Acting Mayor Breaks Up Monotony of Quiet Week at City Hall

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s European vacation is drawing to a close, bringing to an end the short but auspicious mayoral reign of City Councilman Joel Wachs.

City Council President John Ferraro normally fills in when Riordan is away. But since he too was gone during the late summer council break, the mantle of “acting mayor” fell to Wachs.

It was not an opportunity Wachs was likely to let slip by.

During one of the slowest weeks of the year at City Hall, when most council members were vacationing or just dropping by City Hall now and then, Wachs showed up early every day, his car alone among empty parking spaces in the garage.

Throughout the week, Wachs’ staff members were kept busy with press conferences and press releases that opened with such memorable phases as “Acting Mayor Joel Wachs gave his approval today to several important matters . . . “

But it was when the temperature began to climb that Acting Mayor Wachs shifted into high gear. He issued a bevy of weather-related releases--including one exhorting residents to avoid heavy meals--and held back-to-back press conferences on consecutive days concerning the heat wave.

The press conferences--bearing the distinguished seal of “acting mayor” and breaking the monotony of an otherwise quiet week at City Hall--got plenty of attention from the camera crews.

Passing the Hat

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) has asked the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to help fund a proposed study of San Fernando Valley secession from Los Angeles.

At a campaign event Thursday, Sherman said he began “exploring” federal funding after Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a state budget provision that would have provided $340,000 for a study.

“This is just an idea we’re working on. We cannot promise what we are going to be able to do,” Sherman said. “Wilson’s veto caught everyone by surprise. It was wrong.”

Sherman also was quick to mention that Wilson has endorsed his Republican challenger, Thousand Oaks businessman Randy Hoffman.

The study, estimated to cost about $1 million, would be conducted by the Local Agency Formation Commission if proponents of the secession study collect petition signatures from 25% of the registered voters in the Valley. Valley VOTE, the group of activists leading the petition drive, has until late November to gather the 135,000 signatures.

State lawmakers had set aside $340,000 for the study, contingent on the city and Los Angeles County pitching in $330,000 apiece. Wilson said he supports the quest for self-determination in the Valley, but vetoed the funding because it was not a part of the compromise budget deal reached with legislative leaders.

Sherman said he fears Valley VOTE may be forced to pay a portion of the study costs. Sherman said that would be improper.

“We’re pleased with Brad Sherman’s efforts,” Valley VOTE President Jeff Brain said. “If 25% of the registered voters sign a petition for a redress of grievances with the government, as the Constitution allows, than it is a function of government to provide that study.”

Despite his help on the financial end, Sherman has yet to sign the Valley VOTE petition. The congressman said he supports a study of secession, but fears his signature might be seen as an endorsement of splitting the Valley from Los Angeles.

“I want to see the study before I decide,” Sherman said.

Still, Sherman said he still may sign the Valley VOTE petition in the near future.

As of Sunday, Valley VOTE had collected 150,000 signatures, short of the group’s goal of 180,000, Brain said. The additional signatures would ensure a successful petition drive even if some of the people who signed are ineligible, either because they were not registered voters or not Valley residents, Brain said.

Sherman has asked HUD officials to consider a possible grant or dip into available funding, since there is little time left in the current congressional session to appropriate federal money for the secession study. HUD officials could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

Collection Agency

Mike Wali of Van Nuys saw the ad in the newspaper last month promising he could earn $75 to $100 a day collecting petition signatures--so he jumped at the chance.

Wali was about to head back to school at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, and needed money for books.

The job was with Progressive Campaigns of Santa Monica, the firm hired by Valley VOTE to collect signatures for a study and possible vote on the secession of the San Fernando Valley from Los Angeles.

After working 10-hour days in the blistering Valley sun for just over two weeks, Wali said he earned a whopping $104.

“It was a total rip-off,” said Wali, a 20-year-old philosophy major.

And Wali wasn’t the only person working for Progressive who felt that way.

George Dunlop of Northridge said he received $6.60 for 36 hours of work collecting signatures for the Valley VOTE petition.

“I figured I got paid 20 cents an hour,” said Dunlop, 50, a student at Pierce College, where Progressive posted the job.

Wali and Dunlop claim they were misled by Progressive managers, who promised they would earn $1 for every signature they collected.

Both also said they and all other petitioners were promised $1.50 for every Republican they registered to vote. They received nothing for Democrats.

Wali and Dunlop acknowledged Progressive hired them as “independent contractors,” and signed a contract stipulating they would only receive the $1 per signature rate if they collected 200 signatures from registered voters in the Valley who had not already signed. Otherwise, they would collect a dime to a quarter per signature.

“The contract also says we can chose our own hours and work where we wanted to, but it was exactly the opposite,” Dunlop said. “The told us where to go and what hours to work.”

Angelo Paparella, owner of Progressive Campaigns, said the allegations were untrue. He said signature-gatherers had the freedom to go any place they wanted and work any hours they wanted. All of the workers hired also are told the terms of their contracts, including the pay scale and quota, from the outset.

Wali and Dunlop aren’t the only ones who allege Progressive Campaigns short-changes its employees. Three employees of the Santa Monica firm have filed a claim with the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement demanding wages from May, June and August that they allege were never paid. The complaint has no connection to the Valley VOTE campaign.

The workers are seeking a total of $2,084 for signatures the trio said they collected in and around Santa Monica, according to a division spokesman. A date to hear their claim has not yet been set. Valley VOTE President Jeff Brain said Valley VOTE “has nothing to do with” any effort to register Republicans to vote, and stressed the group is nonpartisan. The voter-registration drive was part of a separate contract with the petitioning firm, Brain said.

Brain added that the complaints from Wali and Dunlop are an internal matter between Progressive and its workers.

“If someone who works with my printer has a dispute over payroll with their boss, there is little I can do about it,” Brain said.

The tab for hiring the professional signature-gatherers costs Valley VOTE $1.25 to $3 per signature.

Valley VOTE needs to gather signatures from 25% of the registered voters in the Valley to prompt the secession study and a possible citywide ballot initiative on the issue. The group is using its volunteers and paid signature-gatherers to collect the 135,000 signatures required by the Nov. 27 deadline.

Two for the Books

Not one, but two campaign committees have been formed to support the city of Los Angeles’ proposed $178.3-million bond issue for 32 library projects to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.

At the behest of Mayor Richard Riordan, a group called “Yes on DD” has formed with an initial $250,000 contribution from the city library’s foundation.

A second committee was launched by City Councilwoman Laura Chick, who has promised to commit up to $50,000 from her office-holder account to a campaign that aims to spend $150,000 in support of the measure.

“I don’t think either of us knew another committee was forming,” said Steve Afriat, a political consultant heading Chick’s committee. “We both thought of a good idea at the same time.”

City Librarian Susan Kent said the dual effort is a welcome twist. Chick “will be tremendously helpful in the Valley as well as citywide,” she said.

Afriat said the bond may face an “uphill battle” because of public concern over the spending of Proposition BB funds, an earlier schools measure. But in the end, he said, “I think the public will see [the measure] helps communities, helps property values.”

Afriat said the committees will work together to avoid duplicating efforts and predicted his committee will focus on direct mail, while the larger group targets electronic media.