Katz Seeks Recount, Files Suit

Richard Katz, who narrowly lost the race for the Democratic nomination for the 20th District state Senate seat, asked for a vote recount Monday and filed a lawsuit challenging the results of the June 2 primary election.

“I am looking to find 30 ballots,” Katz said, referring to the 29-vote margin in the official count. “Ballots that may not have been counted or shouldn’t have been counted. Mistakes are common.”

The move prompted a swift response from the declared winner, City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who warned in a news conference that what has already devolved into an ugly confrontation with Katz would grow even uglier--especially if Katz uses the lawsuit as a basis to probe voters’ citizenship status.

“This is the campaign that doesn’t want to die,” Alarcon said. “Richard Katz is just refusing to accept this loss.”

More than 94,000 people cast ballots in the election to pick a Democratic candidate to run for the 20th District seat in November.

“After talking to friends, supporters, colleagues,” Katz said, he had concluded it just “makes good sense to recount every ballot.”

Katz said he had already raised more than $40,000 from friends and supporters to pay for the first phases of the vote recount. He said he anticipates being able to raise another $40,000 to $50,000 to carry forward his challenge.

State Senate President Pro Tem John Burton earlier offered to help pay for the recount but rescinded the offer when Katz declined to accept Alarcon’s apology in a dispute over a pro-Alarcon mailer.

Katz accused Alarcon of falsely linking him to intimidation of Latino voters in a pamphlet put out by state Sen. Richard Polanco, head of the Latino Caucus. Alarcon apologized without accepting responsibility. Katz declined to accept.

On Monday, there was little sign that the bad feelings had abated.

Katz’s lawsuit cites the Polanco mailer as grounds to contest the election results. “The Polanco letter in terms of lies and deceit went further than anything I’ve ever seen in politics,” Katz said.

In turn, Alarcon attacked the Katz “dirty hands” mailer that depicted muddy palms and linked Alarcon to City Councilman Richard Alatorre, who is being investigated for his relationships with developers.

“If this isn’t dirty campaigning, I don’t know what is,” Alarcon said.

State law permits election challenges based on fraud, mistakes in counting or ineligibility of the candidate to hold office.

Alarcon attorney Fred Woocher dismissed Katz’s allegation that the Polanco letter improperly influenced the election.

“That’s absurd,” he said. “You can’t even file a civil lawsuit based on that.”

Katz said his lawyers will use the legal process to delve further into the election. For example, he said, his volunteers identified 51 empty provisional ballot envelopes that were submitted with ballots.

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Provisional ballots--filled out by people who also have filed for absentee ballots or who are new voters not listed on the precinct registry--are supposed to be validated before they are counted with other votes, to eliminate the possibility of fraud, he said. Through the lawsuit, Katz’s lawyers seek to double-check these votes to make sure they were valid.

Katz further suggested that former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso monitor or oversee this discovery process. Alarcon responded that he welcomes Reynoso’s involvement but called Katz’s move “a public relations ploy.”

Los Angeles County Registrar/Recorder Conny McCormack said it is not unusual for such lawsuits to follow recounts. However, because time is of the essence when a primary election is challenged, the recount and Katz’s lawsuit are being allowed to proceed almost simultaneously.

The recount will be performed by hand by teams of county workers at a cost to Katz of about $4,500 to $7,000 per day, McCormack said. Katz can ask that the process be stopped at any time, she said. Katz said the process is expected to take about two weeks.

The San Fernando Valley chapter of the Mexican American Political Assn. sent out a news release Monday calling for the Democratic Party and various California Democrats, including gubernatorial candidate Gray Davis, to denounce Katz’s tactics, demand he drop the lawsuit and require him to apologize for his “inflammatory tactics.”