Council Race Illustrates Latino Political Vibrancy

Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and state Sen. Richard Polanco will become the latest marquee political names to declare their loyalties in the fiercely contested race for the Eastside’s 14th City Council District seat today, when they formally endorse Victor Griego.

The speaker and the influential senator will join Assemblywoman Gloria Romero and City Councilman Mike Hernandez as Griego backers.

Luis Cetina, a Metropolitan Water District engineer and political unknown who this week won the key support of the Service Employees International Union, has the backing of the still powerful outgoing incumbent, Richard Alatorre, as well as Assemblyman Tony Cardenas and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Al Checchi. Nick Pacheco, a deputy district attorney and former elected charter reform commissioner, is backed by Rep. Xavier Becerra and Mayor Richard Riordan.

To outsiders, all this may look something like an intramural brawl, but to close analysts of Latinos’ increasingly assertive role in state and local politics, the fight in the 14th is a kind of coming-out party.

“You really are looking at a very healthy sign for the Latino community in Southern California,” said Harry Pachon of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, a think tank based at Claremont Graduate University. “The fact that there are so many candidates and that each of them has some respectable allies that they don’t share shows the development of the Latino community in Southern California over the last 20 years. The crown isn’t going to be passed peacefully. It’s going to be an open season of succession.”

Other analysts say the crowded field is another sign that maturing Latino politics will be shaped by the realities and rules by which other elected officials already play: ambition, economic interests and constituencies’ local preoccupations, to name a few.

Such crowded ballots and divided endorsements also are a result of voter-approved term limits, in which lawmakers have a finite amount of time to win election, make their mark and move on to their next elected position.

“These are the unintended consequences of term limits where, within party politics, the strategic alliances have completely changed,” said Fabian Nunez, the political director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which counts 14,000 union members as registered voters in the 14th District. “There’s been a realignment of political alliances. You get factionalism.”

“We’re the new era of Latino politics,” said Pacheco. “This is a sign of the Latino community taking ownership of the civic roles that are out there.’

With 13 candidates and one write-in contender, the pressure is on to win endorsements that will lead to campaign contributions.

Candidates are making their way through various forums, some designed to win endorsements, others to win voters. Sylvia Robledo says she has a network of mostly women who are pounding the pavement, helping to raise money and secure endorsements and votes.

“My voicemail is full of people looking for money,” said one top City Hall lobbyist, who declined to be identified.

With most fund-raising events about to swing into gear before the April 13 primary election, many consultants say they are beginning to see signs that key elected officials could boost a candidacy.

Handwritten on a remittance envelope for Cetina, a note to more than a few political consultants said: “Please help out our friend.” It was signed: Richard Alatorre.

The mayor will host a fund-raiser for Pacheco next week at the posh City Club downtown. Other candidates say they are hosting smaller, more community-oriented events.

As the elected officials are split over the candidates, so are the so-called special interests, which do not appear to be especially interested. Yet.

Several lawyers and lobbyists whose names frequently appear on campaign contribution forms of successful council candidates are spreading their money around, making contributions to several different candidates, careful not to make alliances too soon.

Carol Schatz, president of the powerful Central Cities Assn., said her downtown business group decided not to make an endorsement after interviews with about half a dozen of the hopefuls. She said the race is wide open and her group probably will select a candidate after the primary, which probably will produce a runoff.

Even organized labor, which will play a significant role in the election, is fragmented, with some unions, such as the Service Employees International Union, backing Cetina, while others support Griego. Some have gone with Juan Jose Guttierez and Alvin Parra.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor plans to make an endorsement after the primary.

Several candidates say they view the endorsement process with a skeptical eye. Cathy Molina, for example, has said she prefers a more grass-roots effort.

The other candidates in the race are James Beckham, Yolanda Gonzales, Armando L. Hernandez, Juan Jimenez, Ramiro Moseley, Ezequiel Quezada and Juan Tirado.