Governor in L.A.’s Race Could Make It Partisan

Gov. George Deukmejian’s appearance last week on behalf of a fellow Republican who is a candidate for the Eastside seat on the Los Angeles City Council signals what could be a big partisan battle in a nonpartisan race.

With gubernatorial politics as a backdrop, Deukmejian’s enthusiastic support of candidate Gilbert Avila at a fund-raising reception Thursday in Eagle Rock could set up a struggle between Republican leaders and Democratic leaders backing Assemblyman Richard Alatorre.

Mayor Tom Bradley, Deukmejian’s likely rival in next year’s gubernatorial election, is expected to endorse Alatorre. Although the council seat is nonpartisan, Democrats outnumber Republicans on the City Council, 10 to 3 (there is one independent and one seat is vacant), and the governor said Thursday that the council “wouldn’t hurt to have a few (more) Republicans.”

With a field of seven candidates, the goal of Avila and other candidates is not so much to beat the better-known Alatorre in the Dec. 10 special election as it is to force him into a runoff. In the meantime, Republicans privately say they hope to inflict some damage not only to Alatorre but also to other leading Democrats like Bradley and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco).

Misrepresented Support

In his speech to about 200 supporters in the conservative Eagle Rock neighborhood in the largely Latino 14th District, Deukmejian criticized Alatorre for circulating a 1983 letter in which Deukmejian thanked Alatorre for his support for a cost-control measure. Deukmejian said use of the letter, which he did not deny he wrote, misrepresented his support for Alatorre in this race, adding:

“Richard Alatorre has never supported anything I’ve done. The only time he ever does anything indicating a vote for us is if Willie Brown tells him to do that.”

Bringing up the name of another liberal Democrat who has been a target of criticism by some conservative Republicans for his anti-Vietnam War activities, Deukmejian quipped that if anyone believes that he supports Alatorre, “you’ll believe that (Assemblyman) Tom Hayden put a Rambo poster up on his office wall.”

He then gave his unqualified endorsement to Avila, a former aide and former head of the governor’s “Viva Duke” campaign aimed at Latino voters in 1982. Avila would make crime prevention a priority, Deukmejian said, adding:

“Unfortunately, it’s not a major issue for the mayor of Los Angeles.”

The governor has struck that theme in previous speeches, accusing Bradley of not providing a large enough police force, with Bradley countering that Deukmejian’s record for building prisons is a fiasco.

Deukmejian’s remarks were echoed later by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who is also the state Republican chairman, and Assembly Minority Leader Pat J. Nolan (R-Glendale).

Alatorre had little to say in response. His 1983 letter from Deukmejian, a spokesman said, “speaks for itself. As for the rest of the mutterings, it’s just typical Republican tripe.”

Avila, in his speech, tried to tie Alatorre to so-called Democratic machine politics.

“Gov. Deukmejian didn’t come here,” he said, “to loan me $100,000 like Willie Brown did Richard Alatorre; he came here to help me raise it, and that’s the independent American way.”

Brown made a $100,000 loan to Alatorre in April, a loan that Alatorre said last week “is not really a loan. When it’s all said and done, it’s just maybe a down payment on all the money I have raised for him over a number of years.”

Deukmejian said that although he does not plan to give money directly to Avila, “we will indicate to some people . . . our support and encourage them to contribute. . . . We’ll do anything we can to be helpful.”

The reception, which campaign officials estimated raised about $15,000, is the beginning of “events and activities where we’re going to go after our voters,” said Sergio Arredondo, Avila campaign chairman and former Hispanic state chair of the Reagan-Bush campaign last year. “We’re targeting only certain areas--Eagle Rock, Highland Park, some precincts in Boyle Heights and El Sereno--where there’s a growing Asian vote.”

Arredondo, who invited Republican loyalists from as far away as Oxnard, said he estimates that 15% of Avila’s campaign contributions will be from Republicans outside the district.

Avila, 49, worked for Deukmejian for six years, four years in the attorney general’s office and two as a special assistant to the governor. He resigned in July, leaving the job amid talk by gubernatorial aides that his high Deukmejian Administration position was damaged by scandals associated with two people given high-level state jobs upon his recommendation.

One was Gilbert Montano, former director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, who resigned in 1984 amid allegations that his office awarded state grants to political favorites. He was not charged with any crime. But an investigation by the Legislature’s auditor general found widespread misuse of public funds in the agency and two of Montano’s subordinates pleaded no contest to charges of stealing $67,500 in anti-poverty funds.

Another was Andres Mendez, former director of the Veterans Affairs Department, who was fired by Deukmejian last December after he was fined $10,000 by the state Fair Political Practices Commission for violations that included keeping Deukmejian campaign funds.

Avila said in an interview, “I recommended 105 or 110 people in the Administration. If two or one of them didn’t work out, that’s unfortunate, but I really had nothing to do with it.”

Deukmejian said Thursday that Avila did not leave his Administration “under any cloud whatsoever. . . . He had some ideas about running for this office.”