Treasurer Secedes From Valley VOTE, Citing ‘Malfeasance’

A founder of the current movement to break up Los Angeles has himself broken away from the San Fernando Valley secession group Valley VOTE.

Bruce Bialosky, the group’s treasurer for more than three years, resigned this week from the board of directors in a cryptically worded letter alleging “malfeasance” by some unnamed members of the organization.

Bialosky, an accountant, stood by his allegation Wednesday. He also refused to elaborate.

“There has been no malfeasance. It’s nonsense,” said Jeff Brain, Valley VOTE president. “I know there were personal feelings between him and some other board members. I think that’s what he is talking about.

“Sometimes, when volunteers have been with a group for a long time and other people come in later there are personality issues.”

Bialosky denied Brain’s claim that his unhappy departure may have stemmed from the fact that former state legislator Richard Katz was selected over Bialosky for a key post within Valley VOTE as chairman of the government affairs committee.

“That is absolutely not true,” Bialosky said. “I had no problem with Richard Katz’s election.”

Bialosky said he remains supportive of the idea of creating a Valley city, but can no longer work with Valley VOTE.

“The episode that I experienced last summer has completely stifled my respect for the leadership of the group and has squandered any enthusiasm I have for participating in the leadership,” Bialosky wrote in his letter of resignation.

He wrote that a couple of people were involved, and said, “since there were no repercussions for their malfeasance, I do not feel comfortable maintaining my involvement.”

Richard Close, the chairman of Valley VOTE, said he too was baffled by the letter, adding that there has been no wrongdoing by any board member. Close downplayed the rift and the effect that Bialosky’s departure might have on the group.

“There is no one person who is that important,” Close said. “If I left, the group would still continue on.”

RACE OF FIRSTS: Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick wants to become the first woman to win election to the office of city controller.

Now, former City Treasurer J. Paul Brownridge said he wants to be the first African American elected to the post.

Brownridge, who served as city treasurer from 1991 until last year, said he is better qualified than Chick because he is a tax lawyer, an accountant, and has served 15 years as treasurers for three cities.

“I don’t think she has the same background and experience,” Brownridge said Wednesday. “Obviously, I know the city of Los Angeles inside-out.”

Chick, a Tarzana resident, entered the race for the April 2001 election months ago and has a large fund-raising lead, but Brownridge is not concerned.

“She doesn’t have a lock on it,” Brownridge said. “It’s a long way away until the election. I can match her in fund-raising.”

Brownridge, a 54-year-old resident of downtown, notes that history would be made regardless of who wins.

“It’s exciting either way,” Brownridge said.

He quit last December after receiving an unfavorable job evaluation a year before by an executive review panel and had his salary cut by 1% as a result. Brownridge entered the race for city controller a few weeks after Deputy Mayor Noelia Rodriguez decided not to run.

PADILLA BOOKED: With a salary of $113,000, City Councilman Alex Padilla may be the highest-priced librarian who ever worked at the Pacoima branch.

Padilla asked to serve as “Librarian for a Day” on Monday to pay back an institution that has meant a lot to him. Padilla’s parents both worked, so the library served as a kind of day-care center when he was a boy, said spokesman David Gershwin.

The councilman, who turns 27 this month, went on to earn an engineering degree at MIT.

“He owes that library a lot for his academic success,” Gershwin said.

MOTOR-VOTER BREAKDOWN: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack called this week for the state Department of Motor Vehicles to give its motor-voter program a tuneup.

McCormack said she is receiving about five calls a day from voters angry and frustrated that they cannot vote in Tuesday’s primary election, despite having thought they had registered at DMV offices.

In an effort to make it easier to register, each driver’s license application includes a box that people may check to indicate they want to register to vote or move their registration from one address to another.

The problem: Many people check the box and think they are registered. They have missed a warning on the form stating that they must also fill out a voter registration card available at the DMV office.

“This is a common occurrence, unfortunately,” McCormack said. “We’re going to ask that the DMV do something to highlight the instructions more on the need to fill out the other form. It is kind of buried.”

POLITICAL SENIORITY: In his quest to register new voters, entertainment lawyer Paul Krekorian, a Democratic candidate in the 43rd Assembly District, has bagged one potential supporter none of his competitors are likely to rival: a 111-year-old Armenian woman.

Marinos Patatanyan, a resident of Glendale, was born Feb. 9, 1889 in Iran.

Krekorian said registering Patatanyan, whom he has phoned several times, including a call on the 9th to wish her a happy birthday, is part of his campaign’s effort to register new voters--particularly Armenians.

“We are teaching people about political involvement who have never voted before, who have never registered to vote before,” Krekorian said last week.

Krekorian’s campaign manager, Ardashes Kassakhian, said of the approximately 1,100 new registered voters in the district, 90% were registered through the Krekorian campaign.