2 More Candidates Join Campaign to Unseat Alatorre

As City Councilman Richard Alatorre gears up for what could be his toughest election ever, the impending campaign took a bitter personal turn Monday, when two new challengers entered the fight against the embattled Eastside lawmaker.

Armando Hernandez, Alatorre’s top field deputy, quit Monday to run for the seat and Deputy Dist. Atty. Nick Pacheco also announced his candidacy; Pacheco has the backing of one of Alatorre’s most bitter political foes, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Hispanic Caucus in Congress.

Political consultants and others who are close to Alatorre say that they are already advising the powerful councilman to avoid a nasty reelection campaign by gracefully bowing out. Alatorre’s personal problems include recent allegations of cocaine abuse, as well as an ongoing federal corruption investigation.

“The bottom line is that he already showed in 1995 some very, very significant political weaknesses, and that was before any of his personal problems and before the [federal] investigation,” said Sergio Bendixen, a political analyst for the Spanish-language Telemundo Network, Channel 52. “That election showed he was already controversial, and that there were groups in his district that did not want him reelected.”

According to Hernandez, who worked for Alatorre for more than five years, the councilman’s personal problems have also had a detrimental impact on his district’s standing with city departments and agencies. Hernandez became the first among the councilman’s staff members to publicly criticize their boss.

“Before, you mentioned Richard’s name and everyone jumped,” said Hernandez, who served as Alatorre’s field deputy for El Sereno. “Now, we have to wait longer for very simple requests. Before, it was three or four hours and something was done. Now, it’s three or four days--if they return your phone calls. I don’t feel confident that I can respond to the community.”

But Alatorre’s aides say that the council office remains extremely responsive to the community and that the veteran lawmaker remains committed to serving his district.

“Despite all the issues, he has incredible support in the district,” said Alatorre’s deputy chief of staff, Luisa Acosta. “It’s phenomenal . . . . His heart is really in his district.”

Alatorre was reelected in 1995 with about 57% of the vote, but lost nearly all of the key community of El Sereno in the heart of his Eastside district.

Not surprisingly, then, each of the six challengers has strong connections to that area.

Hernandez and Pacheco join four challengers--Luis H. Cetina, Paul Melero, Alvin D. Parra and Juan Marcos Tirado--who have announced plans to run against Alatorre.

Pacheco, a Boyle Heights resident, who won a seat on the city’s elected charter reform commission, said he considered running for the seat in 1991, but is now convinced his time has come. He is backed not only by Becerra, but also by the influential congressman’s chief of staff, Henry Lozano, who is fighting Alatorre and his wife for guardianship of his niece, whose late mother was Angie Alatorre’s sister.

“Have you been to the district?” Pacheco said. “It’s pretty run-down. There’s been a lack of focus. For whatever reasons, that’s the councilman. . . . He’s going to end up a day late and a dollar short.”

Another more well-known possible candidate is Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles). His office confirmed Monday that he is strongly considering running.

“None of the people now on the list are what you would call political heavyweights,” said Bendixen, the political analyst. “But if he does get a candidate backed by the [Supervisor Gloria] Molina organization or someone with a track record with labor, like Cedillo, I think Alatorre would be the underdog.”

While Alatorre tells his staff and constituents that he is running, some of his closest associates say that they are urging him to avoid a tough, personal reelection campaign.

After spending the summer locked in a grueling guardianship case, Alatorre was stripped of his custody of his 10-year-old niece; an action that his closest friends say has deeply hurt him. It was during that case that the judge ordered a surprise drug test, which found that Alatorre had recently used cocaine. He has had other physical problems as well, including two recent abdominal surgeries.

Alatorre is undergoing drug rehabilitation, sources say.

“I have a feeling that if there were a strong candidate, like Cedillo, that [Alatorre] would probably do what all the people who respect him think he should do, which is leave on a positive note and not as a loser,” Bendixen said.

Alatorre’s aides say that their boss is running but that concerns about his health and his niece are the only reasons he would ever consider bowing out.

By remaining unwavering about his reelection, however, several political consultants say Alatorre is taking exactly the right course.

“If I was Richard Alatorre, I’d be raising money and making every indication that I was running,” said Rick Taylor, a political consultant who has managed many local campaigns. “I think it’s a better poker hand. If you are trying to work out some legal issues . . . with whatever judge or law enforcement agency, you want to show that you are still in the fight and that you are running a strong reelection.”

With Alatorre in the race, some political consultants say, the campaign will be nasty, with strong, personal attacks against the councilman.

Parra, who says he was outspent 10 to 1 by Alatorre in the 1995 election but who nonetheless managed to secure more than 40% of the vote, says his message will be the same this year as it was then.

“He’s not paying attention to the district,” Parra said. “He’s had some serious personal problems that have affected him. His focus in government isn’t about empowering the community. His focus in government has been about cutting the deals and you need that sometimes. But currently . . . you need someone to pay more attention to the community.”