Molina Decides to Skip Debate : Campaign: She denies that she is avoiding Torres in 1st District supervisorial race. Aides say she will take part in TV forums.

City Councilwoman Gloria Molina on Monday night skipped what was to have been the first debate with state Sen. Art Torres, saying she instead will concentrate her efforts during the county supervisor’s race on raising funds and calling voters.

Molina denied that she was trying to avoid Torres after winning 35% of the vote to his 26% in last week’s primary. Her campaign aides pointed out that Molina has already agreed to meet Torres in three televised debates before their Feb. 19 runoff.

Torres press secretary Dee Dee Myers, however, likened Molina’s tactics to the “Rose Garden strategy” used by presidents. “Clearly, their strategy is to limit risks,” Myers said.

Myers contended that Molina also may have feared facing a hostile crowd during the El Sereno debate because she had supported a low-income housing project there that was opposed by neighbors. “That can blow up her image as the protector of the neighborhood,” Myers said. “Why enter into a controversy that she can avoid by just not showing up?”

Molina said she is not reluctant to appear in El Sereno and plans to walk precincts there. She said she believes it is more effective to speak to voters one-to-one than in forums.

Sal Mota, who helped organize the debate for the Northeast Action Committee, accused Molina of backing out of a commitment. But Molina spokesman Robert Alaniz said, “We never said we’d be there.”

Torres planned to speak at the meeting anyway, while Molina was scheduled to walk door-to-door in Pico Rivera at the other end of the 1st District.

Molina and Torres are battling to become Los Angeles County’s first Latino supervisor in 115 years.

Molina attended 29 candidates’ forums during the primary campaign, Alaniz said. But he said that the councilwoman, who finished first in last week’s primary, has now decided to “pick and choose” her public appearances because she has received so many requests, including one from the Beverly Hills Democratic Club, which is not even in the new 1st District.

Myers contended that Molina is “going to try to limit her contact with Art, and try not to make mistakes. . . . We are going to run a much more aggressive campaign.”

“The strategy is to limit the number of times she has to sit down with him, particularly forums where she is expected to give long answers.” She said that Molina is willing to appear on TV because of the briefer format “where you can talk platitudes and you don’t have to talk policy.”