Defunct Eatery Serves as Campaign Backdrop

Edward’s Steak House near crime-plagued MacArthur Park has been bustling with activity during the 1st District county supervisorial race--even though the place is dark and boarded up.

Last week, state Sen. Art Torres selected the grim urban backdrop to highlight his endorsement by the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs Inc. and to simultaneously take a shot at his Feb. 19 runoff opponent, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Gloria Molina.

The defunct eatery, in Molina’s council district, was previously the site of a press conference by Sarah Flores, a losing candidate in last month’s primary who also ventured there to criticize Molina.

This time, Torres was confronted by about a dozen hecklers--members of a neighborhood anti-crime group organized by Molina.

Shaun Mathers, president of the 6,500-member deputy sheriff’s union, declared: “Every single law enforcement organization involved in this race is supporting Art Torres.”

Responded a heckler: “The people support Molina!”

Torres shouted back: “I am a man who has fought to make sure we take back our neighborhoods together, not fighting against each other as you are trying to do now. . . . You can heckle me all you want! But I still care about you!”

If absentee ballot requests are an indication, the two candidates face a lot more legwork before the special election if they are going to persuade their supporters to vote.

With only a week to go, 24,800 voters have requested absentee ballots, but only 2,240 have mailed them back. By contrast, a week before the January primary 34,412 voters had requested absentee ballots and 12,845 had returned them.

Both campaigns have made special efforts to encourage voters to cast ballots by mail because Californians traditionally ignore off-season special elections. Making matters worse, this special election falls right after the Presidents Day holiday.

County Registrar-Recorder Charles Weissburd said the candidates have not had much time to encourage voters to mail their ballots. In the primary, Weissburd said, “They had a longer lead time to get the (absentee voter) program going. . . . I have nothing to indicate that this portends a lower voter turnout.”

Voters may not be riveted by the 1st District Race, but the candidates are swinging out as if the whole world were watching.

At a recent meeting of the Northeast Political Action Committee, Torres reportedly complained that Molina was not putting forth any meaningful programs for running the county, but was instead offering only rhetoric.

As reported in two community newspapers, Torres called Molina a “tamal sin carne”-- a tamale without meat.

Torres denied during a debate on Spanish-language radio station KTNQ that he was referring to Molina personally, saying he was commenting only that her policies lacked meat.

Whatever the case, the tamale reference is not playing well among Latinos, according to Molina’s press deputy, Robert Alaniz.

“Talk about low blows and cheap shots,” Alaniz said. “We have had a number of calls from people saying they don’t like hearing that kind of talk and they’re voting for Gloria.”

Torres has mailed voters a letter speaking frankly about his “problem with alcohol.”

“My opponents have tried to mislead you about my past,” Torres writes. “In 1989, I realized I had a problem with alcohol. . . . I sought treatment and I’m proud to say that every day I’m recovering against the disease called alcoholism.”

David Townsend, Torres’ political consultant, said Torres believed he needed to respond to a negative mailer sent by state Sen. Charles Calderon, a loser in last month’s primary. Torres has criticized Calderon for launching the only attack that called attention to his much-publicized 1987 and 1989 drunk-driving arrests.

“The first law of politics is respond in the same medium in which you are attacked,” said Torres spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers.

Political experts seem to agree.

Joseph Cerrell, a longtime Los Angeles political consultant, said, “I think some people will say he is facing up to it.”

However, Molina strategist Pat Bond complained that the mailer may mislead some voters into thinking Molina was the one who attacked Torres.

“We never touched him on anything personal,” she said.

The debate Sunday night was much like the others during the four-week runoff campaign--the two candidates took almost identical positions on everything from AIDS research funding to voter registration.

But the verbal haymakers started to fly when the station opened up its phone lines to calls.

One caller, Carlos Rodriguez, asked, “Why does Sen. Torres think we voters are going to believe in him, if in 16 years (in the state Legislature) he hasn’t done a thing for us?”

A woman who identified herself only as a member of the Service Employees International Union attacked Molina for saying Torres was controlled by special interests because of his strong financial backing from the labor movement.

“You have criticized us because we’re supporting the senator,” she said, “but you have come to us many times asking for our money and our support.”

Times staff writer Jill Stewart contributed to this report