Familiar Face Helps Push District Breakup Bill to New Heights

BLAST FROM THE PAST: It’s worth noting that Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland’s school district breakup bill has now cleared more hurdles in its race through the Legislature than did former Democratic state Sen. David Roberti’s last year.

Roberti, of course, had more clout than Boland, having put in 27 years of service in the Legislature. He served in both the Assembly and the Senate, whereas Boland has had five years in the Assembly alone.

In a way, Roberti’s legislation had a higher profile, too, and thus served as a lightning rod for fierce opposition. It forced an outright dismantling of the huge Los Angeles Unified School District, whereas Boland’s bill merely makes it easier for breakup proponents to get their issue on the ballot.

It’s undeniable, however, that Boland is now enjoying a level of success that eluded Roberti as he tried to usher his measure through the Legislature. This week, Boland’s AB 107 cleared the Senate Education Committee, after earlier squeaking through the Assembly. Last year, by contrast, Roberti’s bill died in the Assembly Education Committee after advancing from the Senate.

Yet Roberti, who is now teaching university political science courses as well as serving on the state’s unemployment appeals board, is first in line among cheerleaders of Boland’s bill.

His behind-the-scenes phone calls this week to his former Senate colleagues may have played a role in helping get Boland’s bill passed out of committee.

Boland, a Granada Hills Republican, is grateful. “I want to express appreciation for David Roberti,” she says. “He helped certainly with the process. We owe him some thanks.”

Roberti’s sense is that the breakup movement will snowball from here, due to a greater awareness of problems in LAUSD classrooms. It doesn’t help that reform programs like LEARN have failed to turn things around, he says.

“At some point on LEARN, the L.A. community is going to have to say that that emperor wears no clothes,” Roberti said, predicting Boland’s success will have its roots in the simple “fact that the district is not functioning.”

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ENTER STAGE LEFT: Barry Gordon has played many roles during his career and the next one he’d like to be tapped for will put him on the floor of the House of Representatives in a dark suit with a red congressional pin on his lapel.

The longtime actor who played Archie Bunker’s lawyer and manager on the TV series “Archie Bunker’s Place” will announce today his intention to run for the 27th Congressional District Seat now held by Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale).

Moorhead, 73, is still deciding whether he’ll run for his 13th term in 1996. But if he does, his strong ties to the district’s entertainment industry will be challenged by Gordon, a Pasadena Democrat who has been president of the Screen Actors Guild for the past seven years. The powerful union, from which Gordon will resign next week, has been a springboard to politics for the likes of former President Ronald Reagan and former U.S. ambassador to Mexico John Gavin.

Gordon, 46, has been working as a character actor since the age of 3, appearing in numerous television shows, commercials and voice-overs. He earned his law degree from Loyola Law School and says his life experience and time spent representing actors has prepared him for the job. The union’s members are not all celebrities, Gordon said, but range from “the very, very rich to those who can barely make ends meet.”

Democrats have a slight edge in registration in the district, which includes Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Sunland and Tujunga, but Moorhead has won the backing of voters since 1972 and is now chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee on courts and intellectual property.

The panel plays a key role in entertainment industry issues and on Thursday took up Moorhead’s bill to extend the protection for certain works of songwriters and authors for 20 years. As it stands, they receive royalties for 50 years for their creations.

Before Gordon is picked for this new leading role, he will have to play another one--that of candidate. Moorhead has a strong campaign war chest and, since his entrance into politics in 1966, has never lost an election. And if Moorhead does opt out, numerous Republicans are jockeying to fill his seat.

“It looks like this is a win-able race,” Gordon said. “I think this district needs more energetic representation.”

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PAINT JOB: Authorities have tried to use radar guns, speed traps and speed bumps to keep motorists from exceeding the speed limit in residential areas. Now, Los Angeles City Hall is mulling a new idea: Speed stripes.

It is a concept that relies on an optical illusion that makes motorists think they are traveling at a faster and faster rate rather than remaining at a constant speed.

Here is how it works: Horizontal white stripes are painted on the pavement of a street where speeding is a problem. At one end of the street, the stripes are spaced far apart. But as the driver travels along the street, the stripes are closer together to give the illusion that the car is moving faster.

Traffic enforcement police want the city to try the idea on a trial basis on Reseda Boulevard in Porter Ranch, a residential stretch that has been plagued by speeding problems. No cost estimates on the project have been made.

Police officials recommended the idea to Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents Porter Ranch. Bernson was about to ask the council to vote on the pilot program on Tuesday but at the advice of his staff he decided instead to refer the matter to the council’s subcommittee on transportation for further study.

Maybe the delay was for good reason. Other municipalities that have tried the “Speed Stripes” have given the concept a lukewarm review.

Thousand Oaks traffic officials tried the stripes last year on a trial basis on a rural section of street that dumps into a residential area in hopes of reducing speeding. Traffic speeds dropped from an average of 42 m.p.h. to 37 m.p.h. after the stripes were added.

But traffic engineers in Thousand Oaks say they won’t use the stripes anywhere else. The reason? “It’s not very pleasing to look at,” said Jim Mashiko, an associate civil engineer in Thousand Oaks. Furthermore, he said the city would need special state approval to use the stripes citywide.

Prior to that, the stripes were tried in Long Beach more than 20 years ago. Ed Shikada, a Long Beach traffic engineer, said he could not find any records to show whether the stripes reduced speeds there. But he said Long Beach has not used the stripes since. “So, I think you can draw your own conclusion on the success.”

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THE DORIS WATCH: Every day, it seems, rumors surface in the state Assembly chambers that today is the day Republicans make a move to seize the speakership from turncoat Doris Allen.

Standing by to lead the charge is Glendale Republican James E. Rogan, anointed the GOP caucus’ candidate of choice for when they get another shot at the top Assembly post.

Republicans are in a hurry to get Allen, who made a pact favorable to Democrats to win their votes, out of the way.

This week, in fact, Allen’s top staff was given a sneak peak at fresh polling data that showed the Cypress Republican won’t survive the recall attempt angry GOP activists have launched.

The preview was meant to scare Allen into voluntarily abandoning the speakership, a move that would be rewarded by the retreat of those financing the recall. Allen, however, is unlikely to buckle under that kind of pressure.

Meanwhile, Rogan insists he’s in no particular rush to grab the reins of power. He said he wants to avoid turning the speakership quest into a divisive clash, noting that the Assembly already has one embattled speakership and hardly needs yet another.

Talks will continue, he said, toward a hopefully harmonious end.

“The Republican caucus is attempting to work with Democratic members to see what kind of rules and speakership we both can agree on,” Rogan said Thursday. “We are trying to approach it not from a power perspective, but from a good government perspective.

“I really believe we’re going through what I call a birthing process. And it’s a really hard labor.”

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MIAMI VICE?: Gov. Pete Wilson reacted angrily to the allegations that Immigration and Naturalization Service managers attempted to deceive Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead and other congressmen during an official visit to INS facilities in Miami last month.

INS officials were accused of moving illegal immigrants out of holding cells and boosting staffing in advance of the congressional visit while instructing agents not to wear their weapons while lawmakers were around. Wilson, a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, blasted the Clinton Administration for what he called a “cover up.”

“Such acts, if not criminal, are unconscionable,” Wilson said at a press conference. “Illegal immigration is a problem that is costing the American taxpayer billions of dollars every year [and] it defies credulity that the Clinton Administration would be attempting to hide the true scope of the illegal immigration problem in America.”

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), who chaired House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s immigration task force, arranged the June 10 visit to Miami to examine the problems with illegal immigration there. Not long after he returned, Gallegly received a letter from close to 50 INS workers alleging that their bosses attempted to deceive the visiting delegation by temporarily improving conditions.

Reps. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) and Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) also served on the 54-member task force but neither attended the fact-finding trip to Miami.

Craft reported from Sacramento, Lacey from Washington, D.C., and Martin from Los Angeles.