GOP’s Local Lights Stand by Their Man but Keep Their Distance

Despite having distanced themselves from their presidential nominee in their mail campaigns, most GOP legislative candidates running in the Glendale area stood beside Bob Dole at a rally here Thursday.

Congressional candidate James Rogan, a Glendale assemblyman, went so far as to tell the crowd that Dole was gaining in the polls and would win the election.

Also introduced were Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills), who is a candidate for the 21st state Senate District, and 43rd Assembly District candidate John Geranios.

The local candidates were invited to the rally by the statewide Dole-Kemp organization. Publicly, GOP candidates and their strategists professed happiness with the visit, although privately there was some dismay that in close legislative contests, a reminder of their ties to Dole was something they could do without.

The positive spin on the visit: It would galvanize the Republican base or at least the volunteers charged with getting out the vote.

Left unspoken: Why would stalwart Republican voters in Glendale need a pep talk if things were going well for the GOP?

A Question of Faith

A campaign mailer sent out by state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) has gotten his GOP opponent, Scott Schreiber, steamed up because it implies he is a tool of the Christian right.

Schreiber, who is Jewish and a supporter of abortion rights, said he is not comfortable with the positions of the Christian Coalition and Hayden knows it.

Some of Schreiber’s Jewish supporters went a step farther, accusing Hayden of questioning Schreiber’s faith.

“It’s ludicrous and insulting to suggest that a lifelong member of the Jewish community like Scott Schreiber would betray the faith of his ancestors for some campaign contribution,” said Shimon Erem, chairman of the Council on Israeli Organizations.

The mailer connects Schreiber to the right by suggesting that he would, if elected, come under the domination of Sen. Rob Hurtt (D-Garden Grove). Hurtt’s stated agenda is to preach “‘absolute values in the Bible that should be the foundation of our society.”

Schreiber says “by mutual agreement,” Hurtt is not contributing to his campaign. Moreover, Hurtt is unhappy that Schreiber is promoting his abortion rights views.

Hayden spokesman Rocky Rushing said the flier accurately depicts what would happen in a state Senate controlled by Hurtt.

“There’s no disputing what Rob Hurtt stands for,” Rushing said. “We all know what happens to Republican moderates in a house controlled by ultraconservative Republicans. That’s what we would have to look forward to.’

Someone whose views are in line with Hurtt’s, meanwhile, has endorsed Schreiber. Assemblywoman Boland, who worked with Hayden on the Los Angeles school district breakup movement but had a falling out with him on her Valley secession bill, is backing Schreiber.

Sign Language

A petition drive to create a government reform panel for Los Angeles has collected more than 200,000 signatures, surpassing the 197,000 needed to qualify for the ballot.

But that doesn’t mean that all the work is done.

Because about 20% of the signatures on most petition drives are later proven to be invalid, the campaign is trying to collect at least 250,000 signatures by Oct. 30.

“Any initiative drive knows that you will get some signatures that are not valid,” said Rick Taylor, the political consultant who is heading the campaign.

The petition drive is being underwritten by Mayor Richard Riordan and backed by Studio City attorney David Fleming. The signatures are being gathered by a signature-gathering firm and volunteers.

If the campaign is successful, a measure on the April ballot will ask voters to create a citizens panel to rewrite the city’s 71-year-old governing charter. A second portion of the ballot will ask voters to elect 15 candidates for that panel.

But there have been some questions about how the campaign has gone about collecting the signatures.

For example, a campaign volunteer approached a reporter in front of a store recently, saying that the goal of the petition drive is to lower taxes for city residents.

Meanwhile, a friend of City Councilman Mike Feuer was approached at another location and told that if successful, the petition drive would get rid of the City Council.

Taylor conceded that some of the volunteers for the campaign may get carried away but he insisted that the campaign does not condone such tactics.

“We have hundreds of people on the streets. Certainly there are some who get overzealous in getting signatures,” he said.

Taylor said all members of the campaign are given a briefing paper that explains the goals of the petition drive.

Part of the problem, he added, is that it is uncertain what changes the panel will recommend to reform city government.

Kristin Heffron, the chief of the city’s elections division, said there are no rules for what kind of pitch a signature gatherer may make. But she added that if a person who signs a petition under false pretenses wants to rescind the signature, he or she can simply write a letter to the city clerk’s office.

Camera Ready

It was a video camera that brought the world the police beating of motorist Rodney King in Lake View Terrace five years and seven months ago.

Today it’s a video camera that officers are being cautioned to carry if they ever come in contact with King.

In a column in the Police Protective League’s “Thin Blue Line” monthly newspaper, league Treasurer Dennis Zine listed the numerous times since March 1991 that King has been arrested or detained by police.

Nine to be exact, in Los Angeles, Alhambra, Glendale, Orange County and Pennsylvania.

“It is apparent that King is either the victim of a national law enforcement conspiracy or a hardened criminal who has run out of luck,” Zine wrote.

“Will you be the next officer to encounter Rodney King?” Zine asks in his column. “If you are, immediately request a supervisor and unit with a videocam to protect yourself.”

Panel Discussion

For months, Los Angeles City Councilman John Ferraro and colleague Nate Holden have jokingly snipped at each other during council meetings.

But last week it got serious when they exchanged harsh words over a 3-year-old planning issue that Ferraro said he can’t even recall.

Then Holden lashed out at Ferraro this week because Ferraro filled Mayor Riordan’s three appointments to a government reform panel that the council recently created. Ferraro made the appointments as acting mayor while Riordan was on vacation.

As council president, Ferraro already gets two appointments to the 21-member panel, while the other council members each get one. The city controller and city attorney each get one appointment as well.

Holden called Ferraro’s actions “out of line” and insisted that he has “stacked” the panel.

In a letter to council members, Ferraro defended his actions, saying that Riordan had refused to make the appointments himself because he is underwriting a petition drive to elect a competing reform panel.

What’s more, he said in the letter, Riordan “requested” that Ferraro make the appointments.

Actually, Riordan’s staff said that the mayor simply consented to letting Ferraro make the appointments but did not “request” that he do so.

Nonetheless, few at City Hall are complaining about Ferraro’s actions.

“That is no problem,” said Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who sponsored the legislation to create the appointed panel. “Riordan wasn’t going to make the appointments anyway.”

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QUOTABLE: “Are you under the influence of any drugs or medication that would affect your testimony today?”

Asked of Cal State Northridge President Blenda Wilson before she spoke at a hearing on affirmative action held by state Assemblyman Bernie Richter