Labor Leader Wants Padilla to Step Down

In a dramatic break with a traditional ally, a labor leader on Friday called on Alex Padilla to resign as head of the Los Angeles City Council after he backed away from opposing a nonunion supermarket.

Ricardo F. Icaza, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said Padilla betrayed union grocers by breaking a promise and dropping a fight against a liquor license for the Superior Super Warehouse market in Pacoima.

“The most important thing a public official has is his or her credibility,” Icaza wrote in a letter to Padilla released Friday. “When that is gone, there is nothing left. That is why you should immediately resign as president of the Los Angeles City Council.”

Padilla said he broke no promise and has no plans to step down.

The split is remarkable because organized labor has been widely seen as the key ally--in terms of funding and volunteers--in Padilla’s dramatic climb to city leadership.

He supported the project because of a shortage of supermarkets in that part of the northeast San Fernando Valley, Padilla said.

“It’s disappointing, because there was no promise,” Padilla said. “The needs of my constituents are important, and we need to bring more supermarkets, banks and other basic amenities to the community.”

Icaza sent the letter in his capacity as president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, which has about 29,000 members including workers in grocery stores, packing houses and food processing plants. Icaza said it is the largest union in the county federation.

In addition to opposing the liquor license because Superior is “anti-union,” Icaza said residents of the area are concerned because five other businesses in the neighborhood have liquor licenses.

Mimi Song, president of the Superior chain of 13 stores, called the attack on Padilla unfair. She said she is not anti-union just because her stores are not unionized.

“Mr. Padilla is working for the community,” she said. “He is trying to do something to develop the community.”

In an interview, Icaza questioned whether Padilla changed his position after Superior hired as its lobbyist James Acevedo, a longtime political advisor and sometimes paid consultant for Padilla.

“I was convinced the reason he changed was [that] Acevedo influenced him not to go forward,” Icaza said.

Acevedo, a city harbor commissioner, has reported that he was paid $2,500 by Superior in recent months specifically to lobby Padilla, the City Council and a zoning administrator. Acevedo lists Superior as a client from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2001. Earlier last year, Acevedo was receiving $5,000 a month from Padilla’s campaign committee for consultant services.

Padilla said Acevedo lobbied him “very little” and said the contact had no influence on his decision to support the liquor license. “Absolutely not,” Padilla said.

Acevedo said he told Padilla he was hired to organize the community to support the store but did not lobby Padilla directly.

The store on Laurel Canyon Boulevard opened in late 2000, creating more than 200 jobs. To obtain an interim liquor license, it needed the City Council to declare that alcohol sales were a “public convenience and necessity.” In October 2000 and May 2001, Padilla introduced motions opposing such a determination.

Icaza said Padilla asked his union to send members to the meeting at which the council first turned down Superior’s request. But the union was not notified when Padilla asked the council to approve the determination in August 2001, giving the store an interim license, he said.

“We found out after the fact,” Icaza wrote.

Padilla declined to testify against a permanent liquor license for Superior at a March 14 appeal hearing by the state Alcohol Beverage Control Board. The agency is scheduled to take more testimony in April before making a decision.

Padilla said he opposed the license at first because he was new in office and the store was new in his district.

“I was not comfortable going forward at that time,” he said. “I wanted to see the store establish a track record.”

The store has taken steps to help reduce crime, such as installing more lighting, Padilla said.

Xavier Flores, executive director of Pueblo y Salud, an alcohol prevention group, said he and other members of a community coalition that opposes the liquor license are upset by Padilla’s actions.

“We are very, very angry,” Flores said. “We think he hurt his own community.” He did not join in the call for Padilla’s council presidency resignation.

Local 770 endorsed Padilla’s election in 1999 and provided dozens of volunteers, Icaza said. If Padilla does not resign, Icaza plans to bring a group of labor leaders to City Hall next week to complain about Padilla’s conduct. In the letter, Icaza said that Padilla “set a new standard for betrayal and duplicity” in favoring the license after previously asking union members to attend a meeting at which he introduced a motion to oppose it.

“If you refuse [to resign], we will work with the rest of the labor movement and the community to have you removed,” Icaza wrote.

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Times staff writer Nancy Cleeland contributed to this story.