It’s Been No Royal Road for Those Who Would Be Kingmakers

If political powerbrokering were a disease, the San Fernando Valley would be in the midst of an epidemic.

First, one of the state’s richest political machines is suspected by many Republicans of trying to impose the candidacy of former Assemblyman Tom McClintock on the GOP primary in the 38th Assembly District, which includes the western San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley. McClintock came out of academic obscurity to consider running for the seat after the archconservative Independent Business PAC took a poll that showed him to be the front-runner in the GOP primary, ahead of all those other candidates who’d been toiling on the hustings for months.

Independent’s boss, Danielle Madison, denied that any powerbrokering was going on or that the poll was meant to intimidate the field. “We’re not trying to cram Tom McClintock down the throats of people,” she said. But when Madison’s organization, which showered more than $1 million on candidates in 1993-94, speaks, GOP regulars listen.

But so far, none of the other candidates have blinked. They include Scott Wilk, chief of staff to Assemblywoman Paula Boland, the 38th District incumbent who is being forced to step down by term limits; Steve Frank, a longtime political consultant; Ross Hopkins, a public affairs consultant; and insurance agency owner Bob Larkin, former head of the Ventura County Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Independent’s activities in the 38th Assembly District closely resemble those of its founder, state Sen. Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove), as he dabbled in the politics of the 21st Senate District’s GOP primary.

Hurtt waved around the results of a private poll he had commissioned to persuade other GOP candidates--notably Boland--that their chances of winning the primary were nil and that Assemblyman Bill Hoge (R-Pasadena) was the undisputed favorite of voters. The Glendale-Burbank-Pasadena seat is held by another term limits victim, Sen. Newt Russell.

Hurtt’s efforts to anoint Hoge came to naught: Last week, it was Hoge who blinked and decided not to run for Russell’s seat, leaving Boland still standing. It was a bit of a blow to Hurtt, who during the 1993-94 political season distributed $1.2 million in contributions to his GOP political favorites.

Finally, in the 39th Assembly District in the East Valley, state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) is trying to play kingmaker. Not armed with polls or bearing large bags of cash, Polanco, however, has other tools of persuasion: a call for Latino unity and his own prestige as a Latino leader in the state Legislature.

Polanco has gotten the Latino Legislative Caucus--comprising the Capitol’s 14 Latino lawmakers--to line up unanimously behind realtor Tony Cardenas’ bid to succeed Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), another term limits victim. And the word has gone out that it would be viewed as unkind for other Latinos to get into the Democratic primary and split the Latino vote in a district whose population is 65% Latino but where only 25% of past voter turnout has been Latino.

Still, such displays of outside political musculature have not been altogether well-received--or abided. That was evident this week when Jose Galvan, a longtime Latino activist, threw his hat into the primary, saying phooey to Polanco.

It’s Academic

Pasadena City College President Jack Scott is retiring from his post Nov. 30. But he may not be headed for private life soon. In fact, a number of Democrats, including Katz, one of the Democratic Party’s top strategists in the quest to regain firm control of the Statehouse, have been urging the 62-year-old Scott to run against Hoge, who will be seeking reelection next year.

Scott, who has not run for public office before, confirmed this week that he is “carefully and seriously” considering entry into the Democratic primary. “A whole host of people have encouraged me to run,” Scott said. A major consideration for him was whether he could get a leave of absence from the teaching job he lined up at Pepperdine University after he leaves PCC.

In 1994, Hoge was attacked by his Democratic opponent, former Pasadena Police Chief Bruce Philpott, who blasted him for his ties to gaming interests. Hoge won reelection with only 53% of the vote.

Military Affairs

Rep. Howard (Buck) McKeon says he wouldn’t send his young sons to Bosnia-Herzegovina. And Rep. Howard L. Berman says he intends to mull that very question long and hard in the days ahead.

Rather than celebrating the U.S.-brokered peace plan announced at the White House this week, local lawmakers across the political spectrum were anxiously anticipating the tough decisions ahead. Chief among them is whether U.S. ground troops ought to help enforce the peace accord reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

“What happens if we get over there and become a target and suffer significant casualties?” asked McKeon, a Santa Clarita Republican who has sat in on Bosnia hearings in recent weeks before the House National Security Committee. “To me, it seems like we’re taking responsibility for the peace over there. I think the people who are killing each other should be responsible.”

But McKeon said he was willing to listen to President Clinton, who has urged lawmakers to remember the many atrocities committed during the long war and keep an open mind.

“He is the commander-in-chief and he is the only one who probably has all of the facts,” McKeon said. “I hope he comes to Congress and gives a convincing argument.”

The House has voted in recent weeks, largely along partisan lines, to prohibit Clinton from sending troops to Bosnia without congressional approval. Even without that vote, Clinton pledged to seek a formal “expression of approval” from Congress before sending troops.

That decision weighs heavily on the minds of lawmakers. Berman, a Democrat from Panorama City and a member of the House International Affairs Committee, said he needs more facts before he commits his support to U.S. military involvement.

“There are a number of important questions that the American people need answers to,” Berman said. “And there are so many questions I need to ask before casting a vote. What is the nature of the danger to U.S. troops? What are the rules of engagement? How do we avoid a Somalia-like episode?”

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) applauded Clinton for helping orchestrate the peace accord but railed against sending ground troops. Gallegly likened the plan to the way the United States became embroiled in the Vietnam War.

“I want to commend our President for bringing these meetings together, but every military person I’ve spoken with--and I’m talking about guys with three and four stars--they appear to be universal in their agreement: Sending ground troops into Bosnia would be nothing short of insane.”

Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) will be a part of a delegation of lawmakers traveling to Bosnia next month on a fact-finding trip. He said it is important to survey the situation there firsthand. But he already has made up his mind on sending U.S. troops.

“I think if we send our troops, they’ll be over there for a decade or more,” Moorhead said. “I don’t think it’s a safe place for our boys.”

The End Result

Rumpelstiltskin was able to turn flax into gold.

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson it trying to do old Rumpelstiltskin one better by turning horse manure into cash.

It’s not such a far-fetched idea.

Here is the scenario. The city currently operates a pilot program in parts of the San Fernando Valley that provides free curbside manure pickup for about 600 horse owners.

The manure, which horse owners dump into special green trash containers, is hauled by a city truck to a recycling site in Sun Valley, where the equine byproduct is prepared for sale as fertilizer.

In a proposal made this week, Bernson suggests that the city expand the program to licensed horse owners citywide. Yes, the city would have to shoulder the cost of hauling the manure away, but Bernson argues that at least it won’t go into landfills, where it costs $27 per ton to dump. What’s more, he said, the city can make money from the sale of the fertilizer.

The councilman went on to say that if the city offers the manure pickup only to licensed horse owners, it would provide an incentive to get residents to pay for licenses, which go toward maintaining the city’s horse trails.

Only about 2,000 horse owners pay the $14 annual license fee, even though animal regulation officials believe there are thousands of unlicensed horses galloping around the city.

This is not a new idea. Other council members have proposed expanding the program in the past but the plan has been shoveled aside pending the adoption of a new fee for extra-capacity trash containers. The idea was to also adopt a fee for the manure pickup. The extra fee is expected to be discussed next month.

Bernson doesn’t want to wait and suggests that the program be expanded immediately, sans fee.

Some things just don’t age well with time.

This column was reported by John Schwada and Hugo Martin in Los Angeles, Marc Lacey in Washington, D.C., and Miguel Bustillo in Ventura.