Secessionist Beats Foes in Name Game

One Los Angeles, the new group fighting San Fernando Valley secession, wants to put up a Web site to trumpet its cause in cyberspace, but discovered Wednesday that its name was already reserved by archfoe Jeff Brain.

Brain said he had no dirty tricks in mind last month when he registered onelosangeles.org and four other Web addresses with similar names. His intent, Brain said, was to stop other potential enemies of One Los Angeles from snatching the group’s preferred Web address.

“We did this to protect them, because it’s a big valley out there, and some people might do something that’s not right,” said Brain, president of Valley VOTE, the group that has pushed Valley secession.

To Jeffery J. Daar, an organizer of One Los Angeles, Brain’s explanation seemed, at best, “strange.”

“It just seems very questionable--to say the least,” Daar said.

For now, anyone who clicks on Brain’s Internet domains is told: “This site coming soon!” or “This site is currently under construction.”

But Brain said nothing sneaky was really “coming soon” or “under construction”--no bashing of the anti-secession movement, no surreptitious detours to Valley VOTE’s own Web site.

“We’ve never behaved in that manner, and we’re not going to start now,” he said.

A Tangled Web Is Now the Norm in U.S. Politics

Cybersquatting has become common in American politics. Click on bush-cheney.net, and you’ll find greetings from the Democratic National Committee, including “GOP Playing Games With Airline Safety.” Williebrown.com belongs to an opponent of the San Francisco mayor.

In that context, Brain’s story of protecting One Los Angeles makes no sense, said veteran campaign consultant Joe Cerrell. “Come on, just level up,” Cerrell said.

Even before his homespun Internet project began, Brain had attracted unwanted attention to Valley VOTE. He is the chief spokesman for Valley secession, yet Brain, a resident of Glendale, has not lived in Los Angeles since 1999. In August, The Times disclosed that Brain had also failed to pay $61,000 in taxes and related charges to the city, state and federal governments over the last 11 years.

Still, Walter Prince and other Valley VOTE members welcomed his One Los Angeles initiative.

“It shows a lot of style and class and altruism on Jeff’s part,” Prince said. “If I were Jeff, I think I’d rent them the site or have them run everything through me to edit.”

One Los Angeles, which formed in September, is the first organization of Valley residents opposed to secession. The group says secession would lead to higher taxes and service cuts in the Valley. Members say they want to remain part of a world-class city that offers cultural attractions such as the Music Center.

But Valley VOTE leaders have denounced One Los Angeles as a front for the downtown political establishment, a tool that City Hall will use to defeat secession if it is put on the November 2002 ballot.

As a result, Brain’s Web sites drew skepticism even from Valley VOTE board member Carlos Ferreyra.

“We have no real reason to own any of those--or stake a claim to any of those Web sites,” Ferreyra said.

Brain registered the Web addresses Oct. 13. The others are onelosangeles.net, onelosangeles.info, onela.org and onela.info.

Brain said he’d been waiting for a phone call from One Los Angeles requesting access to the Web sites, but hadn’t received one. He said he would eventually call One Los Angeles, but so far has been too busy.

He offered to surrender control of any Web address that One Los Angeles wants. “If they want them, they can have them,” Brain said. “There’s no markup.”

If One Los Angeles settles for just one Web site, “We’d probably even just give it to them,” he said. “We’re doing them a favor. They should be grateful.”

Brain said he paid about $18 apiece for the five addresses, using his own money, not Valley VOTE’s.

Larry Levine, a One Los Angeles political advisor, said he was suspicious of Brain’s intentions.

“He had plenty of time to phone me,” Levine said.