School Kids Keep the Drumbeat Going Against Proposition 187

A DIFFERENT DRUM: What was the Pacoima Elementary School drum corps doing last weekend leading a march down Van Nuys Boulevard to protest Proposition 187, the initiative that would bar illegal immigrants from public education, non-emergency health care and other social services?

Ask Larry Gonzales, the school’s principal, and this is the response: “I felt it was a voter-registration drive. Whatever I can do to encourage people to register to vote, I’ll do it.”

Ask Franco Fernandez-Rua, an organizer of Saturday’s event: “It was an anti-Prop. 187 march and rally.”

Ask Howard Friedman, a Los Angeles Unified School District lawyer: “It’s inappropriate for a school to make an official appearance in something like that. Inappropriate but not a high crime or misdemeanor.”

The rally, attended by about 1,000 opponents of Proposition 187, has raised the question of whether public schools should--or can--take a position on political issues. The Los Angeles Board of Education, which last month voted to oppose the measure, is entitled to take stands on political candidates and initiatives.

But schools are prohibited by law from spending public funds for political events. In the Pacoima case, the school spent no extra money for the event Saturday, Principal Gonzales said.

Allowing the banner-waving students to march in the rally was probably “not a smart idea,” said Susie Lange, spokeswoman for the California Department of Education. “But legally, they’re probably OK.”

Gonzales, who has spoken publicly against 187, said he believes the school banner “probably” should not have been waved, but he still believes the march was more a voter-registration event. “I felt it was educational and intended to register voters.”

Although Gonzales did not attend, his boss did. Maria Reza, who oversees San Fernando and Pacoima schools, said she participated in the rally--but as a private citizen, not as a school district representative. “I think it was a slice of what America is all about,” she said.

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THE FINAL CHAPTER: Closure came this week to a drama of flip-flops that, last summer, had Gov. Pete Wilson’s Administration first opposing and then supporting a bill to outlaw price gouging after disasters.

Valley consumers will recall that the Northridge earthquake jolted prices into the stratosphere for such necessities as food, water and batteries. Contractors, too, were targeted by many of the 1,400 complaints on file with the county.

A bill by Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) put a 10% limit on price hikes in the wake of a declared disaster. Oddly enough, the governor’s Department of Consumer Affairs--which is supposed to look out for consumers--tried to block the bill unless it was amended so businesses could raise prices by 50%.

Consumer advocates caught wind of the department’s position and skewered the Administration for trying to heap more hardship on the shoulders of already defeated disaster victims.

And when that didn’t look so good in the newspapers, the Administration reversed field.

This week, Wilson signed into law Katz’s bill and a similar one by Assemblywoman Marguerite Archie-Hudson (D-Los Angeles). But since he’s also campaigning for reelection, the governor went out of his way to mention that his thoughts were also with small business.

In a prepared statement, Wilson said: “California is no stranger to earthquakes, fires, floods and other disasters. These new laws will provide protection for the consumer and reasonable allowances for the store owner.”

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COMING SOON TO A MAILBOX NEAR YOU: Starting this week, the California secretary of state’s office will begin mailing out millions of the ballot pamphlets that voters will turn to before the Nov. 8 election.

This pamphlet will be far snazzier than those of years past, thanks to Roger Ramirez, an 11th-grader at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys.

Roger beat 174 other students in a fierce statewide competition to get his design printed on the cover of the voter pamphlet. He was selected as winner of the 1994 Voter Participation Logo Contest by Acting Secretary of State Tony Miller.

Noting that entries were judged on inspiration, simplicity and artistic presentation, Miller said: “Although the ultimate decision was not an easy one, we concluded that Roger Ramirez’s presentation was direct and simple, yet conveyed a sense of excitement and enthusiasm for the electoral process in a single word.”

And the word?

“VOTE.”

Miller is hoping that all 12 million households in the state get the message.

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SHOW AND TELL: Earlier this month, Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman, who doubles as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, announced that he would postpone until October a vote originally scheduled for this month on an alignment for the vexed east-west San Fernando Valley rail line.

Edelman, a subway supporter, delayed the vote as a “courtesy” to key MTA board members who said they couldn’t make the September meeting, including Mayor Richard Riordan and Edelman’s arch-enemy on the issue, fellow supervisor Mike Antonovich, who backs a monorail-type system above the Ventura Freeway.

Antonovich had previously scheduled engagements, aides said.

So what was he doing there last week when the board convened for business, with a full quorum of members?

According to Antonovich aide Habib Balian, the supervisor was expressly asked to attend the meeting by MTA Chief Executive Officer Franklin E. White. White had put a sweeping motion on the agenda to overhaul the agency’s construction unit and wanted key board members present.

So Antonovich showed up, and White’s proposal was presented.

The outcome? The board delayed action on that motion until October, too--so now, the overhaul proposal and the Valley rail line question will jockey for a place on the same agenda.