Wong Accuses Alattore of Conflict of Interest in Special Council Race

Los Angeles City Council candidate Leland Wong urged Wednesday that Councilman Richard Alatorre be ousted from the committee that oversees elections, contending that Alatorre’s support for a rival candidate in the 1st District special election amounts to “an apparent conflict of interest.”

Alatorre, chairman of the council’s Charter and Election Committee, is actively supporting school board member Larry Gonzalez for the council seat representing the newly drawn Eastside-Northeast district in the Feb. 3 special election.

In a City Hall press conference, Wong said that “the fact that Mr. Alatorre has hand-picked a candidate presents a problem . . . an apparent conflict of interest.”

Wong’s charges pointed out a strategy likely to reappear in the potentially fractious campaign in the largely Latino district: a focus by Gonzalez opponents not on him but on Alatorre. While Gonzalez himself does not generate much antipathy from opponents, the combative and powerful Alatorre has been the target of repeated open and veiled attacks.

‘Special Favors’

In a letter to Alatorre that he made public at the press conference, Wong decried government conducted “in back rooms for special favors.” The phrasing was similar to that used by Alatorre critics earlier this year when the councilman was in charge of the redistricting plan that realigned the city’s political boundaries.

The theme was also raised by Assemblywoman Gloria Molina (D-Los Angeles), another prominent candidate for the council seat, when she entered the race. Stressing her own independence, Molina strongly hinted that Gonzalez, if elected, would be a pawn of Alatorre.

The charge has been denied by Gonzalez and by Alatorre, although the councilman does want Gonzalez to join him as the second Latino on the council.

Wong said Wednesday that he had met with Alatorre as recently as last month to discuss his plan to run for the council. Wong said Alatorre “discouraged” him from running and offered instead to help him run for the school board.

“He asked me not to run if Gonzalez should run. . . . He offered to introduce me to friends in the UTLA (United Teachers of Los Angeles) to possibly run for the school board,” Wong said.

An Alatorre spokesman said that there was no “quid pro quo” offer from Alatorre.

“He’s denying it,” Brad Sales said. “He thinks it’s rather frivolous campaign rhetoric.”

Campaign Events

Wong also contended that city employee Jimmy Ha, an Alatorre aide, has accompanied Gonzalez to campaign events during city working hours.

“That’s not true,” an irritated Alatorre responded. “Anything that was done was on his own time. This is part of his (Wong’s) campaign and it’s fairly cheap.”

In another letter to council President Pat Russell, Wong asked her to remove Alatorre as chairman of the Charter and Elections Committee.

The committee oversees and makes recommendations on ordinances and amendments that affect the Charter and election laws, but no items currently before the committee would have any apparent effect on the special election.

Russell referred the request to the city attorney’s office. An employee in the office said the matter “won’t exactly be top priority.”