Padilla Not Following Mayor’s Lead in Races

City Councilman Alex Padilla has amazed observers these days by showing more and more political independence from Mayor Richard Riordan, whose endorsement helped Padilla win election in 1999.

The political differences emerge dramatically for the April 10 election: In key races, Padilla is backing candidates taking on Riordan-supported contenders.

Because he is unopposed in his own race, Padilla said he will spend time campaigning for James K. Hahn for mayor, Laura Chick of Tarzana for city controller and Julie Korenstein of Tarzana for the school board.

Riordan supports businessman Steve Soboroff for mayor, recruited businesswoman Laurette Healey to run against Chick and is backing Tom Riley’s bid to unseat incumbent Korenstein for the west San Fernando Valley school board seat.

“The mayor and I have worked well together, but sometimes we agree to disagree,” said Padilla, who turns 28 next month.

Others see Padilla’s split from Riordan on key races as a sign the freshman councilman is maturing politically and coming into his own as a power in the city.

“Alex is a very unique young man,” said Korenstein, a veteran Valley pol who is grateful for the councilman’s support in the face of a challenge by Riordan’s candidate.

“He is asserting his independence more and more and I am very proud of him,” Korenstein said.

Padilla’s backing of contenders over the mayor’s candidates has not gone unnoticed on the eighth floor of City Hall, where Riordan has his office.

“The mayor is disappointed that someone as sensible as Councilman Padilla would not support Mr. Riley, who is clearly the better candidate,” said Peter Hidalgo, a Riordan spokesman. Hidalgo, however, said Riordan still hopes to work with Padilla during the five months left in the mayor’s term.

“It’s obvious Mr. Padilla is an independent thinker and the mayor appreciates that,” Hidalgo said.

Padilla also plans to take advantage of his free ride on April 10 by shoring up support in his own district. Even though he does not face a challenger, he isn’t canceling any campaign fund-raisers.

Padilla said the $80,000 his reelection campaign has raised to date, and the money he will raise later, will allow him to send mailers to constituents to educate them on issues he believes are important, and in an atmosphere that is not as heated as a contested campaign.

“It’s a little easier when there is no opponent,” Padilla said.

FRESHMAN OF DISTINCTION: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) has won a highly coveted appointment to the House Judiciary Committee from the Democratic Caucus Steering Committee, making him the panel’s only freshman Democratic member.

“I intend to focus my efforts on key issues such as protecting our citizens against crime and gun violence,” Schiff said.

In addition to serving as a federal prosecutor before entering politics, Schiff chaired the state Senate Judiciary Committee before his election to Congress in November.

TALKING TRASH: Slamming the Sunshine Canyon Landfill is a sure-fire way to win the affection of Valley voters, or so some of the leading contenders for mayor seem to think.

Secession is a political hot potato, stuffed with complex calculations over how best to avert a breakup without alienating Valleyites who crave independence. But the much-reviled landfill? Close the darn thing down!

City Atty. James K. Hahn has led the charge of late, crusading against environmental missteps at the landfill throughout the winter (and chronicling each step with a flurry of press releases). This week, Hahn said the City Council’s 1999 decision allowing the landfill’s expansion back into the city was misguided, intended to save money by burying garbage locally rather than shipping it to a faraway dump.

Asked whether he would commit to closing Sunshine Canyon, Hahn said, “That would be my objective--to seek to close all landfills within the city limits of Los Angeles.”

Councilman Joel Wachs, another mayoral contender, has also pledged to try to close the unpopular dump, situated beside a residential neighborhood in Granada Hills. The landfill stretches across the city’s northwest boundary into unincorporated Los Angeles County, with only the county portion operating in recent years. The dump had operated on the city side until 1991.

“As mayor, I would do everything in my power to get the City Council to reverse its decision to reopen the city’s portion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill,” Wachs vowed through a spokesman. “And I would work with the new district attorney to close the county side.”

But closing the landfill may be a tough campaign promise to keep. Any attempt could invite a multimillion-dollar lawsuit from dump operator Browning-Ferris Industries, which once sued the city for $400 million over a ban on garbage trucks on a landfill access road.

“It would be very difficult because of the entitlements the City Council has already granted,” said Deputy City Atty. Keith Pritsker, who has handled landfill issues since the 1980s. He estimated that compensating BFI for lost revenue could cost $500 million.

“It would be more realistic to expect that the landfill could be operated with minimal disturbance to local residents,” Pritsker said.

But such doses of legal realism do little to cure close-the-dump fever. As former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, who helped launch a state audit into the landfill last year, put it: “Better a lawsuit from BFI than to expose the residents who live [near Sunshine Canyon] to the gas emissions and potential contamination.”

Or as state Controller Kathleen Connell, the latest major candidate to join the mayoral fray, declared: “I certainly hope to close it down as one of my first actions as mayor.” She acknowledged such a move could trigger a legal battle, but asserted “the new mayor has to come in and set a course for reform.”

“It’s just unnecessary and unthinkable to jeopardize children and families by opening or expanding the landfill,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), another candidate, speaking through his campaign manager. He too “absolutely” would seek to close the dump and send the city’s trash to a distant landfill if elected mayor.

Of the six main contenders in the 24-way race, only businessman Steve Soboroff (or at least his campaign consultant) hesitated when it came to dumping on the dump.

“I don’t know if there’s the power to shut it down, is there?” consultant Ace Smith said. “Obviously, if he could find something in his power to do that, he would.”

All the landfill bashing by such high-powered pols propelled BFI attorney John Henning into silence. “We have no comment on that,” he said.

But Hahn, pressed to elaborate on just how he might shut the dump, said it is a long-term goal that could be met by boosting recycling programs and finding remote landfills so that Sunshine Canyon is no longer needed.

“I’m not saying it’s something I’m going to do on my first day,” Hahn said. “I’m not talking about overturning the action of the City Council. I’m saying that our goal should be to shut down landfills because we don’t need them, because we’ve found other ways of dealing with our trash.”

PARTY ENDORSEMENT: Even though the contest for mayor of Los Angeles is a nonpartisan race, candidates are taking support wherever they can find it, so former Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa was happy this week to win the backing of the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley.

Along with the privilege of listing the endorsement in mailers aimed at Democrats, Villaraigosa also stands to benefit from an army of Democratic activists in the key battleground of the Valley.

“We are going to provide him with a lot of volunteers,” said Asta Criss, a member of the group’s executive board.

Criss said Villaraigosa won 80% of the board’s vote. “It was a landslide,” she said.

The board only considered the top four Democrats in the race, not considering the candidacies of Steven Soboroff, who is a Republican, and Joel Wachs, who is an independent, Criss said.

Villaraigosa welcomed the endorsement, saying the Valley party leadership is “an active and influential voice for its members.”

CHALLENGING SEMINAR: Seminars held by the usually staid Los Angeles County Bar Assn. on land-use law can be pretty dry, but organizers are counting on a little more interest in one session scheduled for March 8 on balancing 1st Amendment rights with the needs of communities to regulate adult uses.

Maybe it’s the title: “Sex, smut and other land use challenges.”

THE DOCTOR IS IN: Freshman Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge) is taking a novel approach to making himself available to constituents.

Richman, a physician who won election in November, plans to set up a card table and chairs in the food court area of Northridge Fashion Center from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday where constituents can talk to the assemblyman without an appointment.

He said the “sidewalk office” idea “allows area residents to directly approach me with their concerns about state government, state services or the energy crisis.”

Whoever said doctors don’t make house calls?