Flores Says Canceling Election Would Hurt Her Board Seat Bid

Sarah Flores told a judge Friday that her bid to become the first Latino county supervisor will be seriously set back if he cancels a November runoff election in the 1st Supervisorial District.

Flores, who finished first with 35% of the vote in the June primary, told U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon that if she is allowed to run in November in the current 1st District, “I will win.”

Flores testified that she is on an unpaid leave from her county job and took out a $12,000 mortgage on her home to run for the seat being vacated by Supervisor Pete Schabarum, who is retiring. She said that if the runoff against Gregory O’Brien is canceled, “it would be a hardship.”

Flores was called to the witness stand by the county, which has asked Kenyon to allow the winner of the Flores-O’Brien race to serve on the board until elections can be held in new districts in 1991.

The plaintiffs in the voting rights case want the judge to call off the runoff and schedule a November election under a new redistricting plan.

Kenyon ruled June 4 that the current district boundaries discriminate against Latinos. This week he held hearings on the county’s proposed redistricting plan.

On Friday, the judge said that he would hear closing arguments on Tuesday, then decide whether to accept the new county redistricting plan. If he rejects the county map, he said he will consider alternative plans submitted by the plaintiffs.

The county plan, drawn by the board’s conservative majority, would place liberal Supervisor Ed Edelman in a new, predominantly Latino district. The plaintiffs favor a district without an incumbent to improve the chances for the first Latino to win a seat on the board.

Supervisor Deane Dana returned to the witness stand Friday to rebut testimony that he endorsed Flores to influence the judge.

“Definitely not,” Dana responded when asked if he told O’Brien that he endorsed Flores to persuade Kenyon to throw out the voting rights suit. O’Brien on Wednesday accused Dana of perjury in denying that he made the statement.

Outside the courtroom, Dana lashed out at O’Brien and fellow conservative Schabarum, who has endorsed O’Brien. “I resent the fact that he accused me of perjury,” Dana said of O’Brien.

“I’d say Mr. Antonovich and I have almost no relationship with Mr. Schabarum at the present time,” Dana said.

The plaintiffs contend the county plan still fragments Latino neighborhoods and dilutes the voting strength of blacks by adding Beverly Hills and Hollywood to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn’s South-Central Los Angeles district. Supervisors are considering revising their plan to resolve the objections of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, an intervenor in the case.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude asked the council Friday to support expansion of the board to nine members to improve chances for a more representative county government. He also sent letters to mayors of the other 86 cities in the county, asking them to make the same request.