Alatorre Will Run for Snyder’s Council Seat : Some Regard Move as an Attempt to Seek Higher Office

A mixture of applause and skepticism greeted Assemblyman Richard Alatorre’s announcement Friday that he plans to abandon his influential post in the Legislature to run for the Los Angeles City Council and work more closely with hometown constituents.

Alatorre, a Democrat, said he intends to run for the 14th District council seat expected to be vacated by Councilman Arthur K. Snyder. Citing pressures in his personal life, Snyder said last week he would resign July 1.

Alatorre said he wants the council seat in order to work more closely with the people of East Los Angeles with whom he grew up. But skeptics said they believed that Alatorre, after 13 years in the Legislature, saw the council as a surer route to higher political office--to the mayor’s job or to Congress.

Even one of Alatorre’s closest friends, Louis Moret, who had ambitions for the council job until Alatorre stepped in, said he and other supporters “have greater hopes for Richard--maybe to be mayor.” Moret said he will not run.

50 Attend Announcement

A crowd of more than 50 friends and family members clapped often as Alatorre, standing on the City Hall steps, said he wanted to represent the council district, roughly the same East Los Angeles area that makes up his Assembly district, because he wanted to have “a day-to-day, hands-on working relationship with the people of my district. . . . That’s what I’m all about.”

Alatorre, 41, chairs the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee and chaired the Credentials Committee for the 1984 Democratic National Convention. He gained prominence as a skillful political operator in 1981 when he helped win approval for his party’s controversial reapportionment plan.

Alatorre conceded that he will be “leaving a position with a great deal of influence and a great deal of power,” but he said “power in the Legislature is very abstract.” As a councilman, he said, he could respond to people’s most pressing needs in such areas as housing, land use, rent control, transportation and law enforcement.

Several Eastside political activists said they saw the council seat as a steppingstone for Alatorre. Moreover, they said they viewed Alatorre’s early entry into the race as an effort to discourage other candidates from running.

“Alatorre is much more potent as one of 15 (council members) than one of 80 (members of the Assembly),” said one veteran Latino political aide. “Richard wants to move on, and this is his opportunity to do so.”

“With Alatorre, I would assume this brings state politics and the big brokers from the Democratic Party into an East L.A. nonpartisan race,” said Antonio Rodriguez, executive director of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice in East Los Angeles. “Is he doing it to deal with problems like unemployment and delinquency or is he doing it for his own personal ambitions?”

Rodriguez said he too might run for the office.

Steve Rodriguez, a Los Angeles city planner who lost to Snyder in a recall election last summer, said Friday that he intended to run again for the seat and was not daunted by Alatorre’s candidacy.

‘David Versus Goliath’

“I’ve been cast in the role of David versus Goliath in the past,” he said. “I’m not afraid of doing it again.”

Alatorre’s announcement has not ended speculation that Snyder, a tenacious politician who has been in office for nearly 18 years, will decide not to resign.

Snyder last week announced his intention to resign after public disclosure of allegations that he molested his 9-year-old daughter several years ago.