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Calderon, 4th in Primary, Backs Torres in Race for Supervisor : Election: His support also was sought by Molina, who now plans to play up her independence. She says the two state senators are mending a rift.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

State Sen. Art Torres, battling Los Angeles City Councilwoman Gloria Molina to become the county’s first Latino supervisor in this century, Monday chalked up the endorsement of another former adversary.

Charles Calderon, fourth-place finisher in last month’s 1st District primary, joined third-place finisher Sarah Flores in supporting Torres. A Senate colleague of Torres, Calderon collected 16% of the vote and led in a number of communities.

Molina and Torres--both liberal Democrats with their political bases on Los Angeles’ Eastside--had heavily courted Calderon, a moderate Democrat, and Flores, a Republican, in hopes of capturing votes in the more conservative San Gabriel Valley and southeastern county.

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Molina, who won 35% of of the primary vote to Torres’ 26%, said Monday that she will seek to counteract the endorsement by talking about her independence.

“I think that voters are going to question the credibility of Chuck Calderon,” the candidate said, citing Calderon’s harsh attacks on Torres during the primary campaign.

Molina and Torres will meet Feb. 19 in a runoff election in a redrawn 1st District, created by a federal judge who ruled that the old boundaries denied the county’s 3 million Latinos representation on the Board of Supervisors.

Speaking at a press conference in Montebello, Calderon cited Torres’ support from law enforcement and said his Senate colleague has a better record of responding to concerns of the San Gabriel Valley, such as seeking to clean up ground water pollution and prevent aerial spraying of malathion.

However, aides to Calderon and Flores said it was not the candidates’ political philosophies--which are remarkably similar--as much as their personalities and styles that led to the endorsements.

“Sarah likes Art’s personality and his way of dealing with people better,” said Flores’ campaign manager, Eric Rose.

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A source close to Calderon said that Torres would be “much easier to work with” than Molina. But the source admitted that the endorsements could help Molina.

“She is going to come out of this thing as the anti-Establishment candidate,” the source said.

Rose said that Flores never forgot the cool reception she received when she sought Molina’s support earlier this year. Molina refused to back Flores in the invalidated June primary in the old 1st District.

Molina and some political analysts suggested that Calderon endorsed Torres to mend fences with his Senate colleague for a Calderon mailer sent out during the primary citing Torres’ 1987 and 1989 drunk-driving arrests.

Torres has said that he completed a 25-day treatment program for alcoholism last year and has grown by his past mistakes.

“There is no doubt that Chuck is under pressure,” Molina said. “There is a lot of anger against him in Sacramento for the way he campaigned against a colleague. But they may forgive him if he does the right thing by Art right now.”

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Calderon defended the mailer on Monday and said that Torres’ drunk driving arrests are no longer an issue.

“The people factored that into their vote, and they elected Art Torres,” he said, referring to the supervisorial primary. “It is no longer an issue.

“I have known Art for many, many years,” Calderon continued. “We have back and forth helped each other on our political ascension.”

Torres said Calderon’s endorsement “means that I am the candidate that can bring all the people to the table.”

Dee Dee Myers, a Torres spokeswoman, said in response to Molina’s criticism: “You have to remember that Gloria went after Sarah Flores and Charles Calderon. She goes after these endorsements, like an insider, and as soon as her opponent gets the endorsement, she changes her tune.”

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