Boland’s Secession Bill Dodged a Bullet, but Polanco Is Reloading

The last time state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) tried--but failed--to get his hands on her Valley secession bill, a relieved Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) said she had “dodged a bullet.”

She had better be ready to duck again.

That’s because Polanco will argue to the Senate Rules Committee on Monday that the lone amendment added to the bill Wednesday puts it in the purview of his Elections Committee.

The amendment says that an election on detaching from Los Angeles would be held in conjunction with a general election as a cost-saving measure.

According to Polanco consultant Darren Chesin, any bill that deals with the consolidation of a local election with a statewide general election comes through the Elections Committee.

“Precedent will be in our corner,” Chesin said. “All consolidation bills come to our committee. Always have. Always will.”

Since Polanco has pulled no punches about his opposition to the measure, Boland views putting it in his committee’s hands as certain death.

Under normal circumstances, Boland’s bill would be headed directly to the Senate floor. But Polanco set the stage for Monday’s stand by sending a letter seeking jurisdiction for his committee back when the measure first stopped at the Rules Committee.

He did not succeed then, but was able to get the bill sent back to the Rules Committee a second time to see if any amendments were election-related.

Boland says the amendment was procedural, not substantive, so any move by Polanco to grab it would be political, not parliamentary.

The guy who’ll make the call is Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward). So far, he has taken a hands-off posture on Boland’s bill.

A spokesman said Lockyer remains noncommittal on whether he’ll back Polanco, the leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus, or Boland.

Blow Hards

Getting the Los Angeles City Council to support a ban on leaf blowers was a political battle that provoked an hourlong debate, pitting noise-weary residents against angry gardeners.

When the dust had cleared, backers of the ban won on a 9-4 vote.

But it now looks as if the effort is ending up in the hands of--you guessed it--a bunch of lawyers.

Deputy City Atty. Keith Pritsker, who was instructed to write the law to prohibit gas-powered blowers within 500 feet of residences, said lawyers for leaf blower manufacturers have already threatened to sue to halt the ban, saying that such a law is discriminatory--and he hasn’t even written the ban yet.

The leaf blower companies argue that lawn mowers, weed whackers and chain saws make just as much noise, if not more than leaf blowers, yet the city does not threaten to ban them.

Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley, introduced the motion to ban the blowers, arguing that the noise they create disturbs the peace and the dust creates a health hazard.

Although 42 other cities have already banned or are considering banning leaf blowers, Pritsker said the manufacturers may fight the local proposed ban to keep other big cities from following suit.

In fact, he said that representatives from cities all over the country, including New York, have already called him for advice on how to write such a ban. Pritsker said he plans to introduce the final legislation to the council in early July.

Web Feat

Punch in www.lawcomp.com/robert/valleysecede on your Internet-ready PC and you’ll call up the Valley’s very own pro-secession Web site. It was created by secessionists Gerald Silver, president of the Encino Homeowners Assn., and Robert Aitchison, a computer programmer from Sherman Oaks.

The site is decorated with the official city seal of Los Angeles, which is circled and crossed out.

“The Valley has been treated as a ‘stepchild’ by the Los Angeles downtown bureaucracy,” it proclaims.

The site provides updates on the status of Assemblywoman Paula Boland’s bill to eliminate the Los Angeles City Council’s power to block a secession effort by any part of the city.

Visitors to the site can also find links to Valley chambers of commerce and city and state officials from the Valley. It also provides justifications for the Valley’s independence, including the argument that local residents don’t get their fair share of police and transit services and suffer unfair water and sewer fees.

“We felt a clear need for a Valley secession site and a place where people can download files,” Silver said.

But Silver and Aitchison have also launched a related Web site for the group Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment (VOTE), which was recently formed to support the Boland bill.

Although the group has not take a public position on whether to secede, the site (www.sfvalley.org/vote) provides the same links and includes the same arguments for Valley secession.

Waxing Eloquent

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) had only five minutes at the microphone during this week’s congressional hearing on the FBI records improperly reviewed by the White House.

But five minutes was more than enough for Waxman to make his point.

During his questioning, Waxman accused Republican lawmakers of “sheer McCarthyism” designed to “smear President Clinton and his administration.”

Waxman also sought to extract an apology from Rep. William F. Clinger Jr.(R-Pa.), who led the hearing as chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. Last week, Clinger condemned former White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum, whose name appeared on the White House forms seeking the FBI background reports.

“Let me . . . say that this isn’t a hearing to get to the bottom of this issue,” Waxman said. “This is a hearing to smear President Clinton and his administration, to be reckless with the truth for partisan purposes. And it’s not worthy of this committee.

“Before we had any evidence, the chairman held a press conference, and he accused Mr. Nussbaum of, at best, being unethical and, at worst, committing a felony. Mr. Chairman, that was a reckless statement. . . . I think this gentleman is owed an apology.”

There was to be no apology.

Waxman’s five minutes came to a close, Clinger defiantly banged his gavel and a Republican took over at the microphone.

For the Record

Last week’s column misspelled the name of a city engineer who had studied ways to calculate an equitable sewer fee for San Fernando Valley residents. His name is Shahram Kharaghani.

Quotable

“I’m beginning to see the flag and the fife and the drum.”

--State Sen. William C. Craven (R-Oceanside) on hearing Paula Boland compare her secession legislation to the American Revolution.

Hill-Holtzman reported from Sacramento, Martin from Los Angeles and Lacey from Washington, D.C.