Tribe’s Flier Attacks Villaraigosa

An out-of-town Indian tribe that poured $200,000 into defeating former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa in Los Angeles’ 2001 mayor’s race is spending $75,000 on mailers to oppose his bid for the 14th Council District seat, according to a report filed Wednesday.

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians, which runs a casino near Banning, also reported to the city Ethics Commission that it is spending $20,000 on campaign fliers in support of former Assemblyman Roderick Wright, who is seeking the Mid-City’s 10th Council District seat. The election is Tuesday.

The tribe, one of several that spent money to oppose Villaraigosa’s mayoral candidacy, sent out a mailer Wednesday charging that while he was in the state Assembly, Villaraigosa voted “dozens of times against laws that would make our community safe.”

The flier, in English and Spanish, cites a vote Villaraigosa cast against a 1995 bill to keep mentally disturbed sexual offenders locked up after they have served their sentences.

Steve Barkan, the candidate’s campaign consultant, said the former assemblyman voted against the measure because it created due process problems. Villaraigosa voted for another measure the next year written by supporters of the original bill that strengthened it and corrected the legal issues, Barkan added.

“The outside gambling interests attacking Antonio have taken one vote out of more than 10,000 and misrepresented his excellent record as a crime fighter,” Barkan said.

The former Assembly speaker earned the ire of many California tribes in 1998, when he helped push through a pact that regulated the use of Las Vegas-style slot machines on reservations and required the tribes to allow their employees to engage in collective bargaining.

But Waltona Manion, a spokeswoman for the Morongo Band, said the tribe jumped into the race solely to express its concerns about public safety to the more than 1,000 Native Americans who live in the 14th District.

“Morongo wanted to ensure that their tribal friends in Los Angeles have a chance to see Mr. Villaraigosa’s record,” she said.

Public safety has been the dominant issue in the Eastside race, in which Villaraigosa and incumbent Councilman Nick Pacheco have exchanged charges about being soft on crime.

One of Villaraigosa’s mailers accuses Pacheco of not doing enough to quell gang crime, citing the 270 homicides that have occurred in the surrounding area since 1999.

Those figures, however, include all the homicides committed in the neighborhoods served by the two local police divisions, whose territory extends beyond the boundaries of the 14th District. Barkan said the Los Angeles Police Department would not provide the campaign with more specific data.

Phil Giarrizzo, Pacheco’s campaign consultant, called the figure cited by Villaraigosa misleading.

According to LAPD statistics provided by Pacheco’s office, there have been about 170 homicides in the 14th District since 1999. Those figures show that the homicide rate dropped slightly in 2000, then crept up in 2001 and 2002.

Felonies and attempted felonies in the district went up 34% between the end of 1999 and the end of 2002, compared with a 13.4% increase citywide.

“The crime rate has been rising everywhere,” said Giarrizzo, adding that the surge in violence has many causes.

The Morongo mailer about Wright, meanwhile, praised his work on education and children’s issues while in the Assembly, Manion said.

“The tribe feels the same leadership he showed in Sacramento can be brought to Los Angeles,” she said.

The involvement of Indian gaming interests seeking to benefit Wright’s 10th District campaign drew criticism from some of the other candidates in the tightly contested race.

“Outside forces are trying to control this local election, and I think it’s an insult,” said civil rights attorney Leo Terrell, another candidate.

Manion defended the tribe’s involvement in the election, saying L.A. has one of the largest populations of Native Americans of any major city in the nation.

A package of reforms recommended by the Ethics Commission to lessen the influence of independent expenditures is pending in the City Council, where it has been delayed for months.

Tenth District candidate Martin Ludlow, meanwhile, released a five-point plan Wednesday for reducing crime and said he has won the endorsements of the Police Protective League, United Firefighters of Los Angeles, Command Officers Assn. and Assn. of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies.

His plan includes expansion of the police force by 3,000 officers and establishment of a gang reduction and intervention program in the district.

In the northwest San Fernando Valley’s 12th District race, Los Angeles school board member and council candidate Julie Korenstein challenged the accuracy of a mailer by candidate Greig Smith that alleged she failed to set aside land in Porter Ranch for a school.

Korenstein said in a letter to the Campaign Watch Commission of the League of Women Voters that she had secured a legal commitment of land for the school.