Governor Asked to Act on Schabarum’s Status

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has asked Gov. George Deukmejian to determine if retiring Supervisor Pete Schabarum has violated requirements that he live in the district he serves, and if so, to appoint Sarah Flores to his seat.

A Deukmejian spokesman said the governor’s office will review a county counsel’s opinion that the governor can remove Schabarum if he determines the supervisor no longer resides in his district.

Schabarum refused on Tuesday to answer any questions about his residency, saying he does not want to divert attention from the term limit initiative he is backing on Tuesday’s ballot.

“This is not the week for that,” Schabarum said.

Schabarum recently moved out of his San Gabriel Valley district and now divides most of his time between a condominium in downtown Los Angeles and a house in the desert community of Indian Wells.

Although the condominium is within the boundaries of the new 1st District as recently redrawn by federal Judge David Kenyon, Schabarum’s residency is still in question because the redistricting issue is now before a higher court.

Kenyon ruled in a Voting Rights Act lawsuit earlier this year that the county discriminated against Latinos in 1981 in drawing up the current supervisorial districts. That ruling, along with the redrawn 1st District, was put on hold by the county’s appeal. An appellate court decision is expected any day.

The 61-year-old supervisor was planning to retire when his term expires Dec. 3 but his stay on the board was extended indefinitely pending the appeals court ruling.

Antonovich and Supervisor Deane Dana, who no longer get along with fellow Republican Schabarum, have been pushing for Flores’ appointment or election in hopes of upsetting the voting rights lawsuit and preserving conservative control of the board.

If appointed, Flores--a Latina Republican and former deputy to Schabarum--would enjoy the advantages of incumbency in an election and could ultimately disprove claims that the supervisors denied Latinos representation on the board.

Flores was to face Superior Court Judge Gregory O’Brien in the November election, but the that race, also was indefinitely postponed pending a final ruling on the court case.

Antonovich, a former state GOP chairman, said Tuesday that he spoke privately with Deukmejian at a recent gubernatorial fund-raiser about appointing Flores to Schabarum’s seat. “He was looking forward to receiving the opinion,” said Antonovich of the county counsel’s ruling that spelled out Deukmejian’s authority in the dispute.

“We have received the opinion, but as to what we will do and when, it is up in the air,” said Deukmejian spokesman Bob Gore.

Sal Russo, Deukmejian’s former deputy chief of staff and now a political consultant in Sacramento, said he believes the governor will leave the matter to the federal judge presiding over the redistricting case.

“His tendency would be, this is in the hands of a federal judge and to leave it there until the legal issues are resolved rather than acting precipitously,” Russo said.

Richard Fajardo, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a plaintiff in the redistricting lawsuit, said, “As a practical matter, I don’t see anything happening” to remove Schabarum.

He said that any effort to force Schabarum out probably would end up in court and not be decided until after the redistricting ruling.

However, Fajardo said, “We are prepared to take whatever legal action is necessary to preserve an open seat election in the 1st District. . . . One of the goals of the district court is to keep an open seat so everybody would have an equal chance of running for that office.”

In his legal opinion, County Counsel DeWitt Clinton did not offer a statement on whether Schabarum has violated residency requirements.

A Schabarum spokesman recently said the supervisor is registered to vote at his son’s house in the existing 1st District.

“The courts have held that when the incumbent of a local office ceases to be a resident of the district for which he was elected . . . the office becomes vacant automatically,” Clinton said in his opinion. He added that a supervisor cannot re-establish residency by moving back into the district.

However, Clinton said, “the supervisor may continue to sit as a de facto member of the board until he resigns, is removed or is replaced, and prior to any such action his votes and any resulting actions taken by the board are valid.”