Valley VOTE Officials Complain They Can’t Petition the Dead

Leaders of Valley VOTE complain that Mayor Richard Riordan is against them, City Council members are against them, and now even dead people might hurt their cause.

The group needs to collect petition signatures to trigger a study and possible ballot initiative on secession of the San Fernando Valley from Los Angeles.

Its leaders have expressed concern that the voter rolls contain the names of many people who have died or moved--names not yet purged by county elections officials.

Polly Ward, a Valley VOTE board member and head of the Studio City Residents Assn., said she sponsors a polling place at her home on election days and still finds people who have been dead for years on the county’s official voter registration list.

Since Valley VOTE must get signatures from one out of every four people on those lists, and it’s impossible to get signatures from the deceased, the inaccuracies hurt the petition drive, said Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close.

“If the rolls are inflated by 20% to 50%, it’s going to affect the number of signatures we can get,” Close said. “The big question is how many dead people are on the rolls, and how many people who live outside the Valley are on the rolls.”

Valley VOTE plans to ask the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office to clean up the rolls.

Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Conny McCormack, however, said the county’s rolls of people who died or moved are purged annually--and such names rarely amount to more than 7% of the total.

The county is particularly good at keeping track of the dead, she said, because her office handles death notices as well as voter rolls.

“Sure, there’s deadwood, but on the whole it’s a bit of a stretch to say that’s why they [might lose] a petition drive,” McCormack said. “It’s grasping at straws.”

Not only is Valley VOTE not harmed by the presence of nonvoters on the rolls, McCormack said, but the group really should be aiming even higher than 25% of registered voters if it wants the petition to qualify.

Survey Says . . .

A report surfaced last month that Republican Randy Hoffman’s high-tech company in San Dimas had forked over a $500 campaign contribution to incumbent U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman--the incumbent Democrat whom Hoffman is running against.

This month, Sherman sent Hoffman a friendly little survey asking what education proposals and reforms he supports, saying it will “help me work for better schools.”

The letter, which begins, “Dear Friend,” actually was sent to most homes in Sherman’s district, including Hoffman’s residence in Thousand Oaks.

Hoffman did not let the irony go to waste, quickly drafting a letter back to Sherman’s Washington, D.C., office rattling off the Republican’s education agenda.

After listing his opposition to school vouchers and support for breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District, Hoffman took time to rip into Sherman for blanketing his district with the mailer. He said Sherman shouldn’t “waste precious tax dollars on a campaign mailer masquerading as a legitimate newsletter.”

Sherman probably isn’t sweating Hoffman’s heat too much, however. He said his campaign’s pollsters show he has a 2-1 lead over the Republican.

Bench Bucks

Los Angeles’ municipal coffers stand to take in a little extra cash under a proposal to offer exclusive rights to sell advertisements on bus benches for 10 years. But what to do with the money?

City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski has a plan: Use it to eliminate the ads. Miscikowski told the council this week any money the city makes beyond the administration costs of the bus bench program should be placed in a trust fund to pay for ad-free benches, shelters and other “street furniture.”

Her staff estimates the trust fund would take in about $100,000 per year under the proposed 10-year contract with Norman Bench Advertising of Canoga Park. When the planned contract expires, the city would have a pot of money to beautify its ad-splattered streets in any way it chose.

Paradoxical or prudent? Members of three council committees will have to decide.

“All of this money would be used for improving the look and the convenience of using our streetscape,” Miscikowski said in a statement. “I believe it may also encourage more people to use public transit if they can wait on comfortable bus benches free of advertising.”

A Slow Start

It’s show time for Ollie McCaulley.

The Republican former Marine from Sun Valley was due to hit the campaign warpath in earnest Thursday night at the Airtel Plaza in Van Nuys--the site of his first fund-raiser.

His staff was expecting a turnout on the order of 100 supporters for the $50-a-head affair, which was scheduled to feature Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) as keynote speaker.

Merely finding 100 Republicans in the 20th state Senate District would be something of an accomplishment--records show only 25% of its registered voters back the GOP.

But, facing long odds, McCaulley is seeking funds to put together a decent radio and television advertising campaign. His opponent in the race for the state Senate seat is City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who has enjoyed heavy financial support from state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles). (Polanco poured $181,500 into Alarcon’s campaign in the week before the primary election.)

In contrast, noted McCaulley Chief of Staff Nanci Huskey, “We’re starting off slow.”