Council Delays Vote on Softening Stance Against Prop. 187

The Los Angeles City Council, with three members absent, delayed a vote Friday on whether to soften its decision to fight Proposition 187 in the courts, but the roiling ill will that has characterized council debate on the divisive initiative continued in full bloom.

Councilman Joel Wachs, who wants the city to limit its role in the legal dispute over implementation of the initiative, said there were not enough members present to approve his motion. But the San Fernando Valley councilman vowed to raise it again Tuesday. Councilman Mike Hernandez, a leader of the council bloc that wants to overturn the measure, countered that Wachs does not have the votes and “is blowing hot air.”

On Thursday, City Atty. James K. Hahn, acting in light of a 10-3 council vote last week, filed court papers to join in a federal lawsuit seeking to toss out the initiative. A day earlier, a federal district judge in Los Angeles issued a temporary restraining order covering most portions of the measure, which would bar illegal immigrants from already limited government-funded education, health care and social services.

Meanwhile, the repercussions of Proposition 187, which was approved by a 59%-41% margin in last week’s election, continued to grow Friday as boycotts increased.

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In San Diego, about 500 of the expected 2,000 participants in a conference on Spanish-language children’s books at the city’s Convention Center have stayed away to protest the initiative’s passage.

In previous years, busloads of Mexican teachers’ groups from Baja California and Mexico City attended the annual meeting, where dozens of book distributors offer their wares, according to organizer Isabel Schon, director of the Center for Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents at Cal State San Marcos.

But in recent days, apologetic Mexican colleagues have called Schon and told her they were staying home to protest what they see as an anti-Mexican, anti-immigrant climate in California.

“They are saying, ‘If they don’t want us there, we are not going to come,’ ” Schon said.

The National Assn. of Hispanic Journalists voted last weekend to keep future national conventions out of California until the illegal immigration initiative is repealed by state voters or court decisions.

At least one other national organization, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Assn., is considering following suit. “We’re taking a very serious look at it,” said Leroy Aarons, president of the group, which has a national meeting scheduled for Beverly Hills next fall.

One consideration, Aarons said, is that the Hispanic journalists’ association heeded a 1992 call by the gay journalists’ association to move its annual convention from Colorado because of that state’s passage of an initiative--later voided--banning civil rights protection for homosexuals.

Southern California tourism officials say they are concerned about the economic repercussions of an anti-187 boycott. But so far, they said, they have heard of few concrete actions.

“In the national media, the principal story is that the (initiative) is being put in some form of suspended animation because of legal examination,” said Michael Collins, senior vice president of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. “That’s probably slowed down what may have been a larger reaction.”

Eight lawsuits have been filed in federal and state courts to challenge Proposition 187. Wachs says the city should avoid taking an activist position like that of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and other civil rights groups in whose suit the city is seeking to intervene.

“The council should limit itself to clarifying its responsibilities under the law,” Wachs said. “What the public resents is this seeming attitude by the council that it knows better.”

Hahn and other city officials have retorted that the only way for the city to involve itself in the case is by joining in one of the lawsuits challenging the measure. Hernandez said he and several other council members are likely to walk out of the council chambers rather then participate in any upcoming vote called by Wachs.

“His motion isn’t doing anything so I don’t want to participate in the motion because I think it’s all staged,” said Hernandez, who represents a large Latino constituency in his Central City district.

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In recent days, the polarizing nature of Proposition 187 has overflowed into City Hall, where Hernandez has had several confrontations with colleagues. The ill will ran so deep that at least one council member privately discussed--but later backed off--the possibility of asking the council to censure Hernandez.

The trouble began during a closed session of the council Wednesday, when Hernandez got into a shouting match with Councilman Nate Holden. The dispute became so intense that some observers thought the two men might come to blows.

Hernandez later apologized to Holden and told a reporter, “He was mad and I was mad. But I told Nate he couldn’t step outside, because his hair was too gray.”

When the council resumed in open session, Hernandez shredded a copy of Wachs’s proposal and threw it down in front of Wachs, accusing him of “acting against the Latino community.”

Moments later, Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr. approached Hernandez to discuss the matter. Hernandez swore at Svorinich and said that he then fended his colleague off with an outstretched hand. “He tends to get real close to you when he talks and I didn’t want him real close to me,” said Hernandez.

Another observer said Hernandez was “out of control” and actually jabbed Svorinich several times with his finger.

On Friday, Hernandez was unapologetic, saying many council members do not recognize the fear and problems that Proposition 187 is causing in Latino communities. He accused Svorinich of having “no guts” and said he had “less substance than the Bob’s Big Boy mascot.”

Svorinich, who could not be reached for comment Friday, has said previously he will not speak to Hernandez until he apologizes.

Times staff writer Sebastian Rotella contributed to this report.