Democrats are actively competing: Los Angeles City Council members Richard Alatorre, 44, and Gloria Molina, 41, and U.S. Reps. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles), 77, and Esteban E. Torres (D-La Puente), 60. Also seeking support in the Latino community is Republican and former supervisorial aide Sarah Flores, 52.

A showdown among any of these Latino politicians is exactly the kind of divisive and expensive confrontation that community leaders had talked of when the lower court redrew all the districts to consolidate the Latino community. Latinos now comprise 51% of the voters and 71% of the population in the new 1st District.

“I hope that once the dust settles, there is a meeting of the community leadership . . . and there is a consensus candidate,” said Antonia Hernandez, president and general counsel of Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

But Vivien Bonzo of the Olvera Street Merchants Assn. said, “It’s an awfully important seat, and every Latino politician has the right to go for it. . . . That’s old- fashioned American competition.”

Though Flores is the only announced candidate in the race, Bonzo cautioned, “Don’t count any of them out.”

The uncertainty created by so many candidates was multiplied Thursday by the stay issued by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the landmark voting rights case.

The county has appealed the ruling of U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon, who found that the Board of Supervisors intentionally discriminated against Latinos, diluting their voting power by splitting the community among three supervisorial districts. Kenyon on Aug. 4 threw out the results of the June election in the 1st District, redrew the districts and ordered a new election for Nov. 6.

The appeals court will decide this week whether to extend its stay beyond Saturday, and a three-judge panel will rule on the case after hearing oral arguments in October.

Community activists remained confident that the appeals court will uphold Kenyon and that there will be a Latino on the board this year.

Joe Sanchez, president of the Mexican American Grocers Assn., says a unity candidate is unlikely. “It doesn’t happen in other communities, and I don’t think it’s going to happen here,” said Sanchez. “If the political bug has bit them, there’s no turning back.”

Interviews with candidates and community leaders indicate that there will likely be at least two and as many as four candidates--should the appeals court uphold the new election.

Though numerous factors such as campaign fund-raising ability are key factors, the lineup could be determined largely by Roybal--the political patriarch of the Eastside community.

If Roybal decides to run, he would be seeking the same office that supporters say was stolen from him in a controversial 1958 election. A mysterious 12,000 votes were found in a recount several days after balloting in that supervisorial race, turning Roybal’s slim victory into a defeat.

Roybal went on to become one of the nation’s first Latino congressmen, but the county election has been an open wound for him and the community ever since.

The episode played an important role in Kenyon’s finding that there has been a pattern of intentional discrimination against Latinos by the county board.

Running against Roybal “would be like running against Mother Teresa,” lamented one Alatorre loyalist.

“I would think most people would have too much respect for Roybal” to oppose him, said Bonzo. “But ambition runs high and confidence runs high. And that may overcome their deference. . . . Especially if they have (campaign) money in the bank.”

Roybal, in an interview, stressed the need for a consensus candidate.

“I would not be interested in running unless that took place . . . and I’m interested only if no one else can do it,” said Roybal. “This has to be done using intelligence instead of ambition.”

Roybal said a united front must be presented to defeat Republican Flores or her former boss, conservative Supervisor Pete Schabarum--who said last week that running in the 1st District is a “serious option.”

Flores came in first in the June primary and was scheduled to face Superior Court Judge Gregory O’Brien in a November runoff. O’Brien has said that he does not intend to run in the new district.

Despite the unity talk, Alatorre said, “I expect to be a candidate” regardless of who else is running. “The likelihood of having just one candidate is not great,” he said.

Flores said she has a great deal of respect for Roybal, but will run regardless of his plans. “He came close once before, and he’ll come close again--because I’m going to win,” said Flores.

Molina said she would not oppose Roybal. “He is the one person I would step aside for,” said Molina. “He has the capability of uniting all Latinos” in the district, she said.

But if Roybal does not run, Molina said she expects to be a candidate. Until a decision is reached, Molina said, “I’m operating as though there will be an election and that I am one of the candidates.”

Despite all the posturing, most candidates are hopeful that a consensus can be reached and more meetings are scheduled for this week.

“We need to avoid a blood bath,” Torres said in an interview last week.

While each candidate professes a need to agree on a consensus candidate, they all want to be that candidate.

Torres, for instance, is keeping his options open. The four-term congressman, who is already on the ballot for reelection to Congress, last week sought and received an opinion from the California secretary of state that would allow him to also run for supervisor. The California Constitution normally prohibits running for more than one office in any election.

The ruling would also pave the way for Roybal, who is running for his 15th term in the House of Representatives.

Hernandez said that if a consensus candidate cannot be agreed on, she hopes the leadership can arrive “at least at some general understanding of how the campaign should be conducted.”

The judge’s decision has spawned “a lot of optimism, a feeling of hope in the community,” Hernandez said. “It’s had a phenomenal impact. I want to carry that forward” with a positive campaign for the supervisorial seat--and in the race to fill any position vacated by the eventual winner.