Power of Polanco Evident in Alarcon’s Victory

In one of the most dramatic primary races in the region, a hard-fought San Fernando Valley battle between a home-grown Latino lawmaker and a savvy Sacramento veteran vying for the Democratic nomination for the state Senate, the critical difference may have been a political power who lives many miles outside the district.

In the end, City Councilman Richard Alarcon prevailed over former Assemblyman Richard Katz.

State Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles), who has worked for eight years as chairman of the state’s Latino Caucus to help put Latinos into state office, poured $181,500 into Alarcon’s campaign in the final week and dispatched a controversial campaign mailer on Alarcon’s behalf that Katz called “race baiting” and that even California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres termed divisive.

Alarcon edged Katz by such a narrow margin, 31 votes, that many political observers believe it was Polanco’s substantial support that ultimately tipped the scale.

“I don’t think there is any question that the outcome of that race was decidedly impacted by his money and his intervention,” said state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles).

An angry Katz is now trying to raise money for a recount.

Polanco is an eight-year veteran of the Assembly and now a second-term senator. He is the architect of several legislative campaigns in the past few years that resulted in victories for Latinos, especially in the Assembly. He is credited with putting in enough Latinos to assure election of the last two speakers, both Latinos.

“His influence is very strong because he gets involved in the races and he raises money,” said Alan Hoffenblum, a political consultant who writes an annual guide to state legislative races.

But Polanco was less successful at getting himself elected president pro tem of the Senate in January. He was beaten handily by Sen. John Burton (D-San Francisco). Still, Polanco remains the Democratic majority leader in the Senate, a job that requires him to help maintain the Democratic majority in the upper house.

In 1986, there were only four Latino Assembly members and three Latino senators. There are now 14 Latinos in the Assembly and four in the Senate. No one gives Polanco credit for electing them all, but he has played a role in the successful campaigns of many underdog Latino candidates.

If Alarcon holds on to his lead and beats his Republican and Libertarian challengers in the heavily Democratic district in November, he will become the Valley’s first Latino state senator.

In addition to Alarcon, Polanco threw his influence and money behind the campaigns of Assemblywomen Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) and Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), both of whom won their primary races this month.

It is too early to tell if Polanco’s growing influence will provide him with the 21 votes he needs to become president pro tem. But Polanco insists that he has no plans to challenge Burton. “We make a great team,” he said.

Depending on whom you ask, Polanco is motivated by an honest desire to help the state’s Latino Caucus, or by a calculated, self-serving campaign to extend his own political power base. Or both.

“Polanco is about getting Latinos elected, regardless of how he does it,” said one Sacramento lawmaker who asked to remain anonymous.

Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, said Polanco is simply working to protect the Democratic majority in Sacramento and increase the Latino membership. “Richard Polanco is just playing traditional politics, no different than John Burton or [former Assembly Speaker] Willie Brown. It’s just the first time a Latino has done it.”

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Two years ago, he lent then-Assembly candidate Tony Cardenas more than $25,000 in the final days before his election to fill the Valley seat that Katz had vacated due to term limits.

Cardenas won and is now sharing a condominium in Sacramento with Polanco.

With his growing clout, some wonder what Polanco--a vehement opponent of Valley political secession who tried unsuccessfully to force construction of mass transit to his Eastside district at the expense of the North Hollywood subway line--might get in return.

Katz and others contend that Polanco had another motive for helping Alarcon: He fosters long-held animosity toward Katz dating back to when the two collided over legislation in the state Capitol.

In an interview, Polanco defended his intervention in the Alarcon-Katz race, saying he wanted to help a popular local lawmaker ascend to higher office and bolster the Latino Caucus in Sacramento.

“Alarcon had a tremendous volunteer base and a cross-section of support,” he said.

Polanco’s $181,500 contribution came from a political action committee that he controls. It represented about 25% of Alarcon’s total campaign funding. Polanco’s committee also contributed $100,000 to Figueroa. Still, Polanco minimizes his influence in the race, saying Alarcon was already running “probably the best campaign I have seen.”

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Late in the campaign, Polanco sent out a mailer to Latino voters that suggested a connection between Katz, Gov. Pete Wilson and an 1988 Orange County incident in which a Republican party leader was accused of hiring guards to frighten immigrants away from polling places.

The mailer enraged Katz, who is Jewish and says he has long fought to protect the civil rights of all minority groups. He accused Polanco of “race baiting.” The Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles also condemned the mailer.

But Polanco shrugged off the criticism and accused Katz of injecting race into the campaign with several hard-hitting brochures that questioned Alarcon’s financial dealings.

Torres, the former senator, said he is worried that the Polanco mailer has hurt relations between Latinos and Jews in Los Angeles.

“I just hope we can heal the breach between the Jewish and Latino communities,” he said.

What does Polanco expect from Alarcon in return for his substantial support?

Nothing, Polanco says.

“Alarcon has, first and foremost, a responsibility to do what is in the best interest of the district, not anyone else, myself included,” Polanco said.

But some political observers say that each Latino candidate that Polanco helps elect to the Senate is one more vote he gains toward becoming the next president pro tem.

“Whether Polanco is building a bloc for himself or for Latinos is an age-old question,” Hayden said. “Some would say it’s both, and there is nothing new to that.”

Polanco insists his help comes with “no obligation to anything or any cause or ideology.”

Alarcon concedes that Polanco’s involvement played an important role in his campaign, but he said he feels no obligation to toe the line for Polanco in Sacramento.

He said Polanco’s financial support was crucial because Katz began with more money, thanks to a $130,000 transfer that Katz made to his campaign from a previous Assembly account.

“Polanco did not get me elected,” Alarcon said. “The voters of the 20th Senate District got me elected. What Polanco did was balance the equation.”

Alarcon said he and Polanco differ on many issues and will continue to do so despite Polanco’s support.

For example, Alarcon said he and Polanco have been on opposite sides of a 1997 bill that eliminated the City Council’s power to veto a Valley secession movement and gave that authority to voters.

Alarcon supported the bill and Polanco vehemently opposed it. It is unclear whether the secession issue will come before the Legislature again.

“It’s a relationship of mutual respect, but certainly not one where we will be working lock-step on every action that comes through,” Alarcon said.

Polanco and Katz have a chilly relationship that predates the recent campaign.

In 1995, Katz beat out Assemblyman Cruz Bustamante, a close Polanco ally, to become the Democratic Party leader. But even before that, the two men had locked horns.

For example, in 1993, Katz helped kill a bill by then-Assemblyman Polanco to require the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build transit lines to Pasadena and Burbank before a rail line to the Valley.

Katz also helped kill a Polanco bill in 1995 to allow voters to directly elect members of the MTA. It was a Katz bill that created the MTA in 1992.

But Polanco said he was not motivated to help Alarcon because of any hard feelings toward Katz.

He said his disputes with Katz in the past were “strictly policy stuff. If the question is was it personal? “