Senate Passes Bill Extending Petition Drive for Secession

The state Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed emergency legislation to give San Fernando Valley activists three extra months to petition for a study and possible ballot initiative on Valley secession from Los Angeles.

The additional time would be a godsend to Valley VOTE, the group leading the campaign, which is struggling to collect the 135,000 signatures of registered Valley voters required to trigger the secession study. Valley VOTE had collected 116,900 signatures as of Tuesday, with nine days to go to its Aug. 27 deadline.

Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) introduced the time extension bill to clarify a legal dispute over whether Valley VOTE had 90 days or 180 days to complete its petition drive. Leaders of Valley VOTE had decided to err on the side of caution, and organized the campaign under the assumption they had 90 days.

The measure, which would postpone the deadline to late November, passed the Senate 37 to 0 and now heads to the Assembly, where it may come up for a vote as soon as Monday, Hertzberg said.

He said he expects another favorable vote, pointing out that Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) is among the co-sponsors.

The final hurdle will be Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, whose office indicated Wednesday that he will probably sign it.

“The governor hasn’t had a chance to review the bill yet, but will look upon it favorably,” said Sean Walsh, Wilson’s spokesman. “He supports self-determination for the Valley.”

Gathering 135,000 valid signatures would be a “virtual certainty” if the deadline extension is approved, said Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close. If the signature drive succeeds, the Local Agency Formation Commission must study the feasibility of creating a Valley city, and also assess the financial effect it would have on the remaining City of Los Angeles. It would be up to LAFCO to decide whether to place secession on the citywide ballot--which could happen as early as 2000.

In a related action Wednesday, Valley VOTE criticized the Los Angeles Times, saying the newspaper should release financial statements showing that it supports a downtown business group that Valley VOTE said opposes secession. Times Publisher Mark Willes said the company had paid his personal dues to belong to the group but that his membership has no effect on the newspaper’s reporting.

Valley VOTE’s board passed a motion urging “the Los Angeles Times to clarify its role in the Los Angeles Business Advisors, [and] deal openly and honestly with this issue.”

Willes called the Valley VOTE demands “silly.”

Willes said that Times Mirror Co. paid his $40,000 membership dues to the group and that three members of the parent corporation’s board of directors also are members of the downtown business group. However, Times Mirror does not pay their dues.

Willes said Los Angeles Business Advisors is a broad-based business coalition concerned with city charter reform and other matters. “LABA tries hard to take on issues that are good for the whole community,” he said.

Also, Willes said, his $40,000 dues account for less than 5% of the group’s total funds. In comparison, the Daily News has become Valley VOTE’s largest donor, with its $60,000 contribution providing more than 30% of the group’s finances, he said.

Still, Willes said, he “didn’t have any philosophical problem” with the Daily News contribution to the Valley VOTE campaign, saying that it’s not unusual for newspapers to strive to improve their communities.

The important factor is to keep the corporation’s activities from influencing what is printed in its news columns, he said.

“The key is to be very clear institutionally about the line between the independence of reporters and editors in the newsroom, and what the newspaper does institutionally on its editorial or the newspaper’s corporate side, in terms of being involved in nonpartisan political activities.”

Willes said he opposes Valley secession, saying that it would be harmful to the Los Angeles area, and he opposes reforming the city charter to give power to neighborhood councils. Creating “another layer of bureaucracy” hinders accountability and would make doing business in Los Angeles more difficult, he said.

In another development, a group claiming to represent Valley business leaders--although the major Valley business group denied it had joined--said it has formed an alliance with homeowners groups to push for shifting some power away from the City Council to neighborhood councils, an option under consideration by charter reformers. The group said it would fight downtown-based business interests that oppose such a shift.

Willon reported from Los Angeles and Vanzi from Sacramento.