Valley Secession Funds Catch a Ride on Coattails of State Budget

A last-minute amendment slipped into the state budget Thursday guarantees the state will pay a third of the estimated $1-million cost of studying a possible secession of the San Fernando Valley from Los Angeles.

The state contribution, upward of $340,000, is contingent on the city and county picking up the rest of the cost, under a provision added to the $76-billion budget compromise crafted in the state Legislature.

“It was an opportunity to fight for the Valley, and we took it,” said Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks). “It was a last-minute effort, but it’s in the budget.”

The budget measure may settle a brewing controversy over who will pay for the secession study, which would be conducted by the Local Agency Formation Commission, the panel that oversees the creation of new cities in Los Angeles County.

Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, the group leading the petition drive for the secession study, called the budget measure a “great solution.”

LAFCO’s executive director, Larry Calemine, initially wanted Valley VOTE to pay for some of the study’s expenses, which Valley VOTE leaders opposed.

“That would be like trying to charge Howard Jarvis for the election on Prop. 13,” said Close.

Because LAFCO was created by the Legislature, it makes sense that the state should share in the costs of the secession study, Close said.

Valley VOTE, however, is required to gather 135,000 signatures from Valley voters by Aug. 27 to authorize the secession study. Close said the group has already collected more than 100,000, and he expects a “very tight” finish.

The budget measure for the secession study was sponsored by state Sen. Cathie Wright, R-Simi Valley, one of the lawmakers on the six-member budget conference committee. The long-awaited budget is expected to meet the approval of both the Senate and Assembly, as well as Gov. Pete Wilson.

Damage Assessment

It’s too early to tell how much damage has been done to Republican Assembly candidate Peter Repovich’s campaign after revelations that he was suspended from the Los Angeles Police Department for 44 days for sexually harassing a female officer on the force.

But, as expected, Democrats didn’t waste any time taking aim at Republican opponents with the new ammunition, and not just in the 43rd District Assembly contest between Repovich and incumbent Scott Wildman.

Democrat Barry Gordon, who is seeking to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) in the 27th Congressional District, called on him to rescind an endorsement of Repovich because it would “send a strong message that sexual harassment will not be tolerated in the workplace.”

In a letter urging Rogan to withdraw his support, Gordon cited a recent move by the Los Angeles Police Protective League to back Wildman and back away from Repovich, their choice in the March primary.

Repovich was found guilty by an LAPD Board of Rights on five of 12 sexual harassment counts, including calling his colleague “baby” and tickling her feet during a 1996 training session. He said he hoped the fallout from the incident would be minimal, adding he meant no harm by his actions.

Changing Horses

Valley VOTE has parted ways with a political consulting firm it had hired to collect petition signatures.

The secession-minded group dropped Kimball Petition Management of Westlake Village and replaced the Valley firm with Progressive Campaigns of Santa Monica.

Both Kimball and Progressive are professional petitioning firms that have provided paid employees to help Valley VOTE collect the 135,000 signatures from Valley voters required to prompt the secession study.

Bruce Bialosky, treasurer of Valley VOTE, said Kimball wasn’t delivering as expected.

“We didn’t think it was going the way it should, so we decided to switch to Progressive,” Bialosky said.

Fred Kimball, owner of Kimball Petition Management, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Bialosky said Valley VOTE is paying Progressive a flat rate for every valid signature but declined to disclose the terms of the agreement.

Quick Quiz

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from Woodland Hills, is:

A). Conservative.

B). Liberal.

C). Moderate.

It’s a trick question. Sherman is all of the above, at least according to a news release sent out by his office July 29.

Sherman was recently labeled as one of the most fiscally conservative members of Congress from the San Fernando Valley and Ventura areas by the Republican-leaning National Taxpayers Union in Washington.

In his release, Sherman boasts of how the organization is “generally regarded as a front for the Republican Party” yet rated him more fiscally conservative than Reps. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley); Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita); and fellow Democrat Howard Berman of Mission Hills.

“As a CPA, I know the importance of cutting costs,” said Sherman, an accountant running for a second term in Congress.

He is running against Republican Randy Hoffman, a Thousand Oaks businessman.

Sherman mentioned that the liberal-leaning Americans for Democratic Action ranked him as the 24th most liberal of California’s 52-member congressional delegation. Plus, the nonpartisan National Journal, a Washington-based political magazine, identified Sherman as a moderate on social, fiscal and foreign policy issues.

“In 1996, I told the voters I would work toward moderate, common-sense solutions to our nation’s problems,” Sherman said. “I’m not surprised that special-interest groups in the left, right and center rank me in the center of the California delegation.”

Crystal-Ball Gazing

Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), is weighing whether to seek appointment to the Los Angeles City Council should Councilman Richard Alarcon win election to the state Senate.

Democrat Alarcon is running against Republican Ollie McCaulley for the seat in a contest to be decided in November. Cardenas, a former real estate agent, is finishing his first term in the Assembly and seeking reelection.

But he has also recently made calls to City Council members to express his interest in Alarcon’s post. Cardenas was born and raised in Pacoima, in the heart of Alarcon’s district, said Jose Cornejo, Cardenas’ chief of staff.

Cardenas wants to get involved with local issues, not just with the statewide policy issues of the Assembly, said Cornejo.

“He wants to do grass-level policy--get down to the people and be clearly connected,” said Cornejo. “Lights, streets and police. . . . Here, we deal with statewide policy, but the city actually has the jurisdiction of doing the potholes.”

Ollie Rally

Call it an unpolitical political rally. Republican state Senate candidate McCaulley plans a sidewalk march down Van Nuys Boulevard at rush hour Thursday to publicize his campaign against Alarcon, who so far has stolen most of the spotlight.

But rather than make it simply an Ollie McCaulley-for-state-Senate rally, McCaulley has publicized the event as a “march for unity.”

“The march is a march to unite people regardless of their ethnicity or even their political affiliations,” said McCaulley spokeswoman Nanci Huskey.

The marchers, including people representing the National Rifle Assn., the American Legion and Pacoima Beautiful, will carry American flags, “Because we are all Americans,” Huskey said.

She said the march, which starts at the intersection of Van Nuys Boulevard and Vanowen Street at 5 p.m. is expected to draw 200 people, but then added that it may only be 50 to 100.

Breakdown

If you predicted the Valley’s state lawmakers would be too caught up in infighting to pass a plan to break away from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, buy yourself a Red Line ticket. You were right.

The last bill to raise the Valley’s influence in the regional transit picture--a plan by state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) that would establish a Valley “planning board”--went down for the count this week after he failed to secure enough votes to get it through the Assembly Transportation Committee.

The last possibility for action this year may come in the form of Assemblyman Hertzberg, who’s kicking around the idea of grafting a Valley board plan onto another piece of legislation. But his spokesman says he’ll only do it if the other Valley lawmakers get behind it.

You can guess what that means.

“The prognosis is not good,” says Hertzberg spokesman Paul Hefner.