Registrar Records a Rebuke for Feuding Alarcon, Katz Workers

The primary vote is long over, the counts are in, but for Conny B. McCormack, L.A. County registrar-recorder, Thursday was the day the election really got taxing.

It was also the day she turned kindergarten teacher, marched down the stairs, and told everyone they’d better shape up or that’s it. Really.

“I have been down there three times today,” the wearied recorder said, when reached by phone late Thursday. “I keep setting it up, and then when I leave, they start bickering again.”

The ‘they’ in question were members of Richard Katz’s and Richard Alarcon’s state Senate campaign teams.

The source of their acrimony was Alarcon’s breathlessly narrow 29-vote victory for the Democratic nomination in the June 2 primary.

Katz, who is weighing whether to accept the so-close-and-yet-so-far outcome, has sent his campaign workers to the recorder’s office repeatedly to pore over three public computer terminals there. The presumed purpose is to hound out any potential flaw in the vote count.

But Alarcon’s people, accompanied by a slew of others from legal and Latino activist groups, are equally interested in any tint of unfairness the process may bring to light. They have been, reports indicate, hovering.

Blame the ugliness of the campaign, which brought charges of race baiting. Blame the closeness of the vote. Blame long hours and frayed nerves. Whatever the cause, common courtesy reportedly buckled in that crowded space in the county’s computer complex.

After a day of refereeing the bickering, McCormack was sent a letter from Katz’s attorneys alleging that Alarcon’s workers were getting in the way.

“The Alarcon campaign stationed over 10 individuals to monitor our actions and obstruct our efforts,” the lawyers complained. They were copying the Katz workers’ notes, peering at the information on the screens--interfering and intruding, they wrote.

Directly, McCormack was sent another letter, one from Alarcon’s lawyers that practically sputtered with indignation.

“The Katz campaign apparently objects to the fact that representatives from the Alarcon campaign merely stood by and watched what they were doing,” the letter said, going on for another page and a half.

Then late Thursday came the crisis:

Word reached McCormack’s office that the police were en route. Katz’s people had called them, it turned out, presumably to restrain their nosy rivals.

“They were harassing and threatening our staff,” explained Harvey Englander, Katz campaign consultant. They even followed one volunteer to the bathroom, he said.

Not so, said Annette Castro of Alarcon’s camp. They were merely exercising their rights in the face of Katz’s volunteers’ attempts at secrecy.

The recorder was not amused. Down the stairs she went.

“I told them we are not going to have the police come into this building,” she said. “And if there is any more of that kind of behavior they have to leave.”

Once again, McCormack said, she gave them that little talk about personal space--”we are trying to set up reasonable” limits, she said, her voice hardening slightly--”without saying how many inches.”

After this, she promised, the peace would be kept. “I’m not going to have any more of it,” she said. “It’s time they acted like adults.”

‘Never Apologize’

The day after his public apology to state Senate primary opponent Katz, Alarcon got some unsolicited advice from fellow Councilman Nate Holden.

Alarcon had apologized for a campaign mailer that falsely linked Katz, his Democratic challenger, to the intimidation of Latino voters. This came on the heels of the hard-fought primary race Alarcon won.

All of which provided Holden, the often contrary and outspoken councilman from South-Central L.A., a chance to express a singularly Holden-esque view of Alarcon’s conduct:

“Never apologize,” he intoned, leaning over the clearly nonplused Alarcon just before a council meeting this week.

In the political arena, Holden explained later, apologies are only in order when one has truly done something wrong, not simply when someone’s feelings have been ruffled. Alarcon had done nothing wrong, and shouldn’t have felt the need, said Holden, something of an expert in the realm of ruffling feelings.

Bang for the Buck

In winning the Republican nomination on June 2, congressional candidate Randy Hoffman got 21% of the vote.

He was not disappointed with his showing, even though his Democratic opponent, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), got 54% of the vote.

But others were disappointed, namely Rep. John Linder of Georgia, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which raises campaign money for GOP candidates.

One of Linder’s top priorities is to put Sherman’s seat in the hands of a Republican to help that party maintain control of the House of Representatives.

Sherman’s district stretches from the west San Fernando Valley into east Ventura County and is considered a “swing” district, meaning it could be won by either party.

In an interview this week, Linder said he considered Hoffman’s primary showing “disappointing.”

But Linder said the NRCC will help Hoffman improve his chances in the November election by contributing to his campaign and sending party leaders to help Hoffman raise money.

“It’s a race that will be on our list of races to watch,” he said.

Linder suggested that Hoffman--a wealthy former businessman--will have to spend a lot of money in the next few months to increase his name recognition. But he warned that Hoffman must be careful not to come across as a “rich kid” who is trying to buy the election.

That is the impression that Sherman’s campaign is already trying to convey to voters. Sherman’s campaign consultant, Parke Skelton, has tried to compare Hoffman to such multimillionaire candidates as Mike Huffington and Al Checchi.

Linder said Hoffman cannot give Sherman any ammunition for those charges.

“If you become too free with your money and you look like you are buying the race, it could hurt you,” Linder said.

Strange Bedfellows

Hoffman is also getting help from an unexpected source: former Republican congressional candidate William Westmiller.

Westmiller is a small-business owner from Thousand Oaks and former Democratic activist who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War, where he co-founded the Libertarian Party.

Westmiller lost to Hoffman in June and has now endorsed him in the November election.

In addition, Westmiller is working as an informal consultant to the Hoffman campaign and his business, Paper Depot, is providing Hoffman’s campaign with graphic services and printing for business cards, invitations and other material.