Council Mum on Abortion Clash : Protest: City Council rejects without comment a statement of support sought by Operation Rescue.

Whatever El Monte City Council members thought about the mooning that demonstrators from Operation Rescue received in June, they kept it to themselves Tuesday--and rejected without comment a sympathy vote sought by the anti-abortion group.

Operation Rescue members took their case to the city after the district attorney turned down prosecution of four supporters of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) who exposed their breasts and buttocks during a June 29 rally at Clinica Eva on Valley Boulevard.

A videotape of the nudity was given to El Monte police, who investigated.

But the district attorney’s office declined to file charges of indecent exposure, in part because genitalia were not exposed. (Indecent exposure, under state law, is when genitalia are exposed to view; genitalia, breast or buttocks are touched, or an attempt is made to sexually arouse.) The district attorney’s office compared the incident to a high school mooning.

Tuesday, City Atty. David Gondek advised the council in a closed session to keep officially mum and stay out of the battle between the two groups. The council followed his advice, declining even to comment privately .

“We’re following our attorney’s advice, which we do in all cases, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t thinking about this,” said Mayor Don McMillen.

Not surprisingly, the lack of a vote disappointed about 60 Operation Rescue members and their supporters who turned out for the meeting.

“I’m shocked and outraged,” said Monika Moreno, an Operation Rescue member from Redondo Beach. “They have a moral obligation to make a statement.”

Thomas Cizmar, pastor at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Glendale, compared the council to Pontius Pilate. He told council members they were washing their hands of the matter when they should take a stand against violence against Christians, which he said will increase.

McMillen said later that demonstrations and confrontations at Clinica Eva, a family planning clinic, have been occurring for the past few years. The city always sends police officers to keep watch, he said.

ACT UP supporters did not attend the meeting. A member said the group was organizing a rally planned for Friday in Sacramento to protest Gov. Pete Wilson’s recent veto of gay rights legislation.