Alatorre Declined to Take Second Drug Test, Judge Says

Los Angeles Councilman Richard Alatorre, who is challenging the validity of a court-ordered test showing that he used cocaine, declined an opportunity to undergo a second test at another facility on the same day the surprise screening was administered, according to the judge and attorneys.

The test came two weeks ago during a session in chambers in a guardianship case to determine whether the lawmaker and his wife, Angie, could retain custody of their 10-year-old niece. The councilman testified under oath and had said publicly that he had not used cocaine in about nine years.

In a sharply worded decision released Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Henry W. Shatford stripped the councilman of his guardianship role, saying that “Alatorre’s credibility has been totally shredded” regarding his denials of recent cocaine use.

The accuracy of the test has become a central issue as Alatorre responds to a disclosure that could threaten his quarter-century career in elected office. The councilman has not specifically denied using cocaine in recent weeks, but he has raised questions about whether the firm is qualified to conduct drug testing.

Meanwhile, at City Hall on Thursday, reaction to the court disclosures remained muted. Political analysts said that while the latest developments weaken the councilman, it is too early to write his political obituary.

Previously sealed court transcripts and a statement by Judge Shatford on Thursday show that Alatorre and his attorney, Neil Papiano, were offered the option of having a separate test at a Pasadena laboratory, in addition to the on-site screening by a firm recommended by lawyers for the girl’s father, Henry Lozano. But Papiano turned down the offer, according to the judge and attorneys for Lozano.

“It is clear that Papiano did not accept the court’s invitation to have a second test made by the Pasadena lab,” Shatford said in a statement.

Papiano did not return phone calls Thursday from reporters seeking comment on the judge’s statement.

However, in an interview Wednesday, Papiano said he went along with the single test because “it was too late in the day to go out to Pasadena.”

Give and Take in Bitter Hearing

The documents capture the give and take between the sides on what was clearly a major juncture in the bitter guardianship hearing. Papiano initially objected to the surprise test using the firm recommended by Lozano’s attorneys. Papiano, saying that he was not familiar with criminal law, also was concerned about the legal implications of the unannounced test.

The judge warned that he would strip Alatorre of his guardianship if the councilman did not submit to testing, the transcripts show.

Papiano then said he would advise the councilman to take the test, but wondered whether “somewhere along the line someone doesn’t say, ‘What in the hell were you doing, Papiano,’ ” according to the transcripts.

At one point he said he wanted to contact Alatorre’s criminal defense lawyer, who is representing him in a wide-ranging federal corruption investigation. But Papiano said in an interview that he did not talk to Alatorre’s other attorneys.

The transcripts show that lawyers for both sides agreed to have Alatorre take two separate drug tests and that Shatford even offered to accompany the councilman to the Pasadena site.

“What I want to do,” the judge told Papiano at one point, “I want to have [both labs do the test]. And then we will be on sound footing. [If Alatorre] is telling us the truth, he will be home free.”

A copy of the drug test results released by the court show that the councilman tested positive for cocaine but was negative for other drugs and alcohol. The test detects cocaine use within the previous 72 hours.

Asked in an interview if Alatorre was denying recent cocaine use, Papiano did not respond directly. He said his primary role was to safeguard the best interests of the girl and “not defend Richard Alatorre, per se.”

Although the councilman’s top aide has said her boss is challenging the validity of the test, Papiano was more measured in his response.

He has filed a motion seeking a formal review of the methodology and results of the screening by the Orange County-based Scientific America firm. The motion, set for a Nov. 2 court hearing, is “what you normally do to determine whether it was properly done,” Papiano said.

Papiano said he understood that the test was performed in a “one-room apartment.”

Scientific America owner Antony Scamardo acknowledged that he conducted the test at his home, but said he uses standard procedures and equipment employed by other companies that offer on-site drug testing. He said his firm has done many court-ordered drug tests in child custody cases.

“In hundreds of confirmations we have had to do in four years, there has never been a discrepancy in our [test results] and another lab’s test of that same sample,” he said. “The test we did was confirmed by two different methods.”

Scamardo said Alatorre’s urine sample has been preserved to allow his attorneys to have it cross-checked by a lab of their choice. “There will be another test,” he said, “and it will be confirmed.”

At City Hall on Thursday, officials were unavailable or declined to comment on the court’s disclosures. The council has been in recess most of the week, partly for the Jewish holidays.

Alatorre is scheduled to undergo surgery today to repair problems from a previous operation for a torn diaphragm, according to his wife.

Mayor Richard Riordan, a longtime Alatorre ally, issued a statement saying that the councilman and his wife are in “the midst of tremendous pain and suffering” as a result of Shatford’s decision.

He added that it would be “improper and premature for me to cast judgment on Richard” while the case is still before the court.

Some political analysts said that it was still too early to sort out the long-term impact of recent events.

A key issue is whether the drug test holds up, said Steve Afriat, a longtime City Hall political consultant. If it does, he said, Alatorre will have to prove that he is “clean and sober and otherwise delivering for his district. Constituents can overlook what they perceive as a political shortcoming. Just look at the polls on [President] Clinton.”

‘He’s Become an Easy Target’

But others said the growing problems only add to the lawmaker’s struggles. In addition to the embarrassing court disclosures, Alatorre is under the cloud of the federal corruption investigation examining his personal finances and dealings with special interests. The councilman has said that he has done nothing wrong.

“He has become an easy target,” said Sergio Bendixen, a Los Angeles-based political analyst for the Spanish-language Telemundo Network. “It is obviously going to be difficult to win reelection.”

Alatorre was caught off guard in his last election campaign in 1995. A little-known challenger, Alvin Parra, captured more than 40% of the vote despite being heavily outspent by the veteran Eastside lawmaker.

Alatorre lost nearly all the community of El Sereno in the heart of his district, despite paying special attention to the area and establishing a youth center there two years before the election.

With Alatorre gearing up for perhaps the toughest race of his career, “nothing that’s coming out of this helps him,” said Loyola Marymount political analyst Fernando Guerra, who has advised the councilman’s campaigns.

But Alatorre’s “ability to get himself in trouble is only surpassed by his ability to get himself out of trouble,” Guerra said. “I would never count Richard Alatorre out.”

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The Test Results

Report of results from surprise court-ordered drug test on Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre showing positive for cocaine. The lawmaker has questioned the qualifications of the testing firm.