Accord Near in Battle Over Redistricting : Politics: Who will pay attorney fees for the Chicano Federation, which sued city, remains a sticky issue.

The two sides in the fight over new San Diego City Council district boundaries remained close Wednesday to a compromise agreement that would improve Latino voting rights.

But an agreement is anything but assured as yet a new problem was revealed, this one over who pays the attorney fees.

“We’re 75% of the way there,” said Senior Chief Deputy City Atty. Jack Katz. “We still have a couple of small items to work out.”

One of those items concerns how lawyer Michael Aguirre, the attorney representing the Chicano Federation of San Diego County Inc., will be paid for representing the Latino organization in the class-action voting rights lawsuit filed against the city.

Both sides met again Wednesday with U.S. Magistrate Harry McCue. As a result of the talks, the city attorney’s office will prepare in writing a proposed settlement agreement--including a new redistricting map--and present it today in McCue’s chambers.

If it passes muster by attorneys for both sides, the settlement will be presented to the City Council next Tuesday in closed session.

Even if the council approves the compromise, however, the legal confrontation won’t be over. Pat McCormick, an attorney for Councilman Bruce Henderson, vowed Wednesday to file a lawsuit in Superior Court contesting the change in boundaries in the Clairemont area Henderson now represents.

Only last week, a five-member City Council bloc approved a redistricting map, a vote preceded by weeks of bitter debate.

The Chicano Federation, which filed a lawsuit in 1988 challenging the legality of the city’s electoral system, opposed the map, which made the 8th District, stretching from downtown to San Ysidro, 51.9% Latino.

The federation said that the new district didn’t sufficiently increase Latino voting strength, and that the map violated the terms of a previous settlement of the federation’s lawsuit.

The dispute seemed destined for a trial, and U.S. District Judge John Rhoades last Friday ordered council members to testify under oath about the map and discussions leading to its adoption.

That apparently was the prod that led to this week’s hectic round of new compromise negotiations, according to Councilman Ron Roberts.

Roberts, who voted against the five-member majority, said Wednesday outside the magistrate’s chambers that “there’s no doubt in my mind” that the threat of council members giving depositions “has led to quite a different attitude.”

The new compromise proposal calls for increasing the Latino population in the 8th District to about 55%.

What that does, though, is change the boundaries of other districts, such as Roberts’. As described by Aguirre and Roberts, who has not seen a copy of the new map, Roberts’ district would include both Point Loma and two, mainly white precincts in the Nestor area of the South Bay that have about 8,000 people.

The two neighborhoods would be connected by a line down San Diego Bay.

In addition, Pacific Beach would be divided into three council districts.

David Lundin, an attorney representing 8th District Councilman Bob Filner and two other council members who are part of the five-member majority bloc, said he doesn’t know whether his clients will embrace the new map.

What could derail the proposed compromise is the issue of Aguirre’s legal bill for representing the Chicano Federation.

Aguirre said how much the city may be asked to pay has nothing to do with--and should be kept separate from--any agreement.

Any attempt to tie the two together, as Aguirre claims the city wants to do, will be rebuffed, he said.

“There will be no negotiating on that point,” Aguirre said. “Any negotiating on fees and cost will have to made by the court. . . . We think we shouldn’t be trading percentage points for dollars.”

Aguirre was referring to the increase in the percentage of Latinos in the 8th District contained in the proposed new settlement map.

Jess Haro, head of the Chicano Federation, said organizations such as his, which pursue voting rights lawsuits and win them, find it almost impossible to raise the thousands of dollars needed to pay attorneys to represent them.

He said tying the settlement to payment of Aguirre’s fees would have a chilling effect and “would discourage anyone from ever taking a case such as this.”

Aguirre said the city had agreed to pay him about $20,000 last year when the lawsuit was tentatively settled, money he never received, he said. He declined to say how much his legal bill is now for representing the Chicano Federation.

In yet another redistricting development Wednesday, Councilwoman Linda Bernhardt demanded that Aguirre apologize for statements he made last week accusing her of destroying her City Council appointment calendar.

Aguirre said he will not apologize and said he made the allegation, based on what he said was a source’s information, to ensure that evidence in the redistricting lawsuit wasn’t destroyed.