L.A. CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS 14TH DISTRICT : Neutrality by Molina Helps Alatorre’s Cause

Eastside Councilman Richard Alatorre faces three challengers in Tuesday’s Los Angeles city election, but so far he has avoided a confrontation with his longtime adversary, Gloria Molina.

Molina, who recently defeated an Alatorre-backed candidate to win election to the County Board of Supervisors, said that at present she is staying out of the City Council’s 14th District race.

That, political analysts say, makes the task more difficult for three first-time candidates running against the only Latino currently on the council, a savvy politician who has expressed interest in running for mayor in 1993 if Mayor Tom Bradley does not seek reelection.

The challengers contend that Alatorre is vulnerable, pointing out that he was unable to deliver his own district for his ally, state Sen. Art Torres, in the recent supervisorial election won by Molina.

Alatorre responds that in the supervisor’s race, “I wasn’t the candidate.” To the relief of Alatorre campaign strategists, Molina has stayed out of the race.

According to aides, the former city councilwoman is hoping that her neutrality will prevent Alatorre from fielding a candidate against her choice in the June election to choose her successor from the 1st Council District. Alatorre said he has no plans to become involved in the 1st District race. Molina has yet to announce her choice for her old seat.

Although Molina is not involved in the race, Martin GutieRuiz, 26, who was in charge of volunteers for Molina’s supervisorial campaign, highlights his ties to the popular supervisor in his campaign literature and speaking appearances.

“The election of Gloria Molina sends a message that politics as usual can no longer be tolerated,” said GutieRuiz.

Alatorre’s other opponents are John Lucero, 38, an El Sereno homeowners activist who led an ill-fated recall campaign against Alatorre last year, and David Diaz, 39, a slow-growth advocate and organizer of an unsuccessful petition drive last year to limit council terms.

The challengers gained a spot on the ballot by paying $300 and gathering 500 voters’ signatures or, to avoid the fee, collecting 1,000 signatures. They are hoping to keep Alatorre below the 50%-plus-one vote margin required to win outright on Tuesday. If no one receives a majority, the top two vote-getters will meet in a June runoff.

History is not on their side. Only three times in the last 19 years has a City Council member failed to win reelection. Incumbents are difficult to defeat because they are usually better known than their challengers and have access to large amounts of contributions.

The 47-year-old Alatorre, schooled in old-style hardball politics, has made full use of the incumbency advantage, raising and spending more than $200,000 on his reelection campaign. Each of the challengers has raised less than $12,000. They have staged televised press conferences on such causes as the preservation of Eagle Rock, the 50-foot-tall boulder that gave the community its name.

After serving in the state Assembly for 14 years, Alatorre in 1985 was the first Latino elected to the council in more than 20 years, filling the seat vacated by Art Snyder. Alatorre was reelected in 1987 with 60% of the vote over two challengers.

He has expressed interest in seeking to become the first Latino mayor since Anglos forced Mexicans from power in the 19th Century. But he is not expected to run in 1993 if Bradley, for whom he has been a strong ally on the City Council, seeks reelection.

GutieRuiz has criticized Alatorre for not calling for Police Chief Daryl F. Gates’ resignation in the wake of the police beating of Rodney G. King.

“To me the issue is not Chief Gates,” Alatorre recently told a candidates forum. “The issue is the institutional racism that you have within the department that will tolerate the brutality that took place.”

Alatorre, endorsed by the Los Angeles Police Protective League, added: “I’ve been busy conducting hearings to look at the department itself. I’m concerned about the need for change within the institution. . . . I’m certainly pushing the Charter amendment to change the appointment and removal process for the chief of police.”

Lucero has attacked Alatorre for the thousands of dollars he has raised from special interests--”some which comes from as far away as New York City.” He led an unsuccessful recall campaign against Alatorre after the councilman supported a city loan for a low-income housing project in El Sereno. The project caused an uproar in the neighborhood where Lucero lives.

Development has been the major issue of Diaz’s campaign. “I think Richard Alatorre is wrecking the district with high-density development,” Diaz said.

Alatorre responded that he sponsored an ordinance requiring public hearings on virtually all new apartment projects in most of the district. “It is the only area in the city that has this law,” he said.

Alatorre has been criticized by members of the Eagle Rock Assn., a homeowners group, for failing to block construction of a single, two-story house at the very top of the ridge separating Glendale from Eagle Rock. The second story of the house sticks up prominently over the ridge, the only blemish on two miles of ridgeline visible from Eagle Rock between Figueroa Street and the Glendale Freeway.

“Everybody in the community is upset with that damn house,” said former Councilman-turned-lobbyist Snyder, an Eagle Rock resident who said that he is satisfied that Alatorre has done everything he could to preserve the ridge.

The house straddles the Glendale-Los Angeles city line, and Glendale and Los Angeles issued permits for the construction.

Alatorre has sent campaign-financed letters to residents saying that he was never notified by city building officials about the project. “Let me assure you that my office is determined to protect the ridge from any further encroachment,” he said.

The homeowners group wants Glendale or Los Angeles to buy and dismantle the house, which will soon be put on the market for $895,000. Alatorre has asked the city attorney to consider the homeowners’ proposal.

Times staff writer Phil Sneiderman contributed to this story.