Latino Candidates Hope This Is Their Year : Politics: Activists see the April 10 vote for 3 Huntington Park Council seats as their best chance to remedy under-representation.

They met in a small room above a local Mexican restaurant, plotting political changes for a city that never has had a Latino councilman even though its population is more than 90% Latino.

Several of the 20 Latino businessmen, community leaders and residents who gathered recently said Latino candidates have their best chance ever to win seats on the City Council come election day, April 10. The city is facing financial problems that demand new leadership, they said. And Latino voter registration has grown significantly in recent years.

For years, voting rights advocates and Latino political activists have pointed to Huntington Park as a glaring example of political under-representation. It is a community where an ethnic minority has become a vast majority without being able to cross the political threshold into City Hall.

“Hey, the Hispanic population is over 90% and there’s a big problem there,” said Rudy Griego, former Chamber of Commerce president who this year plans to run for council himself or, for the first time, to support Latino challengers. “It’s quite important because the situation has become that we’re being taxed without representation.”

Griego and two other Latino leaders, who have declared their candidacies, complain that none of the city’s nine top administrators are Latino and that just two of Huntington Park’s 18 appointed commissioners are Latino.

But such criticisms and talk of political change do not set well with the city’s veteran councilmen. Three of the five council seats will be up for election. Councilmen William P. Cunningham and Jim Roberts say they will fight to keep their seats. Councilman Herbert A. Hennes Jr. said he has not decided whether to seek reelection.

The incumbents said they have been reelected over the years because they have served the community well. There have been few Latino administrators, commissioners and developers in Huntington Park because few have applied, they said.

And the calls for Latino representation on the council smack of reverse racism, the incumbents said.

“It’s not my fault I’m not Latino,” Cunningham said. “When I represent people, I represent them all no matter what color they are. I always have.”

Latino candidates have run--and been defeated--in every Huntington Park City Council election since 1970. But the outcome this year could be different for several reasons, political observers said.

The city’s recent financial problems may have weakened the political strength of the incumbents. Recent money problems forced city officials to lay off 25 employees last October and to cut services.

In addition, Latinos appear to be getting more involved in local politics and are expected to make up a larger majority of the voters registered for the April election. Latinos accounted for 53.3% of the city’s registered voters in 1988, according to a survey. A Latino had the strongest showing ever that year, falling 21 votes shy of being elected to the City Council. Community groups plan registration drives in the months before this year’s election.

Griego’s break with the council also is viewed as a significant development. Griego, 50, supported Councilmen Jack W. Parks and Thomas E. Jackson in their successful reelection bids in 1988.

Two Latino candidates have said they will run in the April election. They are Raul Perez, who lost the 1988 election by 21 votes, and Luis Hernandez, the founder of a new citizens group of about 200 people called Huntington Park Citizens for Responsible Government.

It will be the sixth time Perez has run for the council. Over the years, the 47-year-old loan officer and longtime resident has developed a following that figures to be enhanced by Griego’s support. Perez has been a member of numerous civic organizations and religiously attends council meetings.

Hernandez, a 29-year-old financial analyst, grew up in and around Huntington Park. He went to work in New York after graduating from college, but returned about seven months ago. Hernandez led the campaign against a proposed 7% city utility tax, which was overwhelmingly rejected by voters last year. He has been castigating council members on a variety of issues at their twice-monthly meetings.

If Griego decides to enter the race, he could be the strongest Latino candidate ever to run, local political observers said.

But Griego has a liability. A former Huntington Park resident, Griego now lives in Granada Hills and would have to move back into the city by the end of the month to be eligible to run for City Council. He almost certainly would be criticized as a carpetbagger.

Griego can point to his involvement in various Huntington Park business and civic organizations, however. He also has had an immigration business in the city since 1970. Griego’s Americo International provides assistance to immigrants seeking to become citizens, among other services.

Margin Has Slipped

The incumbents used to be shoo-ins for reelection, but they have seen their margin of victory slip over the years.

In 1980, for example, the top incumbent voter-getter received 1,626 votes, while the strongest Latino candidate received 844. In 1988, Councilman Jackson finished first with 1,151. Councilman Parks finished second with 1,061 votes, while Perez had 1,040 votes.

“No election was ever very close until last year,” said Jackson, who has held his council seat since 1968, and would face reelection in 1992. “I would think that under the circumstances as they exist today, there’s a good opportunity” a Latino will be elected.

That would have been unthinkable before Huntington Park’s transformation.

Huntington Park is now one of the poorest communities in the nation, according to a recent report by a Chicago-based urbanologist.

The median household income in Huntington Park was $15,481 in 1985, compared to $23,905 countywide, according to the latest projections based on the 1980 census. Unemployment in Huntington Park is higher than the county average, according to figures from the state Employment Development Department. The average unemployment rate in Huntington Park in 1988 was 7.4% compared to the 4.9% countywide average.

But in the 1950s and into the ‘60s, Huntington Park was a middle-class white community that would have provided a perfect setting for “Leave It to Beaver,” some longtime residents said. Pacific Boulevard, the city’s commercial hub, featured many top-name retail stores that attracted shoppers from miles around.

“In the 1950s we were very much a bobby-socks, poodle-skirt, homecoming-type community,” said Councilman Roberts, who has lived in the city nearly all of his life.

Residents, businessmen and educators say the transformation began in the 1960s.

The student body was mostly white when Leon Leyson began teaching at Huntington Park High in 1958. Yearbooks show campus institutions, such as the homecoming court, changed from predominantly white to Latino by 1975.

By 1980, Huntington Park’s population had grown to 46,223, according to the 1980 U.S. Census. Latinos accounted for nearly 81% of the city’s residents. Latinos accounted for 90.6% of the city’s 59,000 residents in 1989, according to projections based on the 1980 census. (The Census Bureau did not separate Latinos into a statistical category before 1980.)

City officials and local residents cite different reasons for the demographic change. Some say the 1965 riots in Watts, just south of Huntington Park, triggered white flight. Others say the children who grew up in Huntington Park naturally sought to live in newer suburbs outside the city.

Huntington Park became a city of renters. More than 76% of the 15,600 housing units in the city were occupied by renters in 1988, the last year for which figures are available, said Rudy Munoz, assistant director of community development. Relatively low housing prices drew immigrants who have been pushed northward by economic and political conditions in Mexico and Central America.

The change has affected virtually every corner of the city. Spanish is the dominant language in the stores and restaurants on Pacific Boulevard. Restaurants offering carne asada and pupusas, a Salvadoran dish, are as common as those offering steak and potatoes. Most churches conduct services in Spanish.

Civic organizations, such as the Kiwanis and Jaycees, have Latino membership and leadership.

Low Voter Registration

But the makeup of the City Council, the most powerful institution in the city, has remained unchanged. And the incumbents bristle at any hint that they have tried to keep it that way.

“The lack of Hispanics on the council is not because of any actions the council has taken,” Councilman Hennes said. “They’re free elections.”

Local political observers and voting rights advocates identify various factors that have kept Latinos off the Huntington Park City Council.

Latino voter registration in Huntington Park has been low.

Overall, voter registration in Huntington Park dropped from 19,284 in 1940 to 7,880 last September, according to a spokeswoman for the county registrar-recorder’s office.

Latinos accounted for only 21% of the city’s registered voters in 1975 and 30% in 1980, according to surveys by Richard Loya, a local teacher who has run for City Council three times. Loya obtained his figures by counting Spanish surnames on voter registration rolls.

Voter registration drives by local activists helped boost the figure to 53.3% in August, 1988, according to a survey commissioned by the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, a Texas-based voter rights organization that has an office in Los Angeles.

Latino registration has been low, in part, because many of the city’s residents are immigrants who are ineligible to vote, city officials and political observers said.

In addition, one voter rights advocate theorizes that some eligible Latinos may have chosen not to register because they have been turned off by a political system that has excluded Latinos. “They aren’t apathetic. They just made a wise decision. Our votes don’t count so we don’t vote,” said Richard Martinez, the local representative of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.

Another factor is campaign spending. Incumbents have been able to raise and spend substantially more campaign money than their opponents. In 1988, for example, Jackson and Parks ran a joint campaign and spent about $38,000 compared to $7,000 spent by Perez, according to campaign disclosure statements.

The Latino leaders said the upcoming election battle will focus on the city’s poor financial condition and the cutbacks. The recreation program, for example, has been virtually eliminated at two parks since last year. City Hall also has gone to a four-day week, closing every Friday. New fees for tree maintenance and other services have been imposed on residents.

The opposition leaders said they will call for increased police protection to deal with the city’s increasing crime problem. The number of serious crimes, including murder, rape and auto theft, has risen from 3,573 incidents in 1983 to 4,334 incidents in 1988, according to Police Department statistics. Gang crime is on the rise, with six gang-related murders reported in the past six months.

But they also said Latino representation on the council is important, that a Latino who speaks Spanish will be better able to communicate with and serve the residents of Huntington Park. A Latino council member would be more interested in providing services such as civics programs to enable recently arrived residents to become more involved in city affairs.

In addition, the Latino leaders alleged that the incumbents have excluded Latinos from decision-making positions and from potentially lucrative city programs and contracts.

Griego noted that few of the more than 80 redevelopment projects built or planned by the city have Latino owners. Fewer than five Latinos have been principal developers in city projects, said Jack Wong, director of community development. The city has provided many of its developers with greatly discounted land prices and other subsidies to encourage development.

“We’re asking them to give us the same treatment as they give their people,” Griego said.

But Councilmen Roberts said the economically depressed city has been in no position to pick and choose developers. “We weren’t searching for any race,” Roberts said. “We were just looking for someone to do projects.”

The city’s redevelopment program, the biggest source of pride for the council members, may also be a liability in the upcoming election.

Project delays in the early and mid-1980s left the city’s Redevelopment Agency without enough property tax revenue to repay its debts. As a result, more than $14 million in city revenue for general services was loaned to the Redevelopment Agency to cover the debt. Those loans helped contribute to the cash shortage that forced the layoffs last October, officials said.

But the council members note that the financial drain is easing because property values in the city’s redevelopment zones have risen, producing more tax revenue to pay the bond debt.

The incumbents said the redevelopment program will prove invaluable to Latinos and everyone else in the community because the new developments provide hundreds of jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales tax money for city coffers.

They also note that hundreds of dilapidated housing units have been replaced with new housing through redevelopment. Twenty-five percent of the 1,036 housing units constructed through redevelopment are for residents with low and moderate incomes, said Munoz, the assistant director of community development.

The upcoming race is likely to test loyalties and strain relationships in Huntington Park.

Cunningham and Roberts said they have begun seeking the support of local Latino leaders. One of their supporters is Samuel Magana, a prominent local restaurant owner who in the past has donated the use of his facilities for fund-raisers. Magana said he endorsed Roberts and Cunningham because he thinks they are doing a good job and they were the first to approach him.

“I consider it (Latino representation) important if the Hispanic is as qualified as the (council members) we have there,” Magana said.

Chamber of Commerce President Jessica R. Maes said she has not taken a position in the upcoming election. But Maes did attend the recent meeting that was organized by Griego to identify Latino candidates. The chamber president, who has not campaigned actively in past elections, said the Latino community needs representatives on the City Council who “understand our culture and our traditions.”

It is that type of interest from established members of the community that is likely to make the April race the most strongly contested in city history.

Stan Daniels, vice president of administration at L & F Industries in Huntington Park, has worked on campaigns for incumbents Cunningham, Roberts and Jackson. He said he will support Cunningham, Roberts and Hennes--if Hennes decides to run. But Daniels declined to predict the outcome of the race.

“I wouldn’t put five bucks on it,” Daniels said. “It’s going to be close.”

THE INS AND OUTS IN HUNTINGTON PARK

INCUMBENTS

Term Expires 1990 WILLIAM P. CUNNINGHAM Age: 50. Title: Mayor Time in office: since 1977. Profession: Owner and operator of funeral home. Education: Embalmer and funeral director degree, which required one year of college and a two-year apprenticeship. Local commissions, service clubs, organizations: Chairman of YMCA fundraising division Friends of Kids, former planning commissioner, former vice president of Chamber of Commerce, former president of Jaycees, former president of Kiwanis Club. Length of residence in Huntington Park: Since 1959.

Term Expires 1990 JIM ROBERTS Age: 54. Title: City councilman Time in office: Since 1970. Profession: Owner of metal-fabricating firm. Education: High school graduate, 3 1/2 years of college. Local commissions, service clubs, organizations: Member of YMCA Board of Managers, former member of board of directors of Chamber of Commerce, former president of Kiwanis Club, member of Elks Lodge. Length of residence in Huntington Park: All but a few years of his life.

Term Expires 1990 HERBERT A. HENNES JR. Age: 65. Title: City councilman Time in office: Since 1970. Profession: Retired division commander/sergeant, Los Angeles County Marshal’s Department, retired public relations specialist. Education: High school graduate, two years of college. Local commissions, service clubs, organizations: Former member of Elks Lodge. Length of residence in Huntington Park: Since 1964.

Term Expires 1992 THOMAS E. JACKSON Age: 53. Title: City councilman Time in office: Since 1968. Profession: Flower shop owner, golf course concessionaire. Education: Associate of arts degree from Catholic seminary, additional college courses. Local commissions, service clubs, organizations: Former president of Jaycees, former president of Kiwanis Club, former YMCA fund-raising chairman, member of Elks Lodge. Length of residence in Huntington Park: Since 1956.

Term Expires 1992 JACK W. PARKS Age: 65. Title: City councilman Time in office: Since 1976. Profession: Owner and operator of auto body shop. Education: High school graduate, some college courses. Local commissions, service clubs, organizations: Former president of Chamber of Commerce, former exalted ruler of Elks Lodge, member of Rotary Club, member of Veterans of Foreign Wars. Length of residence in Huntington Park: Since 1947.

THE OPPOSITION

RAUL PEREZ Age: 47 Past candidacies for City Council: Five. Profession: Loan officer. Education: High school graduate, more than two years of college. Local commissions, service clubs, organizations: President of Lions Club, member of YMCA Board of Managers, member of Elks Lodge, member of Masonic Lodge, member of Sister Cities Assn., former city Parks and Recreation commissioner. Length of residence in Huntington Park: Since 1963.

RUDY S. GRIEGO Age: 50. Past candidacies for City Council: None. Profession: Owner of immigration service. Education: High school graduate, about 2 1/2 years of college. Local commissions, service clubs, organizations: President of Sister Cities Assn., former president of Chamber of Commerce, former president of Rotary Club. Length of residence in Huntington Park: Three years in the 1970s. Griego, whose business is in Huntington Park, would have to move into the city to run for council.

LUIS HERNANDEZ Age: 29. Past candidacies for City Council: None. Profession: Financial analyst. Education: Bachelor of science degree. Local commissions, service clubs, organizations: Founder and chairman Huntington Park Citizens for Responsible Government, a community group. Length of residence in Huntington Park: Six months. Previously lived in Huntington Park and neighboring Walnut Park for 14 years.

Source: Individuals involved. HUNTINGTON PARK DEMOGRAPHICS CITY POPULATION

Year Population 1930 24,591 1940 28,648 1950 29,450 1960 29,920 1970 33,744 1980 46,223 1989 * 59,595

PERCENT LATINO

Year Population 1980 80.8 1989 * 90.6

VOTER REGISTRATION

Year Number 1922 3,412 1930 10,657 1940 19,284 1950 13,827 1960 14,781 1970 12,573 1980 7,855 1989 7,880

* Estimate based on 1980 census. U.S. Census Bureau did not count Latinos separately before 1980.

Source: L.A. County Registrar-Recorder’s Office, which does not break down voter registration by ethnic group.