Molina’s First Goal--Expand County Board

Supervisor-elect Gloria Molina, claiming a mandate for political change, announced Wednesday that her first priority will be expansion of the Board of Supervisors to provide better representation for Los Angeles County’s 8.8 million residents, especially minorities.

“The election was not only a mandate for me, but a mandate for the entire board about the things we could change,” Molina, a city councilwoman, said the day after her victory over state Sen. Art Torres in the historic election that placed a Latino on the board.

Molina, a fiery Democrat and self-proclaimed political outsider, will join Supervisors Ed Edelman and Kenneth Hahn in forming a new liberal majority on the board. Her fellow liberals say that they already are dusting off proposals that were shot down by conservative supervisors, including a ballot measure to expand the board.

Molina said Wednesday that she will provide the swing vote authorizing a ballot measure that would enlarge the board from five to seven members and eventually to nine members.

In defeating Torres 55% to 45%--despite being outspent nearly 2 to 1--Molina became the first Latino elected to the board this century and the first woman ever elected supervisor. She has promised to push for campaign contribution limits, the hiring of more Latino county employees, increased funding for health and welfare programs and removal of the glass security barrier that separates supervisors from the public in the board chambers.

Though she joins two longtime liberals on the board, Molina is expected to set her own agenda and display a markedly different style than that of mild-mannered Edelman and of Hahn, who has suffered a stroke.

“She will shake up county government,” said Caltech political scientist Morgan Kousser.

But conservative Supervisor Deane Dana said, “I can’t imagine how she can shake it up very much. . . . We don’t have money. We’re going to be lucky if we’re not going to be laying off people” because of anticipated cuts in state aid to counties.

Some of the supervisors have privately expressed concern about Molina’s style.

She said she intends to try to work with all of her colleagues on the board but added: “I did not get elected to meet their needs. I was elected to meet the needs of the 1st District.”

County officials Wednesday already were preparing Molina for her new $99,297-a-year job, which represents a raise of about $9,000. She will take office March 8.

Larry Monteilh, the board’s executive officer, sent a memo to Molina advising her of the duties of a supervisor: the perks, such as a car and chauffeur; security precautions and a seating chart for board meetings (she will sit in the chair occupied by retiring Supervisor Pete Schabarum).

No special measures are needed for the board’s first elected woman member, Monteilh said. When Yvonne Brathwaite Burke was appointed in 1979, Monteilh changed the salutation on board memos. “They used to be ‘Dear Gentlemen. Now they’re addressed, ‘Dear Supervisor.’ ”

Among the first matters to come before Molina will be appointments to a committee that will adjust the supervisorial district lines, based on the 1990 census.

Much of the county’s political establishment shunned Molina’s campaign, with virtually all county labor unions, many lobbyists and Hahn backing Torres.

“We believe that Gloria Molina should not hold a grudge just because labor backed Art Torres,” said Sharon Grimpe Correll, general manager of the biggest county labor group, Service Employees International Union, Local 660.

The cornerstone of Molina’s victory was her strong showing on the Eastside, where she outpolled Torres 58% to 41%. She also captured Pico Rivera, where she grew up, and unincorporated East Los Angeles, where a supervisor is the community’s only local government representative.

Molina’s support on the Eastside far outweighed victories by Torres in more conservative San Gabriel Valley communities such as Baldwin Park, La Puente, Monterey Park and Rosemead.

“Gloria has been able to frame herself as the independent, as the outsider,” said Richard Santillan, chairman of the ethnic and womens studies department at Cal Poly Pomona. “Art’s endorsements from all of the other candidates and the politicians clearly depicted him as ‘politics as usual.’ ”

Torres, reached at his parents’ Montebello home Wednesday, declined to assess the reasons he lost the election. Torres said he sought to end the bitter rivalry between Molina and his political camp by visiting the victor’s party Tuesday night. “The door is open and I’m ready to help,” he said.

Officially, supervisorial positions are nonpartisan, but the members sometimes split along party or ideological lines. Many issues that come before the board--such as public works projects, anti-drug programs and zoning--are unanimously approved.

At a news conference in English and Spanish at her South El Monte headquarters, Molina said she wants to immediately evaluate deployment of sheriff’s deputies as part of an effort to determine if her heavily Latino district is being properly served.

Molina has pledged to include many Latinos among the more than 100 appointments she will make to county boards and commissions. She also promised to join in blocking new private contracting of jobs held by county employees--a practice supported by board conservatives.

“It has been demoralizing county workers and has not been of great help,” she said. “I am interested in reading the (county administrative officer’s) report that claims it saves money.”

Dana expressed hope that Molina will show a spirit of cooperation when she arrives. “We really have to work as a team,” he said. “If a person does not want to do this, they’ll end up being an outsider on the end of 4-1 votes.”

Asked about Molina’s campaign pledge to remove the security barrier in the board room, Dana said, “That will never happen. . . . Some of the people we deal with get very upset” and pose a danger to supervisors.

Fellow liberals are waiting for Molina’s arrival to reintroduce motions defeated by conservatives. Edelman, for example, wants to establish a program to distribute bleach kits and condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS, and increase the $312 a month in general relief paid to 50,000 people, mostly homeless.

No matter who winds up leading a new liberal majority, Edelman said, compromise will be necessary for the board to get things done. He said no one should assume that Molina’s political agenda automatically will be supported by Hahn and himself. “She needs two votes to accomplish anything on the board,” he said.

All of the supervisors, except the retiring Schabarum, called Molina to congratulate her. Schabarum’s only comment was a one-sentence statement complaining about the court-ordered redistricting that brought about the election, which he called “the worst desecration of one-man, one-vote in the history of American politics.”

The creation of the new 1st District and the election were ordered by a federal judge who ruled that the old boundaries denied the county’s 3 million Latinos representation on the board.

Molina, grasping the hand of her 3-year-old daughter, Valentina, entered the City Council chamber Wednesday to a standing ovation led by her longtime rival, Councilman Richard Alatorre, and Council President John Ferraro, who placed a dozen long-stemmed red roses on her desk.

Grinning broadly, Molina received bear hugs from two close allies, Joy Picus and Joel Wachs, before telling the council how much she would miss her old job.

“I wish I could have both jobs--I always wanted that,” Molina said, laughing.

Times staff writer Jill Stewart contributed to this story.