Schabarum Hit for Identifying Self as a Latino : Politics: Activists say the conservative supervisor has actually been the Latino community’s ‘worst enemy.’

Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, who invoked his Mexican roots when faced with the prospect of having to run for reelection in a new, predominantly Latino district, was attacked Wednesday by Latino political activists for a record of insensitivity to their interests.

“I think it’s opportunism for Schabarum to be claiming he is a Latino when he has been our worst enemy,” said Rodolfo Acuna, professor of Chicano studies at Cal State Northridge.

A Schabarum aide questioned the standing of his critics. Asked Judy Hammond, “Who appointed them to be spokesmen (for Latinos)?” She added, “Maybe they should ask the people in his district” how good a job Schabarum has done in office.

Responding to a redistricting plan that surfaced Tuesday that would put him in a predominantly Latino district, Schabarum said that, if he runs for reelection, he should not have a problem winning, “being a Hispanic such as I am anyway.”

Schabarum said his paternal grandmother was Mexican.

The redistricting proposal, which would create the new Latino district by consolidating East Los Angeles and growing immigrant neighborhoods in the San Gabriel Valley, was presented to the supervisors this week by the county’s political consultant as a possible settlement of a federal lawsuit. The suit contends that the current boundaries for the five supervisorial districts dilute the political power of the county’s 2 million Latinos in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

The new plan reportedly was the product of an unusual alliance between conservative Supervisor Deane Dana and liberal Supervisor Ed Edelman. The two supervisors have refused comment on their roles in the redistricting effort.

One source close to the supervisors said “a back-room deal has already been cut” in which Schabarum’s San Gabriel Valley district will be sacrificed to form a new Latino majority district, while providing political security for the other board members. The deal, this source said, has been agreed to by all of Schabarum’s colleagues.

“You’ve got to remember, there are four guys on that board that don’t like Pete,” the source said.

The combative Schabarum has increasingly found himself isolated from his two conservative board colleagues--to the point where Schabarum dismisses the notion that a conservative bloc exists on the board.

Hammond acknowledged that “he knows that he is not popular” with fellow supervisors. “He’s not shy about criticizing his colleagues.” But she declined to speculate on the motives behind the new plan, and Schabarum could not be reached for comment.

In nonpartisan offices--such as the Board of Supervisors--where there is no battle for control between political parties, “personality looms much larger than partisanship,” said Bruce Cain, a University of California political science professor who helped to draft the Los Angeles City Council redistricting plan in 1986.

Schabarum has not decided whether he will seek reelection in June. He was appointed to the board in early 1972 by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.

Hammond said Schabarum has made no secret of his Mexican lineage. In fact, she said, Schabarum targeted Latino voters with the information in his first campaign for his board seat later in 1972.

But Acuna said, “I would by no stretch of the imagination say he was a Latino. I don’t think he has identified with causes advancing the Latino people in Los Angeles.” He cited Schabarum’s opposition to the redistricting effort, which is designed to increase Latino political clout.

Raul Nunez, president of the 1,500-member Los Angeles County Chicano Employees Assn., which has dueled over the years with Schabarum about affirmative action hiring, said the supervisor has never made a point of telling the public of his Latino roots.

He said Schabarum has never requested an application to join the Chicano Employees Assn.

Harry Pachon, national director of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, said Schabarum “has never identified himself as a Latino” in six years of surveys conducted by his organization.

City Councilwoman Gloria Molina said she found Schabarum’s claims to be “condescending and insulting” to Latinos who have been fighting for increased political representation. She said that Latino community concerns over issues such as health care have been falling on Schabarum’s “deaf ears.”