LAPD Rank and File’s Stamp of Approval for Katz Doesn’t Stick

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon got a boost in his bid to be the next state senator from the San Fernando Valley when he was endorsed last week by the union that represents the LAPD’s 10,000 rank and file members.

But you would have thought the union had already endorsed someone else by reading a letter that the head of the union wrote to The Times last year.

In a May 19, 1997, letter, Police Protective League President Dave Hepburn spoke in glowing terms about former Assemblyman Richard Katz, who had announced he was considering a run at the job.

The letter, co-signed by Pete Brodie, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, called Katz a “refreshingly straight-talking no-nonsense legislator.”

The letter goes on to say: “Hundreds of candidates seek the support of our organizations. For the first time ever, we’re recruiting one, Richard Katz for state Senate.”

What a difference nine months make. Last week, Hepburn issued a statement, saying the union had endorsed Alarcon because he has shown “an unwavering commitment to public safety.”

Katz and Alarcon, both Democrats, are considered the leading candidates to replace state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles), who is being forced out by term limits.

On Thursday, Hepburn explained the union’s apparent change of heart by saying he didn’t know Alarcon was interested in the state Senate seat when he wrote the letter about Katz. Once Alarcon entered the race, Hepburn said, the union compared the two candidates and decided to support Alarcon over Katz.

“We were in a dilemma because both have been friends of the Police Protective League,” he said.

But Katz’s campaign staff contradict Hepburn’s recollection of the events. Howard Gantman, a spokesman for Katz’s campaign, said both Katz and Alarcon were quoted in local newspaper articles expressing interest in the post a week before Hepburn’s letter was written.

Gantman suggested the union’s decision to support Alarcon has more to do with the fact that Alarcon is a council member who votes on key police contracts.

Housing Matters

Republican state Senate candidate Ollie McCaulley probably won’t be winning the endorsement of tenants rights advocates as he battles for the Rosenthal seat.

McCaulley has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against a Sylmar-based landlord for whom McCaulley works.

According to Larry Gross, who heads the Coalition for Economic Survival, McCaulley was involved when an organizer was thrown out of the L.A. Gardens apartment complex in Los Angeles and arrested for trespassing.

According to the lawsuit, the tenant had been the personal guest of a resident of the federally subsidized apartment complex, and was inside an apartment when police, summoned by representatives of the owner, arrested her.

A judge threw out the arrest, but the company that owns the building sued the activist group, saying that they had damaged business.

Aided by the ACLU, Gross’ group and several other organizations counter-sued, naming company president Frank De Santis and McCaulley, along with other employees, as cross-defendants.

McCaulley, who serves as governmental relations director for the Community Partnership Development Corp., which owns the building, said he was named in the suit simply because he was an employee of the company. He would not discuss the case or the allegations by Gross, saying he had been advised to keep mum by the nonprofit firm’s attorneys.

Campaign Gimmicks

Two years ago when Democrat Brad Sherman was running for the 24th District congressional seat, his gimmick was to pass out combs with his name emblazoned on the side. The joke was that Sherman, a bald, bespectacled CPA, had little use for the combs except to promote himself in the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Anthony Beilenson.

Sherman is now running for reelection and he is still handing out combs.

His challenger Republican Thousand Oaks businessman Randy Hoffman has his own gimmick: Hoffman issues newsletters to supporters on letterhead that reads “Randy Gram.”

The latest “Randy Gram” announced that Hoffman had won the endorsement of several prominent Republicans, including Rep. Elton Gallegly, State Treasurer Matt Fong, former Assemblywoman Paula Boland and former state Sen. Ed Davis.

Sherman can’t put that kind of information on a comb.

Investing in the Future

Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) introduced legislation that would raise the annual limit on contributions to individual retirement accounts from $2,000 to $5,000.

If passed, the Small Savers Retirement Enhancement Act, introduced to the House of Representatives earlier this month, would affect all types of IRA plans, said Laura Woolfrey, a spokeswoman for Gallegly.

In a statement, Gallegly said the bill would help provide Americans with “a more comfortable future.

“It is important to allow Americans who are planning ahead for a secure retirement to save more with a significant tax advantage,” Gallegly’s statement said. “As many of us look toward our retirement, we are increasingly aware of the importance of saving money.”

Different types of IRAs give investors a tax advantage either by allowing them to deduct contributions or to put after-tax dollars into the IRA and, at withdrawal, to pay no taxes on the accrued income.

Raising the cap on contributions to these plans would, “enable individuals to put aside greater amounts and multiply the tax benefits that already exist,” said Andrew Pike, an expert on tax law at the American University and a former U.S. Treasury Department analyst.

Pike said such proposals came before Congress in the past, with detractors arguing that any increase in IRA contribution caps aids wealthier investors but does nothing for poorer Americans unable to afford the accounts.

The $2,000 annual limit on IRA contributions has not increased since 1981. Out of 116 million income tax statements sent to the Internal Revenue Service in 1994, 4.3 million claimed an IRA deduction, according to IRS publications.

“It’s unreasonable to suggest that just because you have a little extra money to put away toward retirement that means you’re wealthy,” Woolfrey said. “Just because you have investments does not mean you are wealthy.”

In Trouble

A one-time Republican candidate is facing felony charges of pimping and pandering for allegedly running an illegal escort service from his legal modeling agency. Richard Poirier, who lost a 1996 bid to be the Republican nominee to challenge Rep. Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills), is accused of prostituting at least two of his former models and interviewing an undercover LAPD detective for a job as a prostitute with his escort service.

One of the women worked for Poirier for years as a model. When modeling work began to dry up, Poirier allegedly had her cross over to his escort business in about October 1996, according to court documents. Poirier gave her a detailed questionnaire about her sexual experience and types of sex acts she would perform, then sent her out about twice a week to meet men in hotels, one LAPD detective said in a preliminary hearing in Van Nuys Municipal Court earlier this month.

Poirier charged $300 to $500 for the services, authorities said, and split the money with the women. He also made them tell him what they did with each client, so he could put together profiles, authorities said. He was arrested in August and was later freed on $100,000 bail. His trial is set for April.

Staff writer Tom Schultz contributed to this story.