Candidate Says Dana Lied in Remap Testimony

In a strange twist to Los Angeles County’s voting rights case, a Superior Court judge running for supervisor accused Supervisor Deane Dana on Wednesday of committing perjury while testifying in support of a county redistricting plan.

Gregory O’Brien made the allegation outside the federal courthouse after testifying that Dana told him that he and Supervisor Mike Antonovich had endorsed a Latino instead of him in the 1st District race in the hope of persuading a federal judge to throw out the redistricting lawsuit.

Dana testified Monday that he had “absolutely not” told O’Brien that the lawsuit was the reason he supported Sarah Flores over O’Brien to succeed retiring Supervisor Pete Schabarum.

O’Brien said he may ask the U.S. attorney to bring perjury charges against Dana. “If Mr. Dana has denied what I said, he must answer to his conscience and the law of perjury,” he said.

“We as judges expect drug dealers to come into court and perjure themselves but persons in positions of public trust should not come in and testify like drug dealers.”

Dana on Wednesday stuck by his testimony and said of O’Brien, “He apparently needs publicity for his campaign.”

O’Brien took the witness stand during the second day of a court hearing before U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon to determine whether the county redistricting plan remedies discrimination against Latinos. O’Brien is to face Flores in a November runoff, but whether the election will proceed hinges on the outcome of the case.

Kenyon ruled June 4 that the current districts are divided in a way that prevents a Latino from winning a seat on the board--a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. Kenyon has said he will decide--possibly by the end of the week--whether to accept the county redistricting plan. He said if he rejects the county plan, he will consider alternatives submitted by the plaintiffs.

The county plan, drawn by the board’s conservative majority, places liberal Supervisor Ed Edelman in a new, predominantly Latino district. The plaintiffs have asked the judge to carve out a Latino district without an incumbent by using the districts of Edelman or Schabarum or expanding the board to seven or nine members.

Supervisors met behind closed doors Wednesday to discuss minor changes in their plan to resolve objections that the new boundaries dilute the voting strength of blacks. But no decision was reached.

During his testimony, O’Brien said he sought Dana’s endorsement in March and the supervisor “was fairly contemptuous of Judge Kenyon’s integrity.” He testified that Dana told him that “if he and Mr. Antonovich backed a Hispanic candidate, Judge Kenyon could be persuaded to dismiss the lawsuit.

“I said I’m a judge, and judges don’t think that way,” O’Brien said, adding that he told Dana that Kenyon would decide the case on the legal issues.

O’Brien, whose candidacy has been endorsed by Schabarum, said he told Schabarum about the meeting with Dana, and Schabarum said, “See, I told you Deane is dumb.” Dana spokesman Dennis Morefield said, “That doesn’t deserve a comment.”

Antonovich, who was in court as an observer, said he backed Flores, a former aide to Schabarum, because he has known her since high school and he thinks “she is the best candidate.”

Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, a plaintiff, said after the hearing that O’Brien’s testimony shows that the supervisors have “contempt for the Voting Rights Act and the Hispanic community.”

But John McDermott, the supervisors’ attorney, said, “None of this has anything to do with the validity of the plan. All they (the plaintiffs) are trying to do is prejudice the judge.”

In other testimony Wednesday, Schabarum called fellow Republicans Antonovich and Dana “alleged conservatives” and said press reports of a powerful conservative majority on the board are “a lot of bunk.”

Schabarum also commented on the “absurdity” of Kenyon’s June 4 decision. Kenyon did not respond to the remark.

Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) also testified that the county plan unfairly groups into Supervisor Kenneth Hahn’s South-Central Los Angeles district “the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor.”

“It’s hard to conceive of anybody constructing a plan with (Beverly Hills and Watts in the same district) and hope for a representative that could serve both communities very well,” said Waters, called to testify by attorneys for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.