Torres Joins Race for Supervisor : Politics: He says that concerns about splitting the Latino vote in the new 1st District are unfounded.

State Sen. Art Torres joined an increasingly crowded field of Latino candidates in the 1st Supervisorial District on Wednesday, and he said that any concern about splitting the vote and creating an opening for non-Latino candidates is unfounded and unfair.

“We are not a monolithic community,” the East Los Angeles Democrat said. “We don’t apply consensus to candidates in the other communities throughout Los Angeles. So I don’t think that standard ought to be applied to us. I think our community is educated and smart enough to be confronted with different choices.”

The field for the Jan. 22 election at present includes Torres, City Councilwoman Gloria Molina and Sarah Flores, a former aide to retiring incumbent Pete Schabarum. U.S. Rep. Matthew Martinez (D-Monterey Park) also has announced his intention to run for the seat, and several lesser-known hopefuls also have expressed interest in running.

The election was called by U.S. District Judge David V. Kenyon, who previously had found that the county discriminated against Latinos systematically over the decades in drawing district lines. A new 1st District was created with the intention of providing Latinos with an opportunity to win election to the five-member board.

So far, no established non-Latino candidates have expressed interest in the seat, but some Latino politicians are worried that the abundance of Latino candidates might divide and weaken the Latino vote, allowing a non-Latino candidate to win.

“Sure, there is that danger,” said Molina, who unsuccessfully sought to become the consensus Democratic candidate from the Latino community. Flores, the lone prominent Republican candidate in the nonpartisan race, said she could be helped if the Democratic politicians split the Democratic vote.

A number of political analysts found it unlikely a non-Latino could win the seat, especially since a candidate must capture more than 50% of the Jan. 22 vote to avoid a later runoff between the two top vote-gatherers. They said the Latino community is geared up to deliver one of their own to the now conservative board. The political numbers also weigh heavily on the side of a Latino candidate. Latinos account for 51% of the voters and 71% of the population.

“The days of Art Snyder are over,” said Joe Sanchez, a Latino political fund-raiser. He was referring to the former councilman who repeatedly withstood Latino challenges in a heavily Latino district. “This time we are very organized.”

Bruce Cain, associate director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, agreed, adding: “Even if they split the vote, it means that all that has to happen is that one of them makes it in the top two.

“The top vote-getting Latino can count on the support consolidating for the general election,” added Cain, who served as a redistricting consultant to the U.S. Justice Department in the voting rights case. “It should work out OK. The one danger is we may start to see some of the underlying divisions of opinion if the campaign gets bitter. That might lead to a low turnout or lack of unity for the general election.”

Cain, also citing a political lesson from Snyder’s tenure, pointed out that the new 1st Supervisorial District does not contain heavily Anglo enclaves like Eagle Rock, where large numbers of Anglo voters swung City Council elections in Snyder’s favor. Councilman Richard Alatorre, a Latino, finally won election to the council after Snyder resigned.

In the short, 10-week campaign, only a big name has a chance, Cain said.

“That is going to work for the advantage of these well-known Latino politicians,” the political scientist said.

Rodolfo Acuna, professor of Chicano studies at Cal State Northridge, said: “The worst that is going to happen is a brown-white runoff, and then it is up to all of us to support the Latino candidate.”

Acuna, like some other Latino political experts, bridled at any suggestion that too many Latinos were vying for the office.

“When a lot of Anglo-Americans run, they call it democracy,” Acuna said. “When we run more than one for office, they call it factionalism.”

Similarly, Carmen Perez, an aide to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and a national vice chair of the Democratic Party, said: “The fact of the matter is that this community has been hungry and waiting for this. . . . If there were 10 white males running, they would all probably be told they are civic minded. You get 10 Latinos and they’re told they are diluting the vote. That’s not so.”

Hahn was expected to announce today his support of Torres.

In announcing his candidacy at his alma mater, Montebello High School, Torres sought immediately to defuse possible political fallout from his 1987 and 1989 arrests for drunk driving.

“I am a man who has made mistakes in the past,” he said. “I am a man who has grown and confronted those mistakes. I believe they have made me a stronger individual.” Torres last year completed a 25-day treatment program for alcoholics.

Molina was an aide to Torres when he was an assemblyman. But they grew apart after he backed her opponent in the 1987 council race.

There were early signs the race might prove lively as the candidates stated their working ground rules for negative campaigning.

“I’m not going to attack my opponents,” Torres said.

Molina said she would only attack Flores.

Flores said she would attack both Torres and Molina, and she did, calling them “East Los Angeles political bosses”--a reference to the failed attempt by the two Democrats and others to deliver a consensus candidate to run against her.

As Torres held his press conference, a few students held up placards reading “Unity is strength” and “Why split our vote?”

Paulina Gonzalez, a high school senior, asked Torres if he was not concerned about splitting the vote.

“I believe the people have a right to choose between candidates,” he said.