Council Hopeful Alleges Smear Tactics

Los Angeles City Council candidate Nick Pacheco on Friday called on main rival Jose Huizar to order a supporter to stop handing out copies of old and unflattering newspaper articles about him.

In a news release, the former city councilman, who is running for the 14th District seat, alleged that a Huizar backer, Alvin Parra, was using his home as a base to send volunteers into neighborhoods with copies of four Los Angeles Times articles.

Pacheco said he intends to ask the district attorney to investigate what he called an “illegal covert campaign tactic” because Parra has not disclosed his involvement on the materials.

“It’s that old, baseless mudslinging that is being rehashed in the neighborhood, and I thought we had moved forward from there,” Pacheco said.

Huizar, a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District board, said Friday that his campaign had nothing to do with the fliers.

Two articles are from 2001 and two are from 2003. All four are about controversies that Pacheco was involved in at the time.

In 2001, the district attorney investigated allegations that as a councilman, Pacheco had pressured people or groups with city business to donate to a nonprofit that he said was used for outreach.

And in 2003, the district attorney looked into complaints that Pacheco was steering money to a nonprofit group with ties to a political committee that supported him. After one term, Pacheco lost his seat in 2003 to Antonio Villaraigosa, who is now mayor.

Pacheco was never charged with any wrongdoing. The former councilman said Parra admitted distributing the articles in a phone message he left for Pacheco.

Parra, who ran for the 14th District seat unsuccessfully in 2003, told The Times that he was “not distributing the materials.” But he said, “I’ve been asked to use my house as a place where volunteers can meet.”

Parra said he is a Huizar backer, but that the campaign is not involved in the distribution of materials. He declined to say who was involved.