Wachs Fails in Last-Ditch Effort to Halt Remap Plan

A last-gasp effort in the City Council to overturn Los Angeles’ redistricting plan fizzled Tuesday, although opponents said they were still considering a legal challenge to the new boundaries.

Meanwhile, political hopefuls were lining up, both in the new, predominantly Latino, district created from the recent remapping and in the district from which Councilman Dave Cunningham is resigning.

The redistricting plan, which won final approval last Friday when the council overrode a mayoral veto, remained untouched Tuesday after opponents failed to get the matter back on the drawing boards.

Councilman Joel Wachs, one of three council members who voted against the new district alignments, had hoped to persuade one of his colleagues from the prevailing side to call for another redistricting vote. But he was unsuccessful.

“I discussed it with two (council members) basically, and I don’t see the council as wanting to open it,” Wachs said.

“It convinced me that at this time nobody really wants to reopen it in the council,” he told reporters after the council failed to take up the redistricting issue.

Legal Challenge Possible

Wachs refused to name the council members with whom he spoke. But he said efforts are still under way to mount a legal challenge to the latest remapping, which many San Fernando Valley residents bitterly oppose and which creates a newly formed district just north and west of downtown that is 69% Latino.

That new 1st District was formed after the death of Valley Councilman Howard Finn last month gave council members an opportunity to settle a demand in a federal lawsuit calling for more Latino representation on the council. The plan eliminated political liabilities for other council members in another plan that was adopted by the council earlier, before Finn died on Aug. 12.

Wachs said Tuesday that he--along with Finn’s widow, Anne, and Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who voted against the new redistricting plan--have met with public interest attorneys to consider legal action.

“We’ll have a decision this week as to whether it’s feasible to take it to court,” he

said. “We’ll probably know in a day or two. It will have to be a case where there’s a strong legal case. That’s what we’re pursuing.”

Even with the legal uncertainties, candidates under the new redistricting plan are lining up for a possible shot at the 1st District seat. Others are eyeing the other possibility--capturing the 10th District in Southwest Los Angeles that will be vacated Sept. 30 when Cunningham steps down.

The council, with 13 remaining members, may decide to appoint temporary replacements to those posts, hold a special election or wait until the regularly scheduled April 3 election to fill the vacancies.

Council President Pat Russell, who will have a key role in any decision, said Tuesday that she is against appointing anyone to those jobs and favors an April election for the Cunningham seat. Russell added that any plans for an election in the new 1st District must await the court’s reaction to the redistricting plan.

Possible Candidates

In that 1st District, possible candidates include Larry Gonzales, a member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, and Daniel P. Garcia, president of the Los Angeles Planning Commission.

Others mentioned are Assemblywoman Gloria Molina (D-Los Angeles) and Leticia Quezada, a member of the Los Angeles Community College District board. Mike Hernandez, who recently lost an Eastside Assembly contest to Democrat Richard Polanco, said he also would consider entering the race if both Gonzales and Garcia chose not to run.

One incumbent facing a possible political fight after the redistricting battle is Wachs, whose 2nd District in the East San Fernando Valley is 90% new to him.

One-time Councilman Bob Ronka said he has received numerous calls from former constituents urging him to run against Wachs. Ronka had represented a large part of the district before giving up his seat to run for city attorney in 1981.

Ronka said he wants to await the outcome of a legal challenge to the new plan before committing himself, but he would not rule out a possible race against Wachs.