Secession Group to Grade Candidates in Mayor’s Race

Leaders of the San Fernando Valley secession movement proposed a litmus test Monday to pin down mayoral candidates on the politically charged issue of breaking apart Los Angeles.

The move was the first foray into the mayoral race by the Valley VOTE secession group. It came 10 days after a union of city workers induced at least one mayoral contender to sign a pledge to fight any efforts to split up the city.

At a meeting Monday night at Galpin Ford, the board of Valley VOTE agreed to put its own questionnaire to the mayoral candidates and issue a report card for each one. The main question will be whether a plan for municipal divorce should be put before voters, said Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE.

“We want to educate the public about which candidates want to prevent the public from voting on cityhood and which candidates want to facilitate a vote on the issues,” said Close.

The Valley makes up about 35% of the population of Los Angeles, but dedicated voters there exercise influence far beyond those numbers. More than one-fourth of all registered Valley voters signed petitions urging that secession be studied.

The ultimate decision on whether the Valley secedes from Los Angeles is largely out of the mayor’s control. But the mayor does have the power to slow down the work needed to get a secession proposal on the ballot by November 2002.

Secession can be put before voters only if a state commission studying the issue finds that it would not harm city residents on either side of the Santa Monica Mountains. The panel conducting the study, the Local Agency Formation Commission, is relying on cooperation from the mayor to get vast reams of data that it needs to finish the study.

“Dragging your heels and making it difficult has the effect of preventing it from getting on the ballot,” Close said.

Activists have not yet drafted specific language for the questionnaire. As a result, none of the mayoral contenders has agreed to sign anything.

But several said they back the principle of putting secession on the ballot.

“I don’t think I have a right to oppose that,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles). “This is a democracy.”

Another mayoral contender, City Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents the East Valley, said, “I support the right of voters to decide for themselves.”

Real estate executive Steve Soboroff said, “I’m not for splitting the city up, but I’m also not for fighting a process that makes the city a better place.”

A spokesman for City Atty. James Hahn, another mayoral candidate, had no comment.

The fifth contender, former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, said he too supports putting secession on the ballot. But he said he won’t sign any Valley VOTE pledge.

“The problem with pledges is they’re slippery slopes,” he said. “Everybody’s going to have a pledge now.”

It was Local 347 of the Service Employees International Union that triggered Valley VOTE’s move by asking mayoral candidates to sign a pledge to “fight efforts to divide the city.” Valley VOTE said candidates who signed it had sold out Valley residents to win the union’s campaign support.

“It’s abominable that the people that seek to be the mayor of L.A. take such a closed-minded attitude,” board member William Powers said.

According to the union, Hahn, Becerra and Villaraigosa signed the pledge. But Becerra denied he signed it, and Villaraigosa, who opposes secession, said an aide signed it without asking him first. Wachs and Soboroff refused to sign.

Close said the city employees union “tried to preempt this issue and to get them on record before many of them have gone through the issue in any detail.”

Close said he would also urge Valley VOTE’s board to seek commitments from the mayoral candidates to oppose any new outside supervision of the Los Angeles Police Department. The U.S. Justice Department has threatened to sue the city if it does not agree to sweeping reforms of the LAPD, which it accuses of excessive force, false arrests and unreasonable searches and seizures.

Last year, Valley VOTE issued report cards on candidates for the City Council seat won by Alex Padilla. Padilla got a “C” after declining to state on Valley VOTE’s questionnaire whether he backed secession before the state study is finished. The two candidates who got an “A” said they would support Valley cityhood as long as it doesn’t harm any city residents or require higher taxes.