Law Restricting Racist Fliers OKd

Michael Manning of North Hills expected food, not racist propaganda, when he reached into a box of Cheez-Its he bought at a supermarket three months ago and fished out a flier showing a dark-skinned man being machine-gunned to death.

He was doubly angered when he learned there was nothing illegal about that.

There will be soon.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted resoundingly to make it a crime to insert fliers, pictures or other advertising into any product package without permission from store management. Offenders can be punished by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The ordinance was introduced by Councilman Joel Wachs, Manning’s council representative, to close what Wachs called a “legal loophole.” It takes effect 30 days after it is signed by Mayor Richard Riordan, who has promised to do so.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Manning after the vote.

Cmdr. David J. Kalish of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Criminal Intelligence Group, echoed those sentiments.

“The ordinance is very, very helpful to control hate materials,” Kalish said. “Although [Manning’s experience] is not a common occurrence, the impact is quite significant, in that one person can place literature in packages in several stores.”

In fact, one Glendale man known to police and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith has been leaving hate fliers in elementary and high school lockers, newspapers and mailboxes throughout Southern California, according to Tzivia Schwartz , an ADL lawyer.

Allan Eric Carlson, 32, was arrested in 1993 on suspicion of stamping racist messages on notebooks in supermarkets and was ordered last September not to stuff fliers into product packaging. He is currently in the Orange County Jail, on suspicion of shooting out the windows of more than 30 luxury cars in Newport Beach last month.

Wachs, Schwartz and Kalish all agreed that the ordinance is aimed in part at halting Carlson’s campaign.

While acknowledging that the ordinance is not a panacea, Schwartz hailed the City Council action, citing a link between racist rhetoric and violent action.

“The existence of anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, racist and homophobic literature is a reality and is, for the most part, protected by the right of free speech,” Schwartz said. “But, at some point, these people cross over a line, where they’re no longer satisfied with using words alone.”

Schwartz said she hopes the ordinance will catch hatemongers before they turn to violence.

To limit similar actions outside Los Angeles, Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) has vowed to lobby for a similar state law.