ELECTIONS / 45th ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Politicians Battle Over Non-Latino Candidate

In an area with a long history of Latino representation, the Democratic primary race in Northeast Los Angeles’ 45th Assembly District has sparked a dispute among some politicians about whether a non-Latino should inherit the seat.

The race in the heavily Latino district not only pits candidates backed by political rivals--county Supervisor Gloria Molina and Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles)--but it also has divided Latinos who have strongly supported Polanco. He is the district’s current representative but is vacating the seat to run for the state Senate.

Some Polanco supporters are upset that he is endorsing his chief of staff, Bill Mabie, who is white, to fill the seat that has been held by Latinos since 1972. Molina is backing a Latino candidate, Antonio Villaraigosa.

The area has been the site of a decade of battles between Latino candidates representing the Molina camp and a competing group headed by Polanco and Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre. But in this year’s primary, the dynamics have become more complex because ethnicity has been injected into the mix.

“This is one of the major, if not the major race, in the Latino community,” said David Ayon, a political scientist at Loyola Marymount University. “This is going to be a preview of barrio-based politics to politics beyond the barrio. . . . Eventually, most Latino voters will be facing situations like this because they don’t live in Latino-majority (voting) districts.”

Molina beat Polanco in an adjacent Assembly district in 1982. Polanco won his current seat in a bitter 1986 contest against current Los Angeles Councilman Mike Hernandez, who was backed by Molina. This year’s race is shaping up to be no less confrontational.

Villaraigosa has accused Mabie and Polanco of distorting the facts surrounding his arrest in 1977 on an assault charge. Mabie and Polanco deny that they have sought to taint Villaraigosa’s reputation.

The district’s current boundaries stretch from Highland Park to Hollywood and Boyle Heights, taking in Mt. Washington, Silver Lake and Echo Park. Latinos make up 63% of the district’s 370,000 residents but only 36% of its 83,311 voters.

Northeast Los Angeles has been the focus of lengthy civil rights battles that resulted in court-ordered reapportionments to create Latino-majority districts for the City Council and county Board of Supervisors during the 1980s.

Some Polanco supporters charge that he has turned his back on those hard-fought victories by endorsing Mabie.

“It’s an issue of maintaining and electing Latino candidates, especially in a district where we have fought so hard for Latino representation,” said state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles). “Certainly, candidates who are not Latinos would have ample opportunity to run in other districts.”

Torres has not endorsed either candidate, saying he will consider giving his nod to Villaraigosa if the race gets ugly.

To be sure, he and other Latino lawmakers say, just because Mabie is white does not mean that he will not be sensitive to the needs of the district’s Latino residents.

“But there’s a difference when someone is Latino, knows Latinos, and can speak to the issues as a Latino,” said Assemblyman Joe Baca (D-San Bernardino). “When you face prejudice, only you yourself can feel what it’s like.”

Alatorre, Polanco’s longtime ally, said he has not endorsed either candidate but added that he believes a Latino should represent the district. “At this point in our history, we should be attempting to elect and assist Hispanic candidates,” Alatorre said. “Every other race does the same thing. I expressed that to Richard. But I respect his decision (to back Mabie).”

Polanco said there were several Latinos that he wanted to endorse, such as Leticia Quezada, president of the Los Angeles Board of Education, but none were willing to run. He said he decided to support Mabie because he was the most qualified candidate. In all, five Democrats are running in the district’s June 7 primary.

“I’m not, on the knee-jerk, going to support someone who will not be the best candidate based on the color of their skin,” Polanco said.

Both Mabie and Villaraigosa maintain that ethnicity is not a factor in the election and say that voters are more concerned with issues such as crime, education and the economy.

“I think it’s demeaning to both of us to package us as white and Latino candidates,” Villaraigosa said.

Said Mabie: “I believe that my abilities, my accomplishments and my commitment to representing the residents of this district are what matter most.” He added that he has worked hundreds of hours to help elect Latino candidates in Los Angeles County.

Villaraigosa acknowledges that he was arrested in 1977 for what he says was an assault on a man who attacked his mother during a “big melee” at a Mexican restaurant near MacArthur Park.

He accuses Polanco and Mabie of spreading rumors that the arrest was for a felony stabbing. Villaraigosa says he only hit the man with his fists and was charged with misdemeanor assault. He says he was acquitted by a jury.

Records for the 17-year-old case could not be located.

At the time of his arrest, Villaraigosa was named Antonio Villar. But when he married in 1988, he dropped the r in his last name and added his wife’s maiden name, Raigosa.

Mabie denies knowing that his opponent had an arrest record. “I don’t know what the heck he is talking about,” Mabie said. “I’m running a good, clean campaign.”

Polanco did not return several telephone calls for comment.

The issue of Villaraigosa’s past arrest was reviewed by the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California several weeks ago, after it and other labor groups endorsed Villaraigosa. After the review, it stood by its endorsement.

Villaraigosa, 41, was born and raised in East Los Angeles and has engaged in activities ranging from voter registration to union activism. He is a past president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and is Molina’s alternate to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors.

Mabie, 32, is a fluent Spanish speaker who spent two years with the Peace Corps in Honduras, where he designed and managed fish hatcheries. He is president of the Highland Park Chamber of Commerce and is the founder of Gardens for Kids, a nonprofit organization that builds gardens at urban schools in Los Angeles to train youths for science and agricultural careers.