Alatorre Draws Fire Over Contributions : Rival in Eastside Council Race Points to Donations by Liquor, Racing Interests

Assemblyman Richard Alatorre (D-Los Angeles), a candidate for Los Angeles City Council from the Eastside, was attacked by a rival Thursday for “heavy and close ties to big business and special interests.”

Antonio Rodriguez is one of seven candidates seeking to fill the seat left vacant last month by the resignation of Councilman Arthur K. Snyder. On Thursday, the City Clerk certified that two additional candidates, Gilbert Avila, former aide to Gov. George Deukmejian, and John Silva, a businessman, had gathered enough voter signatures to be listed on the ballot for the Dec. 10 special election.

Rodriguez held a City Hall press conference to criticize heavy campaign contributions Alatorre received as a state legislator from the horse racing and liquor industries.

According to Alatorre’s campaign contribution statements, he has received tens of thousands of dollars from these interests. Rodriguez placed the amounts at $35,000 from liquor dealers and at least $26,000 from horse racing-related businesses during 1984 and 1985.

‘Grass-Roots’ Support

“Whose interests is he going to represent?” asked Rodriguez, who is an attorney and executive director of the Center for Law and Justice in Boyle Heights. He said he has “grass-roots” support and, with little money, is waging an “anti-corporate-control of government campaign. . . . We have to assume Alatorre’s coming here (to the City Council) is to represent corporate entities.”

Alatorre said in an interview this week that the horse racing and liquor industries “would love for me to stay in Sacramento, because their interests are not with the city of Los Angeles, they’re regulated by Sacramento. Nobody talks about all the other money I have raised from the people . . . from small business, professional people, unions. . . . I have never been controlled by special interests.”

Rodriguez cited what he called “special-interest legislation” pushed by Alatorre in the Legislature. For example, Alatorre in 1983 introduced legislation to legalize betting on horse races at off-track locations such as department stores.

Alatorre said at the time he introduced the bill that it would help the state’s horse racing industry while raising as much as $300 million a year for the state. Deukmejian opposed the bill, and even Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, a close Alatorre ally, said he had reservations about it because, he said, it would not return enough money to the state, would preclude minorities from operating a portion of the off-track system and would give the horse racing industry too much control over the new betting operations. Alatorre later dropped the bill.

Challenges Donation

Rodriguez challenged a $5,000 contribution Alatorre received this year from Somma Mattress, a Los Angeles company being struck by members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Because Alatorre recently received the endorsement of the AFL-CIO, Rodriguez said Alatorre should return the money from the Somma firm.

But Cornelius Wall, vice president of the garment workers’ union, said he is not concerned about the money Alatorre received from the firm the union is fighting. “I don’t care where he got his money from,” Wall said. “I don’t believe Somma is going to buy Richard Alatorre. If we needed something and it was a reasonable request, he would do it.”

In another development in the race, the city clerk’s office announced Thursday afternoon that Avila qualified as an official candidate, and thus averted what could have been a political embarrassment for Avila and Gov. Deukmejian. Deukmejian, who has endorsed Avila and who made a campaign appearance for him Thursday night in Eagle Rock, came close to backing a non-candidate, or at best, a write-in.

Under election procedures, all candidates must submit at least 500 signatures of registered voters in the district in order to qualify as candidates. Avila did not turn in his petitions until late Tuesday, the deadline day. He turned in 589 signatures.