Patients’ Protest Draws Fallout

Backfire?: In Pomona, a threatened cutoff of city funds to the Tri-City Mental Health Authority has led its clients, the mentally ill, to demonstrate in front of City Hall, write to city officials and address a City Council meeting. But the effort may be doing more harm than good politically.

After listening to a parade of patients credit the agency with saving them from schizophrenia, depression and suicide, council members Willie White and Paula Lantz accused the agency staff of exploiting the patients by orchestrating the protest. White said it was “irresponsible” to impose added stress on the mentally ill. Lantz said some of the stories told by patients in letters to her were very moving, but the patients “are there to be helped, not manipulated.”

Carl Morgan, clinical director at Tri-City, said the patients acted on their own. The staff discouraged patients from undertaking the effort, Morgan said, but in acting on their own, the patients gained from the experience because they “felt empowered.”

At issue is whether the Pomona City Council will continue a $78,000 annual contribution that qualifies Tri-City for state funding. City Administrator Julio Fuentes has recommended that the city rely on the county for mental health services. Without Pomona’s support, Tri-City, which also serves Claremont and La Verne, may be forced to close.

Me and my shadow: Assemblyman Xavier Becerra (D-Monterey Park) will do more than shake hands and kiss babies to get your vote; he’ll let you follow him around for a day.

Becerra has invited residents of the 59th Assembly District to be his “shadow,” spending a day with him in the district or in Sacramento. You can look over his shoulder while he opens his mail, sit in his office while he hears pitches from lobbyists and instructs his staff and move with him from committee meetings to the Assembly floor.

“Very few people know what happens in the daily life of their legislator,” Becerra said. “I want to give the public a chance to see firsthand what I do during the course of a working day.” Applicants must live in Becerra’s district, be of voting age--and be willing to pay their own travel expenses to Sacramento, if that’s where they want to see their assemblyman in action. There’s no screening process; anyone interested may apply by calling Becerra’s office in Montebello.

Dear Idiots: Pomona Mayor Donna Smith has been trying to light a political fire under state legislators for trying to balance the state budget by increasing the financial burden on cities.

But Smith complained last week that her crusade isn’t getting much help. She got a cold reception from a legislative committee in Sacramento when she outlined her concerns, she said, and the press hasn’t been telling the story.

So, she tried a little name-calling. “The public needs to help lobby the idiots in Sacramento,” she said at last week’s City Council meeting, urging the council audience, including those watching on cable television, to write or call legislators asking them to keep their hands off municipal revenue and stop pushing costs onto cities. Smith said Pomona will pay the postage if residents will write the letters.

Short subjects: The governor has signed a bill by Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park) that will give San Gabriel Valley schools damaged in the October, 1987, Whittier earthquake another year, until June 30, 1992, to complete repairs. Money unspent from a $46.5-million earthquake damage fund had been scheduled to revert to the state’s general fund, but Tanner said schools need more time to do the work. . . . Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), who was a Cub Scout and an Explorer Scout in his youth, has received the Good Scout Award from the Verdugo Hills Council of the Boy Scouts of America. . . . Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier) has been appointed to the Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation.