Campaign Racial Overtones Raised in County Remapping Suit : Supervisors: Burke tells how her photo was used in Dana literature. School busing was also an issue.

Called to testify about racial overtones in political campaigns, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, the only black to serve on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, told a federal judge Wednesday that her 1980 campaign opponent included her photo on his campaign literature.

Burke, who lost to Deane Dana in 1980, was called by the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that alleges that the county’s 1981 redistricting plan discriminates against Latinos in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. Among the factors that can be considered for determining whether there is a violation is evidence of racial appeals in political campaigns.

Burke, appointed to the board in 1979 by then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. to represent a predominantly white district, said Dana also made mandatory busing of school children a major issue in the campaign, even though it was a matter over which the supervisors had no control.

A former congresswoman and state assemblywoman, she testified that only once before had her picture appeared in the literature of an opponent, that of a leader of the John Birch Society.

Outside the courthouse, Burke, who is now practicing law, said: “I never charged racism, and I am not charging it now,” adding that it was up to the judge to draw conclusions. But ACLU attorney Mark Rosenbaum contended that Dana’s campaign “appealed to racial sentiments.” He pointed out that Dana’s mailer containing Burke’s picture was never sent to predominantly black Compton.

Ron Smith, manager of Dana’s 1980 campaign, testified that he used Burke’s picture in campaign literature in a comparison of the candidates’ positions. “In any other campaign, I would have used the opponent’s picture even more,” he said. “We tried to be careful to stay away from racial issues.”

Smith pointed out that Burke spent $1 million on television commercials during her unsuccessful 1978 campaign for state attorney general. “Our polling showed that over 90% of voters knew she was a black woman,” he said.

Smith acknowledged that busing was not a county issue. “This was not a campaign over how to widen a street. It was a philosophical campaign between a liberal and a conservative.”

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn testified for less than 10 minutes Wednesday as opposed to Supervisor Pete Schabarum, who spent 4 1/2 hours on the stand Tuesday.

Hahn could not recall the discussions leading up to the 1981 remapping.

Hahn, however, told U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon that he has made 16 failed bids over the last eight years to win the supervisors’ approval for enlarging the board from five to seven members “to give better representation” to blacks and Latinos.

“It is difficult for one supervisor to represent more than 1 million people,” Hahn said. He noted that the county population, which was about 4 million, when he was first elected to the board in 1952, now totals about 9 million.

The plaintiffs, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, have asked the court to consider expanding the county board by an unspecified number. The U.S. Justice Department, also a plaintiff, is seeking to create a predominantly Latino district, from which a Latino would stand an improved chance of winning a seat on the board.