However You Say It, Don’t Confuse Him With the Other Guy

ALARCON, NOT ALATORRE: Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon insisted later that his remarks were “just a joke.” But they seemed politically telling nonetheless.

The setting was a luncheon for downtown merchants last week. An emcee noted how carefully she had practiced saying Alarcon’s name as she introduced him.

Graciously mimicking the half-dozen ways people have mispronounced his name, Alarcon said any of these pronunciations were okay with him. Then, the City Hall newcomer flashed a smile and told the business leaders, amid laughter and knowing nods: “Just don’t call me Alatorre.”

The Alatorre in question, of course, is Richard Alatorre, City Hall’s best known Latino councilman and the colorfully gruff boss of a powerful Eastside political machine.

The possibility of Alatorre and Alarcon being viewed as political twins is something quite a few of Alarcon’s backers would hate to see.

Alarcon admirers believe the idealistic young politician from the northeast Valley, the seemingly squeaky-clean graduate of former Mayor Tom Bradley’s administration, has the potential for reaching much further and aspiring much higher than Alatorre, who seems content to be a behind-the-scenes dealmaker and near-feudal Eastside king. As one Alarcon fan put it: He is hoping Alarcon does not fall into the “Alatorre political orbit.”

Asked if he was trying to distance himself from the battle-hardened--and scarred--Alatorre, Alarcon said he was not.

“But it’s important for people to know that there’s a Richard Alatorre and then there’s a Richard Alarcon,” he said. “Frankly, people are always confusing us.”

By the way, the proper pronunciation of Alarcon is A-lar-KHONE (emphasis on the last syllable, which sounds similar to phone), says Alarcon director of communications Sybil MacDonald.

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SCHOOL BREAKUP: Even as he maneuvers to win passage of legislation to break up the Los Angeles Unified School District, state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) is also looking at alternative ways to reach his goal. With lawmakers set to recess for the year on Sept. 10, Roberti has only a week left to push a measure through the Legislature.

But Roberti, president pro tem of the Senate, is not putting all his eggs into that one legislative basket. He has retained veteran campaign consultant Harvey Englander to handle political chores, including sorting through other political options to achieve the school breakup. He acknowledged that one of those options is whether to mount a drive to circulate petitions to put the issue before voters.

“Roberti is firmly committed to breaking up the school district and this is one of the strategies to do that if the legislative strategy doesn’t work,” said Englander, who previously has served as a campaign consultant to Roberti.

Englander estimated that the cost of gathering signatures for a statewide initiative would be around $500,000. And he cautioned that supporters need to be assured that there will be additional money available to mount a full-fledged campaign.

The Costa Mesa-based consultant, who advises both Republican and Democratic politicians, said he is also studying the mechanics of mounting a local initiative targeted at voters just in the Los Angeles district. “I’m getting prepared for whichever way we go,” Englander said.

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EVERGREEN SURPRISE: Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) said she was surprised to learn that $5,000 in contributions to her 1990 campaign were allegedly part of an elaborate scheme between 1989 and 1991 to launder $172,000 from a Taiwan-based shipping firm to state and local politicians.

Evergreen America Corp. recently agreed to pay a $895,000 penalty following an investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Commission and the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. The case apparently revolved around a series of investigations into the dealings of former Los Angeles City Councilman Arthur K. Snyder and his law firm.

One of 236 counts centered on money laundering cites the funds donated to Boland’s campaign, according to documents made public by the state’s political watchdog agency. The commission said that around April 18, 1990, Evergreen “reimbursed five individuals a total of $5,000 for five contributions to the Boland Campaign Committee.”

Boland, a two-term lawmaker, said she was totally unaware of the money laundering operation. Said Boland: “That was an absolute shock to me . . . I was surprised.”

The two-term lawmaker said she cooperated with investigators from the FPPC, adding she “had nothing to hide.”

This column was written by Times staff writers Mark Gladstone in Sacramento and John Schwada in Los Angeles.