Holden Discounts Results of Poll on Mayor’s Race

Councilman Nate Holden, a long-shot mayoral candidate, reacted to a Los Angeles Times Poll that shows him trailing incumbent Tom Bradley by 52 points on Tuesday by saying that he does not believe in polls.

Holden also declared, “If I were the mayor, we wouldn’t have gangs roaming the streets killing people.”

Holden stepped up his campaign with a verbal broadside Tuesday, blaming Bradley for gangs, drugs, traffic and pollution. Holden’s attack came in response to a Los Angeles Time poll published over the weekend that found that although Los Angeles residents have turned pessimistic about crime, traffic, pollution and housing costs, Bradley seems to have escaped blame.

“The buck stops in the mayor’s office--and let’s make no bones about that,” Holden said.

Because of Bradley’s failures after 15 years as mayor, Holden asserted, Los Angeles “is not the City of Angels. It is Dodge City--a city of death.”

The City Council, Holden suggested, may be forgiven.

“The City Council, in my view, does the very best job it can, given the mayor we have,” he said.

The poll of 873 city residents gave Bradley a 67% favorable rating--not his highest rating but an improvement over his 63% positive rating in August, 1987. If the election had been held the day of the survey, 57% said they would vote to reelect Bradley. Only 5% said they would vote for Holden, while 4% said they would vote for former newscaster and former Los Angeles County Supervisor Baxter Ward, the only other widely known candidate in the race.

Holden suggested a more meaningful survey could be taken simply by walking through his district.

‘Double Locks’

“Ninety percent of the homes have bars on the windows and double locks on their doors. That’s your poll,” the councilman said.

Holden pointed out that if some previous political polls were right, George Bush would not be President and Bradley would be called “governor.”

Expanding on his crime-fighting platform, Holden used the press conference to announce the introduction of a motion to deploy police at six housing projects to help ensure “safe passage” for children between home and schools. Some residents have kept their children out of school because of fears of gang activity.

Officials with the mayor’s campaign brushed off Holden’s comments as rhetoric.

“Nate’s popping off as usual,” said Dee Dee Myers, spokeswoman for the reelection campaign. “It’s typical of Nate. He’s always quick to point out problems but never comes up with solutions. . . . That’s why the mayor remains popular--because he’s grinding out solutions.”