Personality Contest in the 1st District

It’s not surprising that image and personality, rather than substantive issues, will probably determine the winner of Los Angeles County’s Feb. 19 supervisorial election.

The situation is the logical outcome of a contest between two liberal Democrats and philosophical twins, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Gloria Molina and state Sen. Art Torres. That’s why many residents of the 1st District, which includes East Los Angeles and much of the San Gabriel Valley and Southeast Los Angeles County, may be having trouble making up their minds.

Take John H. Espinosa, a Montebello area real estate company owner who is typical of an important group of voters in the district--conservative, middle-class suburban Latinos. Their vote was split up in the primary, with two conservatives, Republican Sarah Flores and Democratic state Sen. Chuck Calderon getting a substantial share. The Molina-Torres battle is centered on picking up these votes.

I happened to sit next to Espinosa Wednesday when Molina was speaking to the Montebello Board of Realtors and got some interesting insights into the race.

There’s little doubt Espinosa will vote, but something bigger than Molina and Torres is driving him to the polls--ethnic pride and the chance to cast a ballot for the first Latino supervisor in many decades.

“I’m just happy to see there’ll be a Hispanic on the Board of Supervisors,” he said. “It gives me peace of mind. At least you have the feeling you have someone who can go to bat for you and your people.”

The two candidates are much more liberal than he is. Espinosa voted for Calderon in the primary and, putting an even stronger stamp on his conservatism, cast ballots for Republicans George Bush for President and Pete Wilson for governor. Yet he said of Molina and Torres, “I think they’re both qualified.” So how will he make up his mind? “I think it may come down to personalities,” he said.

Then, he settled down to watch Molina.

Molina’s not a glad-hander, but she smiled and looked friendly as she rose from her chair and stood at the rostrum. A well-known old Montebello pol, former Mayor Richard Tafoya, introduced her, helping warm up the crowd. She made a small joke about how Tafoya used to lecture her on how to win in politics. Then she began to speak in a brisk and businesslike manner.

Real estate people tend to be pro-development and this group was angry at the Board of Supervisors for imposing a height-control law on Atlantic Boulevard in 1989. Molina walked the fine line between fast and slow growth on that one, avoiding taking a stand but pledging to involve developers next time such an issue came up. She came across as a reasonable, constructive compromiser.

She’s not that easy in the get-along, go-along atmosphere of City Hall. City Hall is a club and Molina is uncomfortable with this club’s traditions and rules. Compromise is not her game. Neither is small talk. And, her council speeches are often lectures, hurled at colleagues who don’t appreciate lectures from anyone. At such times, they begin to assume the expressions of people being forced to listen to someone scrape his fingernails down a blackboard.

Torres is just the opposite of Molina.

He’s got a warm manner and his speeches have the right balance of funny lines, anecdotes and campaign rhetoric. Years of debating on the Assembly and Senate floors have given him a quickness and an ability to talk about complicated issues in a simple manner. When the four main candidates in the primary debated, Torres was the most polished.

And where Molina, trying to capitalize on her reputation as a City Hall outsider, is selling herself as a person who will rattle the establishment, Torres’ strong suit is his connection with Los Angeles and state Capitol political powers.

But Torres is not without his liabilities. He’s twice pleaded no contest to drunk driving charges. Torres brought the matter up himself when he announced his candidacy, saying he’s learned and grown from the experience. Then the matter was put aside by him and his foes until, at the last minute, Calderon put out a mailing dealing with the convictions. His supporters said the mailer hurt.

I didn’t ask John Espinosa who he’s going to vote for. He looked like the kind of person who thinks things over before acting. I assumed he’d listen to the two candidates and then make up his mind. A perfect way to judge a personality contest.

Most of the voters, however, won’t see the candidates. They’ll get their impression of the Molina and Torres personalities through mailed advertisements. So their votes will be shaped by the skill of advertising copy writers. That’s not so perfect.