All Signs Point to a Fine for Alarcon’s Campaign Organization

No one, but no one, is above the illegal sign code.

Not even state Senate candidate and City Councilman Richard Alarcon.

Not even the man whose primary election victory hangs on the votes of fewer people than it takes to fill an MTA bus.

Hence, Alarcon’s campaign organization is expected in coming days to be presented with a fine totaling several hundred dollars for illegal postings of campaign signs.

Alarcon’s youthful campaign staff did yeomen’s work in those last frantic days before the June 2 primary: Green “Alarcon” signs could be seen along boulevards all over the Valley Senate district. Alarcon declared victory this week by a hairsbreadth 31 votes.

But some locals were less than impressed by the signs. The polling places were still open when complaints began rolling in to city officials.

Posting signs on public property is illegal. Moreover, the City Council, including Alarcon, recently underscored that fact by approving additional funds for enforcement in this year’s budget.

So with the votes still being counted, inspectors hit the streets--and piles of confiscated Alarcon signs soon began turning up at their bureaus in the Valley.

Alarcon campaign finance director Annette Castro was asked about the signs. No, she hadn’t heard about it, she said, and she promised to make inquiries.

Castro said everyone working on the campaign had been given instructions only to post signs legally on private property, but “it’s a huge field operation,” she said, and mistakes could have been made.

Street maintenance chief James Washington said Alarcon had racked up an initial bill of $195.80 for the first two signs, but inspectors are waiting for all the signs to come in before tallying the fine.

As of Thursday, the case of the errant signs was “still under investigation,” public works officials said.

Gregory Scott, director of the bureau of street maintenance, said officials may also investigate other campaigns for illegal sign postings.

Fighting Words

It’s been nearly three weeks since the polls closed for the San Fernando Valley’s state Senate Democratic primary race, but the attacks and retaliations continue unabated.

Alarcon edged out former Assemblyman Richard Katz by 31 votes after a two-week tally of absentee and write-in ballots. Katz is considering a request for a recount.

Alarcon and Katz, however, are only indirectly involved in the latest skirmish.

In the eye of the storm is state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), who drew the fury of the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles for sending a mailer on Alarcon’s behalf that suggested Katz played a role in denying Latinos the right to vote during an 1988 election in Orange County.

The mailer tied Katz to Gov. Pete Wilson and a Republican Party leader who was accused of using poll guards to frighten immigrants away from voting sites.

Katz had no involvement in the alleged incident and in fact condemned the Republican candidate involved in the case.

Carmen Warschaw, chair of the Jewish Federation, and Michael Hirschfeld, the group’s executive director, wrote to Polanco last week, calling the mailer “racially divisive in its effort to pander to a particular community groups’ fear.”

This week, Polanco fired back. In a letter to the group, he said it was Katz who was guilty of sending offensive campaign literature.

In particular, Polanco complained about a Katz brochure that suggested Alarcon has dirty hands because he accepted a loan from the wife of a developer who received a zero-interest city loan.

“What does that imply to you?” Polanco said in the letter to the Jewish Federation. “Is Katz saying Latinos are dirty people?”

Polanco goes on to state: “I believe that in the context of Katz’s terribly negative campaign, such commentary is well within the lines of acceptable practices.”

But on Thursday, Hirschfeld said he was not swayed by Polanco’s response.

“There is a difference between hard-hitting campaign tactics and using untruths and race-bating,” Hirschfeld said. “The stuff we saw that we felt pandered to a community’s fear does not compare to the hard-hitting stuff that Katz’s campaign did.”

Team Effort

City Councilman Joel Wachs briefly found himself on the same team as Laker basketball star Shaquille O’Neal this week when both stepped forward to help out the Mid-Valley YMCA following a burglary.

Wachs offered $500 to help replace 22 computers stolen from the YMCA earlier this month--and sent out a press release announcing the fact. But Wachs’ move was quickly overshadowed by the towering form of O’Neal, who announced he would donate five new multimedia computers to replace those stolen.

The athlete and the politician, who is reported to be a football fan, were to meet face to face Thursday to see the computers delivered.

But alas, one Wachs’ aide said, “The Shaq” encountered scheduling difficulties and was not able to attend. Youthful Y members had to settle for the somewhat shorter Wachs, who stole the spotlight after all and saw the event through.

Insecurity

Anyone passing the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration on Thursday after lunch would have seen most of the building’s 2,700-member work force gathered outside the building’s four exits.

Just about everyone was shooed out by security guards and emergency team leaders in what appeared to have been a meticulously planned evacuation drill.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky was seen with his staff members in the plaza between the county building and the Superior Courts, and Supervisor Gloria Molina’s staff members had gathered along the Temple Street exit.

But somebody forgot to tell the people who run the parking garage. So in the middle of all this, a reporter who just wanted to see what would happen drove up to the parking entrance and was waved in by the cheerful guard.

The reporter drove gaily down to the basement parking area, where auto mechanics work on the county’s fleet of cars, oblivious to the big fire drill. It wasn’t until the reporter had wandered around in the basement, taken the (still operating) elevator up to the fourth floor and struck out into a wide hallway that a guard noticed her presence.

She was escorted outside amid much clucking, and the county’s security team held a big meeting about the whole thing. The upshot? Next year a guard will be posted at the parking entrance. And somebody will go down to rescue the mechanics too.