LAtimes
January 10, 2005
In a sign of the growing political influence that
animal advocates wield in Los Angeles, the top challengers to Mayor James K.
Hahn showed up Sunday to address people attired in animal-themed clothes in a
bid to win their endorsement.
Although small in number, the city's
feisty animal activists possess attributes they hope will make them players in
the March 8 election: money, intense passion and the means to rally thousands of
like-minded voters.
So when Citizens for a Humane Los Angeles held what
organizers billed as the nation's first political convention for animal
advocates, Councilmen Antonio Villaraigosa and Bernard C. Parks, former Assembly
Speaker Bob Hertzberg and state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sun Valley) came armed
with their plans to make Los Angeles "animal friendly," as well as their winning
anecdotes about beloved pets.
In the end, however,
the endorsement went to a lesser-known candidate, Walter Moore, a Republican
lawyer from Westchester who has been courting the city's animal activist
community for weeks.
During his 30-minute address, Moore
confessed to the 140 animal lovers that he "used to be married to one of those
cat women." He also pledged that his first act as mayor would be to call the
head of the shelters and order: "Stop the killing. Now."
Moore received
59 votes. Villaraigosa was second with 39. Hertzberg had 23, followed by Alarcon
with 8 and Parks with 4 votes.
Hahn, whose dog, Roxy, and cat, Ms.
Peppermint, were adopted from city shelters, did not attend the convention.
A campaign spokesman said he had a scheduling conflict.
The
convention — which featured wildlife advocates, dog and cat rescuers and others
outraged at the treatment of animals in the city's shelters — signaled a new
approach by activists.
It took political analysts by
surprise.
"This is not a group that has traditionally played in politics
in Los Angeles or other urban areas," said Jaime Regalado, director of the Pat
Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles.
For more
than a year, a small group of advocates has been doggedly protesting Hahn and
his administration, complaining that the city is needlessly killing tens of
thousands of cats, dogs, turtles, rabbits and other animals in its shelters.
The mayor's office says shelter conditions are improving and euthanasia
is down 13% from last year. But activists don't think enough is being done.
In the past, activists have crashed the mayor's events, protested
outside his home in San Pedro and even spray-painted the word "murderer" on the
car of the former Animal Services general manager. Even as those actions have
called attention to the issue, many animal advocates have decried them.
Sunday's event was a move toward the mainstream. Held at the Beverly
Garland Holiday Inn in North Hollywood, it featured red, white and blue balloons
and bunting, and might have been any political convention — except for the
preponderance of dog-themed ties and sweatshirts and the bulge of dog biscuits
in pockets.
"There are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of citizens
in Los Angeles who care about animals," said Scott Sorrentino, president and
co-founder of the Rescue and Humane Alliance Los Angeles. "In an election that
can be decided by hundreds of votes, these thousands of people could be the
difference."
Some of the activists are well off and well connected, and
could raise tens of thousands of dollars to spend on an independent expenditure
campaign on behalf of a candidate.
Michael Bell, a voice artist for the
television show "Rugrats," said the group is in touch with about 30,000 ardent
animal activists — about a third of what a candidate needs to make it into a May
runoff election.
That was enough to entice the five candidates to slog
through the rain.
Villaraigosa, who won support from some animal groups
when he ran against Hahn in 2001, delivered a pledge to make Los Angeles "the
most animal-loving city in America."
He distributed a four-page plan to
improve conditions and eliminate euthanasia in the city's animal shelters. "If a
great city can't treat its animals well, how is it treating its children?" he
asked.
He spoke lovingly about Hammy the Hamster and his dogs,
Butterscotch and Caramelo. And he said he wants more dog parks and better
treatment for elephants in the city's zoo.
Villaraigosa faced heavy
criticism from some attendees because he voted as a city councilman to support
Guerdon Stuckey, the mayor's controversial choice to head the city's Animal
Services Department.
He urged them to look past that vote.
The
Eastside councilman and former Assembly speaker predicted that the election
would lead to a runoff between himself and Hahn.
"If I have a strength, I
believe it's an ability to inspire people to do more. Not because I'm perfect on
every issue, but because I care," he said.
"I'm not a demagogue,
everybody," he added. "I'm the real deal."
Not to be outdone, Hertzberg,
a lawyer from Sherman Oaks, described his passion for horseback-riding in the
Sepulveda Basin and issued a three-page plan calling for a "revolution" in the
city's Animal Services Department.
Alarcon spoke lovingly of his
daughter's pit bull, Chocolate. Then he made a confession: "I'm not going to sit
here and tell you I'm an animal rights activist," he said. But the lawmaker
added that he sees a connection between "violence in our streets" and violence
toward animals.
All the candidates criticized Hahn for failing to develop
a plan to meet his goal to end the killing of adoptable animals by 2008.
Some of the animal activists expressed disappointment that the group had
not endorsed Villaraigosa.
"It's easy to make promises," Bell told his
fellow advocates. "In Antonio Villaraigosa's case, we've gotten what we've asked
for."
Bell added that he also worried that "a vote for anyone else might
be a vote for Hahn, and I can't take that chance."
He predicted that
many animal advocates would support Villaraigosa, if he makes it into a runoff.
But many advocates stressed that the real importance of the day's events
was not that the coalition made an endorsement but that the candidates
demonstrated that they are paying attention to animal issues.
Laura Beth
Heisen, who was a member of the city's Animal Services Commission until Hahn
replaced her, noted that the convention forced each candidate to study up on
animal issues and draw up some sort of platform.
"All of the candidates
are now recognizing the humane community as an important factor," she said.