Secessionists Call Fines a Sign of Unfair Treatment

Los Angeles voters killed secession on the November ballot, but the rebellion continues. A group of secession backers who ran for city council in a proposed San Fernando Valley municipality have been hit with thousands of dollars in fines by Los Angeles for the illegal posting of campaign signs on public property.

Frank Sheftel, who was fined $250, said he and other candidates are planning to refuse to pay the penalties.

Sheftel said he believes his campaign signs were properly posted on private property. He also said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel was given 24 hours’ notice to take down her illegal signs to avoid a fine, but that he and other secession candidates were not given the same chance.

“We’ve all decided this is not right,” Sheftel said. “We have decided not to pay it.”

About 1,500 political signs were cited for being illegally posted in the last six months, including a few for the Valley Independence Committee.

James Cordaro, a Valley city council candidate who was fined $312, confirmed that he is joining the fight against the fines. He also said he did not get 24 hours’ notice.

City officials deny secessionists were singled out for different treatment.

Delegation Scores Key Assignments

Members of California’s congressional delegation have snagged some noteworthy committee assignments:

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Lakewood) last week became the first Latina ever appointed to the House Judiciary Committee. The freshman lawmaker, an attorney, was appointed by the Democratic Caucus Steering Committee. Sanchez will be the only Latino member of the committee as it takes up reorganization of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, according to Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Assn. of Latino Elected Officials.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) won appointment to a House panel with a timely focus, the newly created Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights.

The appointment was made by House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), who said the Californian “is uniquely qualified to spearhead this committee’s efforts to monitor the terrorism threat around the world and how America should respond.”

Meanwhile, Congressional Quarterly reported that Hyde thwarted the ambitions of Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and Dan Burton (R-Ind.) to possibly head a South Asia subcommittee. Burton was seen as too anti-India and Rohrabacher had held meetings with Afghanistan’s former Taliban government, Congressional Quarterly reported, both issues that House Republicans were not eager to highlight. So the South Asia subcommittee was simply disbanded. Parts of its territory were folded into an Asia and Pacific subcommittee.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Speaking of Rohrabacher, he is part of a stampede of Republicans headed down memory lane with the approach of former President Ronald Reagan’s 92nd birthday on Thursday.

While rummaging through memorabilia, Rohrabacher came across this gem: a hand-written letter from Reagan sent in the late 1970s after Rohrabacher asked Reagan, then between presidential runs, for his advice on a screenplay Rohrabacher had written.

Reagan wrote nearly two pages in longhand with suggestions on improving a pivotal conflict between two characters.

With a bit of nostalgic advice, he added: “Since today’s market is mainly TV, I’d clean up the language -- a few h--ls & d--n’s yes, but I’d drop all the words ending in --itch, --it or --uck.”

Rohrabacher said he took Reagan’s advice, including cleaning up the language. The whodunit script is still in circulation.

Gay GOP Club Marks 25th Year

Some gay Republicans were anxious about how last week’s 25th anniversary celebration for the Log Cabin Club, the nation’s first gay GOP group, would play among the state’s conservative Republican leadership.

“The evening was a huge success,” reports Frank Ricchiazzi of Laguna Beach, a club co-founder who was honored with Chris Bowman of San Francisco for their long years of leadership.

Among those attending: Bill Back, one of two candidates for party chairman at next month’s state convention, and his wife.

State Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine) presented a plaque from the Senate recognizing the club’s silver anniversary.

Points Taken

* Los Angeles School Board President Caprice Young is an influential Democrat in Southern California, so it surprised some that the Los Angeles County Democratic Party decided not to endorse her for reelection, instead throwing its backing behind her opponent, Jon Lauritzen, a former teacher. Some insiders said one factor was backlash against Young’s close ties to former Mayor Richard Riordan and billionaire Eli Broad, who recruited her to run the first time and steered donations toward her 1999 campaign.

Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) represented the House last week in the Funniest Celebrity in Washington Contest, but failed to make the cut as top clown.

A tax attorney before he was elected, Sherman mined his resume for laughs. Sample line: “My CPA friends were impatient to find an occupational field for me that was held in lower esteem than an accountant ... so I went to law school.”

Sherman said he may have hit bottom in public esteem when he was appointed in 1990 as a California revenue commissioner: “I was simultaneously a politician, a tax collector and an attorney.”

* Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo has spent most of the last two weeks in a trial downtown, but he hasn’t been at the prosecution table. Delgadillo is a juror in the case of a motorist who sued Mercedes-Benz for burns allegedly suffered because of a faulty heater, according to a spokesman for Delgadillo.

* Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Higgins is planning to form an exploratory committee to challenge his boss, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, in next year’s elections. “Under Steve Cooley, we’re soft on crime and we’re very narrow on crime prevention,” said Higgins, the former head of the office’s juvenile unit. Higgins, who now is in charge of the worker’s compensation section, argues that Cooley’s political views “are more consistent with the 1950s than the 21st century.”

You Can Quote Me

“Apparently Sen.[Don] Perata would like a plant dedicated to provide power to the Oakland Raiders offense.”

Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) during state energy hearings getting in her digs at a Democratic colleague from Oakland after the Raiders lost the Super Bowl.

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Nick Anderson, Jean Pasco, Richard Simon and Jenifer Warren contributed to this column. Regular columnist Patt Morrison is on assignment.