08/03/04

LC040803

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Latinos carry a lot of clout going into this year's election,
but can anyone be sure which way they'll swing?

Arturo Vargas>> We want to make sure that Democrats understand
that they can't take the Latino vote for granted and that the
Republicans understand that they can actually get a share of the
Latino vote.

Val>> And then, the kind of neighbor homeowners didn't expect
when they fled the city. Can they all just learn to get along?

All that and more straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> California is a place where people can reinvent
themselves and that's exactly what some Republicans are trying
to do this election year, reinvent the party. They want to
latch onto scores of black and Latino voters who have
traditionally gone with the Democrats. It's been tried before,
especially with Latinos, and the results have not been
promising. But as Toni Guinyard reports, Republicans believe
this year could be different.

Victor Elizalde>> "I'm running for Congress in the Thirtieth
Congressional District."

>> "Are you really?"

Toni Guinyard>> Victor Elizalde is trying to blaze a new
political trail in Southern California and, on this night, the
journey leads into a gathering of Latino business people. It's
not exactly a typical Republican crowd by most accounts, but
Victor isn't exactly your typical Republican.

Victor Elizalde>> "Because I'm a Republican, they said, wait a
minute, Latinos aren't supposed to be running with Republicans.
I said, aren't Republicans the party of opportunity?"

Toni Guinyard>> He's one of the new faces of the GOP in
California, a true believer out to convince fellow Latinos that
his Republican values are more than skin deep.

Victor Elizalde>> Our ancestors came from countries where there
are no government entitlements. The simple rule is that, if you
don't work, you don't eat and that tends to align strongly with
Republican values and that's why the Latinos are starting to
cross over to the Republican party because they don't want
entitlements. They want opportunities.

Toni Guinyard>> During the course of the evening, Elizalde will
break a few stereotypes about Latinos and perceived political
party affiliations. He courts members of the Latin Business
Association.

>> "It says El Jefe".

Toni Guinyard>> The same group that, four years ago, was
courted by then Governor George W. Bush during his campaign for
the White House. Candidates then and now want to win the Latino
vote.

Ray Durazo>> Oh, they're very open about it. There's no
mystery at all about that. They will tell you in a heartbeat
that they're very interested in attracting Latino votes.
There's a perfectly obvious reason. There are a lot of us. We
represent a growing and impressive voting block in this state
and in this country.

Toni Guinyard>> An estimated seven million Latino voters
nationwide are expected to cast a ballot on November 2, one
million more than during the 2000 presidential race. By sheer
numbers, the Latino electorate is being characterized as a
powerful voting block, a sleeping giant that can sway the 2004
presidential election.

Jaime Regalado>> So Latinos staying by themselves are part of
the equation, but to me they're not the full equation.

Toni Guinyard>> Jaime Regalado is Executive Director of the
nonprofit, nonpartisan Pat Brown Institute at Cal State Los
Angeles. The Public Policy Center has monitored the evolution
of the relationship between candidates and constituents.

Jaime Regalado>> Who votes in California politics? The
electorate in California is seventy percent white in a state
that's a majority of color.

Toni Guinyard>> But in this election year, candidates are again
courting the Latino electorate. It's a relationship not without
risks.

Jaime Regalado>> If the Latino population, some would say at
long last, is getting a lot of attention from the media, a lot
of political attention from the media, as well as the
candidates, it can't be seen to be at the exclusion of other
groups that have been marginalized over history, but had been
loyal bases of one party or the other, and we're talking
primarily about the Democratic party.

Toni Guinyard>> Democrats have historically enjoyed loyal
support from the African-American and Latino communities,
communities now being told to question if their votes are being
taken for granted.

Victor Elizalde>> It amazes me to this day that African-
Americans allow a handful of African-American leaders to guide
them through the political system and yet, as a consequence,
they support the Democratic party overwhelmingly yet they don't
get very much in return.

Toni Guinyard>> Elizalde's opinion echoes that of President
Bush who asked during a speech before the Urban League if
Democrats earn and deserve the vote of African-Americans. The
speech was made after declining an appearance at the NAACP
National Convention for the fourth year in a row.

Jaime Regalado>> The fact that he did not accept an invitation
to speak at the 2004 convention of the NAACP, the first sitting
president since Hoover who denied that invitation, I think
speaks volumes and I think it sends certain negative messages to
African-American voters and African-American communities.

Toni Guinyard>> While it may be assumed that the majority of
African-American voters will continue to vote Democrat, the
Latino community has become targeted.

Jaime Regalado>> Latinos are really more questionable in terms
of which way they may vote in a specific national election than
African-Americans.

Toni Guinyard>> And it appears that Latino registered voters
are making the most of the attention being given them.

Arturo Vargas>> I think the candidates are starting to get it.
They understand that the road to the White House goes through
Latino communities and they need to reach out to Latino voters.

Toni Guinyard>> Arturo Vargas is Executive Director of NALEO,
the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed
Officials.

Arturo Vargas>> We want both political parties to fight for the
Latino vote. We want to make sure that Democrats understand
that they can't take the Latino vote for granted and that the
Republicans understand that they can actually get a share of the
Latino vote.

Toni Guinyard>> To get the message to candidates, NALEO did
something it's never done before during an election year. It
reached out to Latino registered voters in four major cities
inviting them to participate in Town Hall meetings to talk
specifically about the issues and the candidates.

Claudia Hernandez>> They want a politician or a candidate
that's going to speak to them about the policies that they find
important. Education, jobs, the economy. Latino communities
are asking for the same things every other community in the
United States would want.

Arturo Vargas>> There's a sense of disconnect between our
political system, our electoral system, and the community.
Folks don't feel that they're being listened to, that their
issues are being discussed by the candidates.

Toni Guinyard>> NALEO compiles data on issues Latino voters
want addressed and opinions they want candidates to be aware of.
Participants make it clear that their vote should not be taken
for granted.

Martin Sandoval>> The general idea is that, if you're a Latino,
you're Democrat. Or if you're African-American, you're
Democrat. But it's not necessarily true. I'm independent only
because I don't want my vote to be like a given.

Toni Guinyard>> What do you mean by that?

Martin Sandoval>> I don't want either side to think it's in the
bag.

Claudia Hernandez>> To the day I go and I cast my vote,
anything, my vote is up for grabs.

Arturo Vargas>> They listen to what candidates have to say and
they're willing to cross party lines, they're willing to cross
ethnic lines, to vote for the candidate whom they believe is
going to be the further interest the best.

Toni Guinyard>> And in recent years, the Latino vote has
reflected growing support for Republican candidates.

Jaime Regalado>> More Latinos are Republicans than were
Republicans four years ago. More than eight years ago here in
California, we had something called Proposition 187 that put a
lot of the Latino Republicans into kind of a hiding mode, but
many of them are back.

Arturo Vargas>> We have seen significant support for Republican
causes or Republican candidates by Latino voters. Just in the
recent recall election, about forty percent of the Latino
electorate voted for a Republican, either Governor
Schwarzenegger or McClintock.

Toni Guinyard>> While there is no guarantee that the voter
appeal enjoyed by Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will
help the GOP in November, it could provide leverage for
Republicans hungry for cross-over votes.

Jaime Regalado>> Arnold lends credibility to Republicans in
California and to the Republican party in California.
Republicans know that, Democrats know that and are still scared
of that because he is so very popular and he's good at reading
lines and good, of course, at pulling into malls to hear him,
but it absolutely shoots up the credibility of the Republican
party.

Victor Elizalde>> "I guess the Governor will be there on
Friday."

Toni Guinyard>> Victor Elizalde is hoping it translates into
more votes, but he's not counting on it. His team is rolling
out an ad campaign in the form of a movie trailer to run in
local theaters.

[Film Clip]

Victor Elizalde>> "You know, we have to make this fun for the
voters."

>> "They'll watch this. It's different."

Victor Elizalde>> "Yeah, exactly. This is different. This is
what we wanted to do. This has to be different."

Toni Guinyard>> It's a different approach to attract voters, no
matter what their ethnic background.

Val>> More than sixty percent of California's registered Latino
voters call themselves Democrats, but political analysts say
they can be very unpredictable and that's what Republicans are
counting on.

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Val>> Normally when a law professor decides to leave Los
Angeles and go teach elsewhere, it's not particularly big news,
but then Erwin Chemerinsky isn't just another professor. He's
leaving USC for a new job at Duke University and he's leaving
behind a huge public legacy, having played a key role in some of
the major legal issues of the day. Chemerinsky talks with
Philip Bruce and looks back at a place he's called home for the
past two decades.

Philip Bruce>> Erwin, professors come and go in this city, but
you've been part of the fabric of Los Angeles for more than
twenty years and it's been part of your fabric for all that
time. How is going to be for you not to be in Los Angeles
anymore?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> Well, in the short term, I think I'll still
be in Los Angeles a lot. I'm chairing a blue ribbon commission
of City Contracting and part of the commission got implications
of the Rampart scandals and I've promised I'll see those through
to the very end, so I expect I'll be coming back to Los Angeles
a good deal at least over the next year.

Philip Bruce>> Now you're going to Duke University, a big
change from USC, a big basketball town. How you gotten into the
vibe of all that yet? Are you really fully cognizant of what
you're walking into?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> My wife and I spent the semester visiting
at Duke and had a wonderful time, so we're aware of what it is
we're moving to. On the other hand, since we accepted these
offers at the beginning of March, I think I've been practicing a
great deal of denial. So psychologically, I think I'm still
very much part of Los Angeles. I think only after I'm there for
a while it will sink in that, after twenty-one years, I've moved
from Los Angeles to Durham.

Philip Bruce>> Now as you look back on your years in Los
Angeles, you've not just been a teacher here, but you've had
such a role in the big, big cases of Los Angeles and nationally
as well. Looking at one of them, the Rampart investigation,
when you see what's been happening in the LAPD even recently
with this case that's so high-profile of a man being beaten with
the flashlights, what have we learned from all these scandals in
LAPD. As somebody who's been a player in all this, what are
your thoughts about it?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> After the Rampart scandal broke, I was
asked to do a report. I did it with a group of other
individuals. I took months studying the LAPD quite intensively.
The central conclusion I came to was that the Rampart scandal
was a product of problems in the culture of the Los Angeles
Police Department. I think that basic culture has not yet
changed, though the Chief of Police Bill Bratton says he wants
to change that culture. I think, until the culture has changed,
we're going to have a series of scandals as we've had over the
last decade or two.

Philip Bruce>> Now has that culture changed? What do you think
needs to change?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> I think the change of culture is a long-
term project. Let me give you one example. I think there is a
deeply imbedded code of silence in the Los Angeles Police
Department. The Christopher Commission in 1991 said that the
code of silence is the single largest obstacle to an effective
disciplinary system. We haven't changed the code of silence.
There is still no whistle-blower protection in the LAPD. I
think, until we get that kind of whistle-blower protection,
until we break the code of silence, we're not going to change
the culture of the department.

Philip Bruce>> Another major legal issue that you've been
keenly involved in is the Three Strikes law. You're
diametrically opposed to that and have tried to overturn it in
the U.S. Supreme Courts. This statute has been upheld and we
still have people being sent to prison now -- many of them are
minor offenders -- for life. What are your thoughts about the
future of that? Is the battle against Three Strikes, from your
position, is that over?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> I have represented many individuals,
including the Supreme Courts, for life sentences for shoplifting
even though they've never committed a violent offense. I lost a
case in the Supreme Court by a five to four decision. I have a
case now in the Ninth Circuit where a man received a sentence of
225 to life and only a lawyer could pick 225 to life. He never
committed a violent crime. He committed nine acts of unarmed
burglary. This makes no rational sense. There is an initiative
on the ballot this November to change the Three Strikes law to
make sure that it's used only for serious and violent crimes. I
favor Three Strikes, but only when it's used for serious and
violent offenses.

Philip Bruce>> Are you going to miss the platform you've had
here at USC to address these big cases?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> I'm going to miss so much about USC and Los
Angeles. It's been an absolutely wonderful place to teach and a
terrific city to work. I'm going to miss the opportunity to be
involved in city government and police issues and the like. I'm
not retiring. I'm only fifty-one and my hope is that I'll be
involved in similar kinds of issues. I'll be in North Carolina
where I'll be a lot closer to Washington, D.C. and there are
more chances to be involved in issues there.

Philip Bruce>> What are you thinking about how your life is
going to change?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> I love Los Angeles, but there are ways in
which it's a hard city to live in especially when you have young
children. For me, a twenty or twenty-five minute commute when I
moved to Los Angeles twenty-one years ago is now a forty or
forty-five minute commute each way. At Duke, I'll live five
minutes away from where I'll work. Now my son goes to school
forty or forty-five minutes from where I work. At Duke, he'll
be two minutes away. I think I'm trading traffic for a lot more
trees and it's a good lifestyle change, but there's a lot about
Los Angeles that I'll really miss.

Philip Bruce>> I have to say that you're one of those people
who's been so familiar on the public scene here that it has
seemed to me, and I think to a lot of people, that you would
always be here. What are folks saying to you now that they know
you're not always going to be here?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> I'm going to keep a list of some of the
more unusual questions I've got. Several people have said, "Did
you have to leave?" The answer is, no, I didn't get fired.
This is a voluntary choice. The school has been wonderful about
saying that, if we believe we made a mistake, we can come back
and they'll try and find something for us. I often get the
question of, "Why are you leaving?" There's no simple answer to
that. It's really about family and lifestyle. I like to say
I'm trading traffic for trees and that I like college basketball
better than college football. But also it's a choice of where
we think it would be best to raise our children. Also, after
twenty years, change is good thing.

Philip Bruce>> Now you've been critical of things in Los
Angeles when you felt that criticism was due, the police
department being one of those areas. What are your thoughts
overall as you're leaving Los Angeles about this city? Are you
optimistic about Los Angeles?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> I think in so many ways Los Angeles is the
most wonderful city in the country. I start, of course, with
the climate. I look at the tremendous diversity of Los Angeles.
Everything is here in this city. I think the problems of Los
Angeles are a microcosm for the problems that our country faces.
On the other hand, there are things about Los Angeles that are
difficult and getting worse.

The traffic situation gets worse every year. I think there are
problems with the Los Angeles schools. I have two children in
public school in Los Angeles. They're wonderful schools, but I
also see schools where they run out of supply money in March. I
saw when my son moved from third grade where there were forty
kids to a teacher. The fourth grade went to fifty-four kids to
a teacher. I think the problems with public service in Los
Angeles are enormous and they too are just getting worse every
year.

Philip Bruce>> As you point out, you've been at USC for twenty-
one years. It's been that long since you've had a new adventure
like this. What were your thoughts when you came to Los Angeles
twenty-one years ago?

Erwin Chemerinsky>> I was a professor at DePaul and got an
offer to visit at USC and also several other law schools to
visit. I came to USC to see what it was like and immediately
fell in love with the city and its climate and the university.
They made me a permanent offer to join the faculty and I
immediately accepted it the day that it was made. I've never
regretted it for an instant.

Philip Bruce>> It's been great dealing with you in various
capacities over the years and you've had a legacy that will live
on even though you're not here in Los Angeles anymore. We wish
you so well. Good luck to you and take care.

Erwin Chemerinsky>> Thank you, thank you.

To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us
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Val>> How many times have you turned on television news and
seen animal control officers chasing a bear or trying to track a
mountain lion or some other wild animal that's gotten a little
too close to our neighborhoods? Well, as Southern California's
population spreads out, it's become a serious problem for people
and for the animals. We thought we'd open up the Life and Times
Vault for another look at a place where nature routinely bumps
into civilization. As Philip Bruce reported back in 2001, it's
a crossroads that's created a huge challenge for one town in the
San Gabriel Valley.

Philip Bruce>> The wide open spaces of Southern California
aren't nearly as wide or open as they used to be, but on the
edge of Los Angeles's urban sprawl, there's at least one stretch
of close-in wilderness that's barely been touched by human
hands. And speaking of barely --

>> A bear. A bear. There's a bear right there.

Philip Bruce>> You might have thought black bears were a
vanishing part of California's past, but this mother and her
cubs beg to disagree. As this vanload of visitors discovered,
the bears are alive and well in a range of urban hills less than
twenty miles from downtown Los Angeles.

>> No, look right here. Three. Three of them.

Robert Kastenbaum>> It was quite startling, obviously, because
it was almost like a Disneyland tour where you see wild habitat.
But in this case, it really was wild.

Philip Bruce>> Robert Kastenbaum was there that day last
November when the bears came out and, while it was a big
surprise, it was just what he needed to build a stronger case:
that these hills should be taken out of private hands and set
aside forever as a wilderness preserve. Kastenbaum works for
the city of Monrovia, a foothill suburb of about 40,000 people
just east of Los Angeles.

The mountain range in question, part of the San Gabriels, is
only about five minutes from Monrovia's bustling downtown area.
Last year, voters here passed a tax increase so they could buy
the hills and save them from developers. But the $10 million
dollars the tax will raise is only about half of what the town
needs to make the purchase, so Kastenbaum is out looking for the
rest of the money, hoping to convince the state, the feds and
nature-lovers of all kinds to get involved.

Robert Kastenbaum>> By preserving this for Monrovia, you're
preserving this for Southern California. You're preserving this
for a much wider area in terms of something that is unique.
It's something that isn't going to stay forever unless some
specific action is taken, so it's really preserving something
for mankind.

Philip Bruce>> There's a lot more at stake here than preserving
some open space for the city of Monrovia. This land comprises a
major wildlife corridor connecting civilization with some of the
most pristine parts of the Angeles National Forest. That's why
you see so many animals here. And even when you can't see them,
there are plenty of signs that the animals are not far away.

The first tip-off comes from the utility poles that run across
this mountain ridge. Take a close look at what's hanging from
one of the splinters. It's bear hair and there's lots of it out
here. And there's something even more obvious. Gouges and bear
claw marks on those same poles. What all of this means is that
the land Monrovia wants to preserve is one of the most active
bear habitats in Southern California and, if you don't believe
the clues, maybe you'll believe Gary Potter. The bears drop by
his back yard every so often for a dip in the pool.

Gary Potter>> Well, this is real common for the cubs to come
over here and swim around and play and run out, jump and run up
and down this tree.

Philip Bruce>> Potter doesn't just have stories. He has
pictures to prove the tale, years of home video showing families
of black bears having fun in the sun. His back yard is just on
the edge of the hills Monrovia wants to preserve. Hiding behind
a sliding glass door on his back yard patio, Potter has compiled
a remarkable video record of the wildlife that's both
entertaining and compelling. Home movies not just of California
black bears, but of bobcats, foxes, deer and, most recently, a
mountain lion.

Gary Potter>> I don't know why the population has increased so
much. It seems like it's increased so much in the last ten or
so years since we've been here. I grew up in the city and I've
never seen anything like this and I don't know why there seems
to be so much, the bears specifically, and the lions and stuff
that we're seeing now, and the deer. We never saw that. Now we
see deer almost downtown some days.

Philip Bruce>> Potter is well-known in these parts for the big
bear named Samson who showed up several years ago in his back
yard spa. Eventually, the bear got sick and was on the verge of
dying. Samson survived mainly because Potter launched a
citywide campaign to save the bear. Now the fate of all these
other animals may depend on Monrovia's ability to buy the
wilderness from private developers before they can start using
the land to build million dollar homes.

Philip Bruce>> If you suddenly threw two hundred new homes into
the mix here, what impact would that have?

Gary Potter>> It would be tough. I mean, where are these
animals going to go? Somewhere. This obviously is a corridor
to someplace through here.

Philip Bruce>> The animals have already gotten the squeeze from
hillside developers in neighboring towns such as Arcadia where
the wilderness is now dotted by mansions with a view. This land
in Monrovia was spared largely because the local real estate
market tanked before the developers could get busy.

Lara Blakely>> The bad economy was good for Monrovia in terms
of our foothills. It saved our foothills and our environment
and it saved our wildlife.

Philip Bruce>> Now that the economy is once again booming,
Councilwoman Lara Blakely says the developers have an incentive
to build, that is unless the city can come up with the cash to
buy the land.

Lara Blakely>> We really appreciate what we have up there, the
uniqueness of Monrovia, and the fact that it's our last frontier
and it's unlike other communities along the foothills.

Philip Bruce>> But as Monrovia looks to the state for help,
people here worry that politicians may be too consumed with
matters such as the California energy crisis to pay much
attention to a few bears. That's Gary Potter's biggest fear,
that all of this could easily just fade away.

Gary Potter>> Yeah, I'd say we're not really over the hump yet.
You know, I think a lot of it will be developed, but I think
this has cut it down to where the impact won't be quite so bad.
Unfortunately, in my area right here, it may be a little too
late. We were kind of excluded from that big program. I hate
to look out here and think there's going to be twenty-one houses
behind that bush here someday, but hopefully something will
happen that will help that.

Val>> Since that story first aired, Gary Potter's friend,
Samson the bear, has died. But wildlife of all kinds continues
to roam those same hills. And that's our program. I'm Val
Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching.
We'll see you next time.

Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> Next time on Life and Times, nature gave him a huge
challenge, but this teacher has turned a physical handicap into
a tool for inspiring his students.

>> If we say like, Mr. Gallagher, we can't do this, he'll be
like, look at me. I know you can do it. If I made it through
my life like this, I know you can make it through your life
normal.

Val>> That's next time on Life and Times.