9 Qualify in Race for Assembly

With new twists added to the ongoing battle among heavyweight Latino politicos on the Eastside, nine candidates have qualified for a special election Nov. 18 to succeed Louis Caldera in the 46th Assembly District, county registrar-recorder officials said Thursday.

Caldera, 41, who won in 1992 with the help of Democratic state Sen. Richard Polanco and others, gave up his seat in June to join the Clinton administration as managing director of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which promotes volunteerism.

Now, nine candidates--including several Democrats with some important Latino endorsements--have jumped in to succeed Caldera in the district, where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 4 to 1.

Polanco and others, including Democratic Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, have endorsed Gilbert Cedillo, 42, the former head of Los Angeles County’s largest employee union.

Meanwhile, two-term Los Angeles school board member Vickie Castro, 52, has picked up the support of Supervisor Gloria Molina, who did not endorse Caldera when he first ran for the Assembly seat in 1992. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard and state Sen. Hilda Solis, two Democrats who represent portions of the largely Latino 46th District, also have endorsed her.

One usual Molina ally, Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles, has endorsed a third Democrat--lawyer Ricardo Torres, the son of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ricardo A. Torres.

Two other Democrats, attorney Manuel Diaz and activist Marijane Jackson, also have qualified for the Nov. 18 ballot, officials said.

Reached in Washington, Caldera said he would not make an endorsement initially, but has not ruled out making one if there is a runoff election. “A Democrat will win no matter who endorses who,” he said.

Three Republicans, Andrew Kim, Khalil Khalil and Robert Galvan, will be on the primary ballot, the registrar-recorder’s office said. A Libertarian candidate, Patrick Westerberg, is the ninth candidate.

Although some observers say that this is another round in the continuing struggle between Molina and Polanco and others she opposes, the race to fill Caldera’s unexpired term may have some twists that may be especially felt by the Latino candidates.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez’s situation presents vexing problems because until recently he had not been in his City Hall office to address the gang problems in Pico-Union and other immigrant neighborhoods west of downtown. Those areas are also in the 46th District, which has not had a representative in Sacramento since Caldera stepped down in June.

The notorious 18th Street gang, the target of court injunctions to limit its activities, is a major criminal force in those neighborhoods.

“This is already an underrepresented area” in an Assembly district with the lowest number of registered voters (64,383) in California, said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. Whoever wins must pay special attention to those areas plagued by gangs, he said.

Candidate Torres, while noting that Hernandez may not directly affect the race, said the councilman’s highly publicized arrest will be in the back of everyone’s minds. “To be a good candidate and a good person is the essence of what future leadership is,” he said.

Other twists during the short campaign leading to the election may center on the recent ruling by a federal appeals court to abolish term limits. Most of the candidates reached by The Times were noncommittal when asked about the ruling.

The 46th District, in which Latinos make up 40% of the voters, covers Boyle Heights, parts of East Los Angeles and Vernon. It also includes downtown, Chinatown and Little Tokyo and stretches through the West Adams district to Koreatown.

If no candidate receives a majority Nov. 18, the top Democratic, Republican and Libertarian vote-getters will be in a runoff election Jan. 13, the registrar-recorder’s office said.