ELECTIONS / L.A. CITY COUNCIL : Dib Avoids, Finn Crashes 7th District Forum

The controversy stirred at a candidates forum in the 7th City Council District on Thursday night was not caused by a clash over issues.

The five candidates on the dais--who are vying for the seat left vacant by Ernani Bernardi’s retirement from the council after 32 years--were almost unanimous in agreement with measures supported by the forum’s sponsors, the civic group Valley Organized in Community Effort (VOICE).

And as each candidate spoke to the crowd of about 150 at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Pacoima, none criticized another, not even indirectly.

The controversy was mostly offstage. It concerned which candidates did and did not show up.

Al Dib was invited and did not show. Anne Finn was not, but came anyway.

Dib has had his problems in the district, which is 70% Latino. During his drive to collect signatures to place him on the April 20 primary election ballot, he remarked that he “can tell by their faces” if Latinos are U.S. citizens.

Not surprisingly, the comment drew heavy criticism from Latino community leaders. But Dib had told members of VOICE, which has a large Latino membership, that he looked forward to putting in an appearance at the forum.

“He begged us to be included,” said Julieta McKay, a VOICE member and an organizer of the event. “Then this morning he called and said he would not come. He did not give a reason.”

Dib could not be reached for comment.

The five candidates on hand included Lyle Hall, considered the front-runner, Ray Magana, Richard Alarcon, Leroy Chase and Henry Villafana.

But there is one more candidate for the City Council post--Anne Finn, the widow of former Councilman Howard Finn. She arrived at the back of the auditorium just as the forum was getting under way and strode up to a VOICE official.

“Why was I not told about this?” asked Finn, who, according to recent campaign reports, is second in fund raising among the candidates.

“I guess they thought there was not room for you,” the official said, clearly taken aback.

But the diminutive Finn was not to be put off. “You are afraid of me,” she said defiantly. “That I might win.”

Villafana, a schoolteacher, went into the crowd to find Finn and invited her up to the stage. But Finn declined. “They don’t want me here,” she said as she left the hall.

The Rev. Tom Rush--the pastor of the church, a VOICE vice president and a forum moderator--was at a loss to explain why Finn was not invited. “I think it was just to be viable candidates,” he said after the event ended. But Finn is considered a far stronger candidate than some who were included.

“The whole thing was just a slip-up, possibly,” Rush said.

As for the issues, all the candidates agreed to continue city funding of the Hope in Youth anti-gang program and to support a VOICE plan to put lawbreakers to work cleaning up graffiti.

Only Alarcon said he favored a ballot measure raising taxes to pay for an expansion of the Los Angeles Police Department. The other candidates said they supported the hiring of more police, but not the tax measure.