L.A. ELECTIONS / 10th COUNCIL DISTRICT : Sanders Raises Affirmative Action Issue

With African American voters the predominant force in the 10th District race, Los Angeles City Council candidate Stan Sanders on Monday moved to make affirmative action a litmus test in his campaign against Councilman Nate Holden.

At a news conference, Sanders accused Holden of being insufficiently vigilant in defending affirmative action and thrust himself into the unfolding city Fire Commission controversy where affirmative action has become a battle cry.

“Holden has been weak on affirmative action,” said Sanders, who like Holden, is black.

But the incumbent later said he welcomed Sanders’ affirmative action challenge. “He has no credentials on the subject,” Holden said. “I’ve spent a lifetime fighting for equal protection. I’m not a Johnny-come-lately.”

Monday’s exchange was the first clash between the two men since the April 11 primary election, in which Holden received 46.2% of the vote to Sanders’ 42.5%, with a third candidate getting the rest. Holden and Sanders now face each other in a June 6 runoff.

At Monday’s news conference, Leonard Ross, president of the Oscar Joel Bryant Political Action Committee, a black police officers group, endorsed Sanders and criticized Holden. Ross said Holden should have condemned the Police Protective League when that union subsidized a challenge of LAPD affirmative action programs by white male officers.

The white male challengers received $27,000 from the league in their bid to block an LAPD affirmative action program, Ross said. The black officers group “got nothing from Holden,” Ross added. “Sympathy? Even that would have been nice.”

Sanders said he was especially proud of the Bryant group’s endorsement, contending that its members and their views are more reflective of the 10th District than those of the departmentwide Police Protective League, which has endorsed Holden.

Sanders also waded into the growing controversy about Fire Commissioner Leslie Song Winner, saying he would vote to keep Winner in office. He challenged Holden to follow suit.

Winner’s fight to prevent Mayor Richard Riordan from ousting her from the commission has become a minor affirmative action cause celebre. Winner was a critic of former Fire Chief Donald O. Manning’s affirmative action record. Manning resigned Sunday amid sharp criticism.

If elected, Sanders pledged to increase the city’s commitment to minority hiring.

“We need to actually beef up our compliance (with affirmative action),” Sanders said. “Strong policies are now in place. Now we need enforcement. We need leadership that says we are not going to retreat from affirmative action. Diversity is not a luxury in our city, it’s an imperative.”

Holden, meanwhile, said that he does not recall being contacted by the Bryant group and that, if he had been, he would have supported its affirmative action efforts--even though that would have put him at odds with the Police Protective League.

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His commitment to affirmative action is tried and true, Holden said. During the 1960s, he noted, he filed complaints against his employer, Hughes Aircraft, accusing the giant aerospace company of racial discrimination for blocking promotions for blacks. Holden was on the firm’s engineering staff.

Holden also said he will support Winner in the Fire Commission flap and observed that he recently had urged city Civil Service Commissioner Joe Gelman, a Riordan appointee, to resign because of his role in supporting a proposed statewide ballot measure, the so-called California civil rights initiative, that would end affirmative action in hiring and contract awards by state agencies. More recently, Holden won council approval of a motion calling the initiative deceptive and asking state officials to rename it.