L.A. Officials Vow Court Challenge of Census Count : Population: Hahn attacks ‘racial politics.’ Bradley says city must sue to get ‘fair share of political representation and financial support.’

The Bush Administration’s decision to leave the 1990 Census figures as they are, with an undercount of nearly 200,000 in Los Angeles alone, is “devastating news” for the city, “smacks of racial politics” and leaves officials with “no choice” but to challenge the decision in court, Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn said Monday.

Noting that blacks, Latinos, American Indians and Asians were far less likely to be counted by traditional census methods than whites, Hahn said the Commerce Department’s refusal to adjust the census has become “the biggest civil rights issue facing the nation today.”

Echoing the city attorney’s sentiments, Arturo Vargas, policy director of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the unadjusted figures mean that cities like Los Angeles, with large Latino, black and Asian populations, will not receive the public dollars nor the political representation they deserve.

According to the Census Bureau’s own estimates, Los Angeles was undercounted by 5%, California as a whole by 3.8%. Partly because of misinformation and fears of government intrusion into their lives, recent immigrants and members of minority and low-income families are thought to have been disproportionately undercounted in the decennial census.

In Los Angeles, for example, the white undercount was estimated to be only 1.3%, whereas the Asian undercount was three times that level. The black and Latino undercounts were thought to be more than five times greater than the white undercount.

“The 1990 Census--the first census in this century to reflect a larger undercount than the census preceding it--is gravely defective,” said Mayor Tom Bradley in a statement from Washington where he was meeting with federal leaders to discuss the ramifications of the census undercount.

“We have no other recourse but to return to court immediately in an effort to protect the interest of the city and to ensure our residents receive their fair share of political representation and financial support,” Bradley said.

“The decision is unfortunate, not just on ramifications regarding redistricting,” Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) said in a statement in Washington. “When you skew the numbers, you skew the formula for federal payments.”

Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose) said: “The Bush Administration decision not to count . . . more than 5 million people is naked discrimination against cities with large Hispanic,) Asian and African-American populations. Bush’s decision will cost California cities many millions of dollars over the next decade in badly needed federal funds.”

And, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) declared: “Californians deserve a fair count--they didn’t get it. (Commerce) Secretary (Robert A.) Mosbacher has done a profound disservice to Californians and the nation. Without a statistical adjustment to reflect accurately the population of California, the state will lose out on much needed federal aid, lack the proper level of representation in the House of Representatives, and state Legislature redistricting plans will be based on inaccurate information. . . .”

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) conceded that the decision would deprive California of a House seat “and I am all for increased congressional representation for California.” He added, however: “On the other hand, there has to be some finality, given that the alternative is an adjustment that itself would likely be litigated. . . .

As a result of the undercount in Los Angeles, officials here estimated that the city would lose as much as $150 million in federal assistance for housing and other programs over the next decade.

The undercount of minorities may also have an unexpected and devastating impact on health care programs and medical research. Since the design and funding of many health programs are based in part on estimates of disease rates among various segments of the population, it will be impossible to know what those disease rates are without accurate breakdowns of the population, researchers have said.

There are also likely to be lawsuits filed by minority groups, maintaining that any attempt to draw new district lines based on 1990 census figures should be considered illegal since they are based on inaccurate ethnic data.

“Minorities will simply not be accurately and fairly represented because of this decision,” said Linda Wong, executive director of California’s Achievement Council, a nonprofit organization designed to boost the academic performance of minority students.

Staff writer Oswald Johnston in Washington contributed to this story.