Did His Best to Kill L.A. Redistricting Plan, Bradley Says

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley said Saturday that he did his best to persuade some City Council members to uphold his veto of a controversial redistricting plan but had failed because “people had made up their minds.”

Bradley, campaigning as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate here, responded to charges made by Councilman Ernani Bernardi that Bradley “didn’t try hard enough” to make his veto stick. The council voted 11 to 3 Friday to override Bradley’s veto and adopt a redistricting plan that radically redraws district boundaries in the San Fernando Valley.

The fact that Bradley failed to persuade the council to support him--a fairly rare occurence--did not mean he did not try, Bradley said. “My efforts this time were the same as they have always been,” he said. “In fact, I was even calling (to lobby council members to uphold his veto) while the council was in session. People had made up their minds. They wanted to get it over with. That’s the sense I got from them,” the mayor said in an interview.