Cardenas, Polanco Prove a House Divided Against Itself Can Stand

A secession bill that would require the San Fernando Valley to have two-thirds of its voters support a breakaway from Los Angeles is expected to face tough opposition in the state Senate.

But the bill’s author, Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), is in a unique position to lobby one of the most influential opponents of Valley secession, Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles).

Cardenas lives with Polanco.

To be more specific, Polanco, Cardenas and Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno) share a condo in Sacramento three nights a week. The arrangement is intended to save money for the lawmakers, who also own homes in their districts.

Polanco opposed a previous secession bill by former Valley Assemblywoman Paula Boland and said he will also oppose Cardenas’ bill.

“I oppose any bill that is about breaking up the city of Los Angeles,” Polanco said. “In these times we should be working on bringing the city together.”

And the debate over the bill does not end when the two men get home. Polanco said he and Cardenas often debate state politics over a morning cup of coffee.

“We debate everything,” Polanco said. “Debate is healthy.”

But Cardenas’ personal lobbying is not swaying Polanco. “As far as the concept of breaking up the city, I don’t support it,” Polanco said.

Bernardi’s Back

Among the people who testified this week at the first San Fernando Valley meeting of the appointed Charter Reform Commission was a longtime City Hall insider and critic: former Councilman Ernani Bernardi.

The 21-member commission was created by the City Council in September in response to threats of a Valley secession. But Mayor Richard Riordan rejected the council’s panel and led a petition drive to create an elected reform panel.

Since Bernardi retired from the council four years ago, he hasn’t said much about the dueling efforts to rewrite the 72-year-old document that acts as the city’s constitution.

But this week, the 84-year-old Bernardi had plenty to say.

First of all, he blasted homeowner groups and others who suggested that the 15-member City Council be expanded so there are more elected officials to respond to citizens’ complaints.

“I think we have too many council members already,” Bernardi said in his usual resounding voice.

He argued that the problem with local government is not the number of elected officials but the quality of those officials.

“You are going to be hearing the same argument five or 10 years from now about the charter not working,” he said. “Have you thought that it’s the people we elect who are the problem?”

Furthermore, Bernardi said, if voters are so unhappy with city government, why did they reelect every incumbent City Council member last month?

And when several speakers at the hearing suggested that the charter needs to better define the roles of the council and the mayor, Bernardi said the reason the council and the mayor don’t get along has nothing to do with the charter and everything to do with the egos of the elected officials.

Then Bernardi took a shot at the two competing panels that are working on the charter overhaul.

“With the two commissions starting to go at each other the way they are, the city of Los Angeles is going to be the laughingstock of the United States,” he bellowed.

Junket Food

Freshman Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) reports that several juicy junket offers were waiting on his desk his first day in office.

Switzerland. Italy. England. China. Germany.

Not a bad haul for someone who just got to town and, as a new member is at the bottom of the totem pole.

So far, however, Rogan hasn’t taken off on any international adventures, although he has gone on a few domestic trips.

One was to Cando, N.D., to inspect flood damage. The second was to Peoria, Ill., for a hearing on the new television ratings system. There he and a colleague tried to get dinner at midnight at the Mark Twain Hotel.

But Peoria is one of those roll-up-the-sidewalks-early kind of towns. After pleading starvation, Rogan was offered two individual boxes of cereal, the kind where you pour milk right into the carton. The other congressman dined on a leftover salad.

It was a moment to be underwhelmed by the power of public office.

As he chewed his cereal, Rogan said, “This is a junket?”

Board Games

Sen. Polanco, the newest archfoe of County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, got his MTA “reform” bill approved by the state Senate this week.

The bill--which would reduce the number of county supervisors on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board from five to two while increasing the number of representatives from cities--has led to the two trading some very nasty--and very public--barbs.

Yaroslavsky charges that SB 567--which must still be passed by the Assembly and signed by the governor--is political payback for the MTA board’s denying a contract to a firm favored by Polanco.

Polanco maintains that the board simply needs more representation from cities.

On Thursday, Yaroslavsky called the bill a “Trojan horse” and pointed out that just last year, Polanco pursued legislation seeking to make the MTA board elected countywide.

“This is clearly a broadside against the board,” Yaroslavsky opined.

The 3rd District supervisor said that if under the Polanco bill he and Supervisor Mike Antonovich were made to leave the board, the San Fernando Valley would be left without direct representation.

As it is, he said, it is an “abomination” that the Valley has paid more than $1.25 billion in taxes and has only the North Hollywood terminus of the Red Line to show for it.

Yaroslavsky added that given his druthers, he would step down from the board--as long as he was sure the other guys wouldn’t run it into the ground.

Rather, farther into the ground.

“I would like nothing better personally than not to be a member of the MTA board,” he said. “It is not politically remunerative. I would be happier not having to do it. But what I won’t do is abrogate my responsibility . . . and surrender to the people who are obsessed with being on the board.”

Meanwhile, Antonovich proposes three alternatives to shuffle the board--none of which would threaten the board’s five supervisorial slots.

The first option would be a board composed of the five county supervisors, a representative from the city of Los Angeles and five seats reserved for the county’s other 87 cities.

The second proposal is for a board consisting of the five supervisors, one representative from the city of Los Angeles, one from the city of Long Beach and four representing the remaining cities.

Finally (and least likely), Antonovich proposes that the five supervisors become the MTA board in toto.

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QUOTABLE: “We know Lockyer doesn’t do anything without thinking it through. There was some calculation. It was not a capricious act.”

An anonymous political observer on state Sen. Bill Lockyer withdrawing his secession bill