After Dorner claim, other fired LAPD cops want cases reviewed

In the wake of Christopher Dorner's claim that his firing from the Los Angeles Police Department was a result of corruption and bias, more than three dozen other fired LAPD cops want department officials to review their cases.

The 40 requests, which were tallied by the union that represents rank-and-file officers, have come in the two months since Dorner sought revenge for his 2009 firing by targeting police officers and their families in a killing rampage that left four dead and others injured.

Dorner's allegations of a department plagued by racism and special interests left Chief Charlie Beck scrambling to stem a growing chorus of others who condemned Dorner's violence but said his complaints about the department were accurate. To assuage concerns, Beck vowed to re-examine the cases of other former officers who believed they had been wrongly expelled from the force.

Now, details of how the department plans to make good on Beck's offer are becoming clear. And, for at least some of the disgruntled ex-officers, they will be disappointing.

In letters to those wishing to have their case reviewed, department officials explain that the city's charter, which spells out the authority granted to various public officials, prevents the police chief from opening new disciplinary proceedings for an officer fired more than three years ago.

"Therefore the Department does not have the power to reinstate officers whose terminations occurred more than three years ago," wrote Gerald Chaleff, the LAPD's special assistant for constitutional policing. "You are being informed of this to forestall any misconceptions about the power of the department."

The reviews remain one of the unsettled postscripts to the Dorner saga. In February, three years after he was fired for allegedly fabricating a story about his partner inappropriately kicking a handcuffed suspect, Dorner resurfaced in violent fashion, bent on seeking revenge for his ouster.

After killing the daughter of the attorney who defended him at his disciplinary hearing and her fiance, Dorner killed two police officers and wounded three other people as he evaded capture during a massive manhunt. After more than a week on the run, Dorner was chased into a cabin in the mountains near Big Bear, where he died from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Dorner had posted online an angry manifesto of sorts in which he claimed that he had been a victim of a racist, corrupt police organization that protects its favored officers at the expense of those trying to report abuses. Those accusations tapped into deep wells of discontent and distrust that officers and minority communities have felt toward the department. Beck sought to reassure doubters that years of reforms had changed the department and buried the "ghosts" of the past. He then offered to review past discipline cases.

Fired officers who wish to have their terminations re-examined must first submit an affidavit or similar declaration within two months of receiving the letter from Chaleff, according to a copy obtained by The Times. The letter was sent in recent weeks to the former officers who have already come forward.

Using "clear and convincing language," the letter instructs ex-officers to explain "the new evidence or change in circumstances that would justify a re-examination of your termination."

LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Chaleff will conduct a review for anyone who follows the rules laid out in the letter. "We will do whatever it takes on the cases, including redoing interviews, if necessary," he wrote in an email.

The department and the Protective League declined to release the names of former officers who have requested reviews.

Gary Ingemunson, a longtime attorney for the League, used the case reviews as an opportunity to revive the League's perennial criticism that disciplinary hearings, called Boards of Rights, are stacked against officers.

"The Board of Rights system could be fair, but for the last few years the Department has consistently outdone itself in the attempt to completely skew the system against the officer. The Department wants to win. End of story," Ingemunson wrote in a column in the current issue of the union's monthly magazine.

One of the problems, Ingemunson and other union lawyers have said, is the makeup of the three-person panels that decide an officer's fate. Two of judges are senior-level LAPD officers, while the third is a civilian.

According to the critics, that arrangement is unfair because officers are sent to boards whenever the chief wants them fired and the officers on the panel will feel pressure to do as the chief wants.

Smith rejected that idea, saying board members are completely free to decide as they see fit. He pointed to department figures showing that over the last three years, officers sent by the chief to Boards of Rights were fired in only about 60% of the cases.

Smith defended the department's disciplinary system in general, saying it has been in place for decades and stood up under repeated scrutiny by oversight bodies.

Another allowance Beck made after Dorner's rampage, Smith noted, was to launch a broad review of disciplinary procedures to identify areas that officers believe are unfair and possibly make changes to address those concerns.

joel.rubin@latimes.com

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Trial for 1987 slaying of Jimmy Casino to wrap up

He was a smooth-talking swindler who operated Orange County's most notorious and lucrative strip club, the Mustang Topless Theater.

Born James Stockwell, he rebranded himself Jimmy Casino and lived the extravagant lifestyle of a character from an Elmore Leonard novel. Expensive cowboy couture. Luxury cars. Enemies who wanted him dead.

After years of staying a step ahead of the law and the people whom he owed money, Casino, 48, was ambushed at his Buena Park condo Jan. 2, 1987.

"We're getting paid to do this," one of the two gunmen allegedly said.

They raped Casino's 22-year-old girlfriend. Then they pumped three bullets into the back of his head with a silencer-equipped handgun before making off with credit cards, fur coats, jewelry and two of his cars.

For more than two decades, Casino's death remained one of Orange County's most intriguing unsolved crimes.

But investigators kept the heat on the cold case. In 2008, using DNA matching technology not available at the time of the shooting, they arrested 59-year-old Richard Morris Jr. in Hawaii, charging him with murder.

Now, a quarter of a century after Casino was gunned down, Morris' trial is set to wrap up this week in Orange County Superior Court with jurors deciding his fate. If convicted he faces life in prison without parole. A second suspect remains at large.

These days, Morris looks like an aging biker — slightly pudgy with a droopy mustache and a long ponytail. But back in the day, prosecutors say, , he was a violent criminal and cold-blooded hired hand.

"He was a street thug and a heroin addict," Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Murray said. "He was a nobody."

Casino's slaying was front-page news replete with the titillating elements of a pulp novel — mobsters, hit men, prostitution, extortion.

Morris' two-week murder trial, by contrast, has largely played out to an empty courtroom and the esoteric science of DNA matching — laboratory protocols, negative controls, electropherograms.

After one recess following a detailed cross-examination of a crime lab employee over data displayed on an overhead projector, Judge Francisco Briseno rhetorically asked jurors how they were holding up.

Morris' attorney, assistant public defender Martin Schwarz, argued to jurors that DNA collected from the rape victim was mishandled over the years and misinterpreted by the county's crime lab. Morris' DNA was obtained in Hawaii after he was picked up on suspicion of driving under the influence.

"Popular culture has shaped peoples' perception of DNA as being infallible," Schwarz said. "It's a powerful crime-fighting tool. but it's only as good as the evidence itself.... There's also a subjective component to DNA analysis."

Schwarz also placed into evidence what he described as a 2004 recorded confession by a man, now dead, who told investigators he was hired by one of Casino's business associates to kill him.

Casino's death in 1987 was the opening salvo in a battle for control of the Mustang strip club in Santa Ana, which grossed $150,000 a month and had ties to organized crime.

Over the next 15 months, a financial backer of the Mustang was shot and blinded by a Los Angeles mob underboss who was convicted of attempted murder. Mustang bouncer "Big" George Yudzevich — a 6-foot-7 slab of intimidation who also happened to be an FBI informant — was shot to death in an Irvine industrial park; no one was ever charged.

Who ordered Casino's murder may never be proven. He had served time for fraud, extortion and other crimes and made more than a few enemies. He also liked to insinuate to others that he had juice with the mob.

"There have been all kinds of theories," Murray said

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New courtroom drama over Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson's death nearly four years ago has been the subject of intense curiosity, endless media speculation and even a dramatic courtroom drama in which the King of Pop's doctor was found guilty of causing his death.

But all that may end up being a warm-up act for the legal showdown set to begin Monday .

In a wrongful death lawsuit, the singer's mother and three children accuse concert promoter Anschutz Entertainment Group of threatening to end Jackson's career if he failed to deliver on a series of comeback concerts in London and hiring the doctor who was later convicted of giving the singer a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol.

The witness list is extensive and star-studded: Prince, Spike Lee, Quincy Jones, Diana Ross. And because the case will play out in civil court, experts said both sides would be allowed to introduce evidence not permitted in the criminal trial of Jackson's doctor.

The trial could last deep into the summer, and getting to a verdict will probably take a tour through the sensational: The singer's excursions into drug use, his deepening debt and a re-telling of the child molestation accusations that followed him.

Though the lawsuit doesn't seek a specific dollar amount, it could run into the billions. The case also pits the lasting celebrity of one of the world's best-known performers against AEG, the entertainment powerhouse that owns clubs, stadiums, arenas and sports franchises around the world.

The suit alleges that AEG "hired and controlled" Dr. Conrad Murray, who — while trying to help his insomniac patient sleep — gave Jackson a fatal dose of a drug normally reserved for medical settings. AEG knew of Jackson's fragile health, the suit contends, but put its desire for profits ahead of his safety. Murray is now serving time for involuntary manslaughter.

"A severely, visibly ill pop star with a known history of drug problems, a financially desperate doctor who demanded highly unusual, life-saving medical equipment, and enormous pressure on the doctor to ensure the pop star's performance (instead of his well-being)," the Jackson family's attorneys wrote in court documents.

"AEG should have realized this was a dangerous cocktail."

The entertainment firm, along with company executives, argues that it was Jackson who hired Murray and insisted on him as his doctor as the "This Is It" concerts approached.

"The basic standoff is going to be Michael Jackson being the author of his own demise, versus a profit-maximizing, greedy even, commercial enterprise exercising its control," said Jody Armour, a USC law professor.

The company is also one of the most important political players in Los Angeles, building LA Live and the Staples Center and working with the city to build a downtown football stadium in an effort to attract a professional team. But AEG has been in upheaval for months, with owner Philip Anschutz putting it on the market and then just as suddenly pulling it off.

In many ways, Jackson himself will be put on the stand. Not only do the plaintiffs have to persuade jurors that AEG is to blame for his death, but to show how much he would have earned had he lived. AEG will try to prove that not only is it not to blame, but that Jackson's erratic behavior had diminished his earning power.

There could be testimony about Jackson's colorful lifestyle, the child molestation allegations — including a multimillion-dollar settlement with a 12-year-old accuser — and the financial problems that left him hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

"All sorts of things will be let in that weren't let in at the criminal trial," said Stanley Goldman, a professor at Loyola Law School. "There's much more chance of a celebrity-filled, gossipy circus."

Beyond the celebrities on the witness list, attorneys have indicated they may call both of Jackson's former wives to the stand, including Lisa Marie Presley. Much of Jackson's family — his children, his mother, his siblings — are on the witness list, as is Anschutz, the reclusive billionaire who owns AEG.

Doctors will testify about Jackson's health, and accountants and financial advisors will talk about his money problems and what he stood to make in the AEG deal, or lose if he pulled out.

According to its contract with the entertainer, AEG advanced Jackson close to $30 million, which included a $15-million line of credit, a $5-million advance, $7.5 million to cover production costs to mount the shows and rent for a $100,000-a-month Holmby Hills mansion.

If the singer failed to generate enough money to pay back the loans, according to the lawsuit, AEG could seize his assets, among them a valuable song catalog that includes titles by the Beatles, Aretha Franklin and the Jackson family.

The trial "is going to generate tremendous publicity worldwide because Michael was the best-known celebrity on the planet while alive," said Thomas Mesereau, who defended Jackson in the 2005 child molestation case.

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For girl's paternal grandparents, a costly custody delay

Two families, both loving and stable, are vying to adopt a 4-year-old girl with strawberry blond hair and large blue eyes. One is certain to be broken-hearted.

The tug of war began in May 2011, when Los Angeles County child protection authorities took the girl away from her drug-addicted mother and placed her in a foster home. Five weeks later, her paternal grandparents found out and moved to get her back.

But the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services sat on the couple's paperwork for nearly a year, according to a claim they have filed against the county. As the months dragged on and the child grew close to the foster parents, the grandparents' chances dimmed.

"The likelihood that we can get her is very slim because she has been away from us for so long and has bonded with the foster family," said Carol Vos, 45, who is married to the girl's grandfather, Daniel, 50. "But we still have hope. We are not giving up."

The Voses have three children ages 13, 11 and 9 and live in a tidy four-bedroom bungalow with a large yard in East Long Beach. Carol is a full-time homemaker and Daniel is a union ironworker. A small room with a bay window awaits their granddaughter. Her red wagon sits on the front porch.

But because of the county's alleged blunder, the girl may be adopted by her foster family. A juvenile dependency court must decide what is in her best interest, and the fact that she has lived with the other family for nearly two years will strongly weigh in their favor, lawyers involved in such cases said.

Donnie Cox, the lawyer who filed the claim (a precursor to a lawsuit), said the Voses almost certainly would have their granddaughter now if the county had followed the law — first by looking for relatives who wanted the child and then by processing the paperwork in a timely fashion.

"The county dropped the ball, and as a result, these people are going to lose their granddaughter, and a little girl is going to lose her family," Cox said.

The girl is the daughter of Daniel's son, whose mother died when he was 7. The son was an addict and is now in jail, Carol said. He and the child's mother are expected to lose all parental rights, possibly as early as Monday during a scheduled court hearing.

Neil Zanville, a spokesman for children's services, said he could not comment on the case. But he said the agency does try to place children with relatives when possible.

"It is our policy, first and foremost, when we move children from caregivers, that we will ask about blood relatives who are available," Zanville said. "If the relatives don't pan out for any reason, the children would go to a foster home."

The foster parents did not respond to requests for an interview, and their attorney refused to comment. A lawyer for the county did not return requests for comment.

Carol said she learned something was amiss when the girl's mother stopped returning her phone calls. Carol went to the girl's home twice — only a couple of miles away — but no one answered the door.

Daniel's son later told him that the child was in foster care. Carol said she immediately began making telephone calls, and within 40 minutes had the girl's social worker on the line.

"Her first words to me were, 'Who are you? Where did you come from?'" Vos said.

During their first appointment the next week, the Voses expressed their desire to adopt their granddaughter. Carol said the social worker was discouraging. "I hate to take her out of the home she is in," Carol quoted the social worker as saying. "She is in a really good home with good people."

Daniel, a recovered addict, told the county worker that he had a 20-year-old record for drug possession and a battery conviction for brawling. "My sobriety date is Oct. 10, and it will be 20 years," he said.

The couple said they gave the social worker everything she requested, including multiple letters of recommendation and copies of Daniel's court records. Carol said she attended the hearings and regularly called the social worker to find out the status of their application. She said she was always told that it was under review.

After waiting nearly a year for approval, the grandparents learned from a second social worker that their application had not been processed, Carol said. The first social worker had retired.

With a new social worker on the case, the Voses' application process moved swiftly. The couple also hired lawyers, a step they wish they had taken earlier.

But county social workers have told the court that the girl has bonded with her foster family, and a court commissioner has so far ruled in favor of the foster parents.

"We are a stable family, a good family," Carol Vos said. "How can they take her and just drop her into someone else's family?"

maura.dolan@latimes.com

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Gov. Brown as Robin Hood

Now we know what Gov. Jerry Brown really cares about — what gets him riled and raring to rumble.

"The battle of their lives," he promises opponents. "This is a cause."

When a governor bares his soul like that, not only is he waving a nasty stick, he's tacking up a big sign that reads, "Name your price."

Brown's passion: pouring more tax money into inner-city schools at the expense of the suburbs.

It's not that simple, of course. Nothing about California school finance is.

Not all urban districts would benefit from Brown's school funding redistribution scheme. Oakland Unified, for example. Brown's hometown, where he was mayor, would get shortchanged.

Oakland's schools would receive $228 less per pupil under his plan when fully implemented than under the current funding formula, according to the state education department. The governor's own budget office also shows Oakland as a loser.

So the governor might want to tweak his proposal to eliminate at least one unintended consequence.

Brown's plan would allot significantly more money for districts with large percentages of poor children — those eligible for subsidized lunches — and English learners. But that would mean less than otherwise for middle-class and better-off districts where the vast majority of kids speak English at home.

Among the 50 largest districts, more than half would be losers under Brown's plan, based on education department calculations.

Winners would include Los Angeles Unified, Compton, Fontana, Garden Grove, Long Beach, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Ana, Bakersfield and Stockton.

These districts would be losers: Anaheim, Capistrano, Chino, Chula Vista, Glendale, Irvine, Montebello, Mt. Diablo, Placentia-Yorba Linda, Pomona, Poway, Saddleback, San Jose, San Ramon Valley, Temecula and Torrance.

In the capital, Sacramento City Unified would be a winner. But in the adjacent 'burbs, Elk Grove and San Juan would be losers.

It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul, with the robber fancying himself as a Robin Hood.

"This is a matter of equity and civil rights," Brown told reporters last week. "Whatever we have to bring to bear in this battle, we're bringing it. So you can write that down in your notepads. I am going to fight as hard as I can….

"The question is, do we want to try to take care of the biggest challenge facing California, and that's the two-tier society?"

Problem is, most schools were hit hard by Sacramento budget-cutting during the recession, their funding whacked by more than 20%. Class sizes grew. Counselors and librarians were fired. Art and music suffered.

Because of unanticipated income tax receipts, the state may be generating an extra $4 billion for schools this year. But that wouldn't come close to healing their recession wounds. And Brown's plan would make the road to recovery much longer for many.

"A lot of districts will be hard-pressed to get back to 2007-08 spending levels and are concerned we could go into another recession before they do," says Mike Ricketts, a longtime education numbers cruncher who is with School Services of California, a consulting firm. "Everybody has gotten hurt and we need to do something that starts to fix things for everyone."

For years, California has ranked near the bottom nationally in per-pupil spending. Under Brown's plan, Ricketts says, "Some schools would move up to 46th and some would fall to 50th. Are any appropriately funded?

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L.A. council race leads to confrontation in Little Armenia

When two groups supporting rival Los Angeles City Council candidates met on a street in Little Armenia last week, an afternoon of vote canvassing turned into an altercation.

Two 17-year-old campaign workers for candidate John Choi claim they were stopped and threatened with violence by two men who are backing Mitch O'Farrell, Choi's opponent in the 13th Council District race. They allege that after they called a supervisor to come to the scene, a third man then approached and brandished a gun.

Supporters of O'Farrell deny that account, saying it was the Choi workers who sparked the confrontation by falsely claiming that a prominent Armenian American leader had endorsed Choi. They insist they have nothing to do with the man who flashed the gun.

The incident, which is being investigated by police, marks a rough-and-tumble turn in the race to replace Councilman Eric Garcetti, who is now running for mayor.

For months, the narrative of the council election has focused on the differences between O'Farrell, who served on Garcetti's council staff for 10 years, and Choi, a former labor leader and Board of Public Works commissioner. But the skirmish last week has focused attention on Little Armenia, a working-class neighborhood east of Hollywood that has emerged as a battleground for votes.

During the crowded primary campaign, candidate Sam Kbushyan surprised many in the political establishment when he came in third, placing higher than several other contenders with more money and City Hall support.

Kbushyan credits his good showing with his effort to register nearly 3,000 new voters in the Little Armenia neighborhood. But with him out of the race, those votes are up for grabs. "It's like somebody found a gold mine," said, Kbushyan, who is now backing O'Farrell and has asked his supporters to do the same.

It was his father and another former supporter who were involved in last Monday's dispute. Kbushyan says his father is "a civilized man" and would never threaten the teenagers, but Choi's campaign has seized on the incident, calling a news conference Friday at the spot on Normandie Avenue where the confrontation occurred.

Speaking to journalists, Choi asked for an apology from O'Farrell and demanded that he "get his campaign under control." Choi supporter Sandra Figueroa Villa, who runs an Echo Park nonprofit, criticized O'Farrell for "using violence and intimidation tactics."

An O'Farrell spokeswoman said the Choi campaign is giving out false information and emphasized that O'Farrell does not condone violence. "He would never promote violence, ever," said spokeswoman Renee Nahum. "It's dangerous for Mr. Choi to make these kinds of claims."

She noted that Monday's incident was not the only allegation of electoral intimidation that has emerged from the community in recent weeks.

The O'Farrell campaign has compiled written testimony from several voters who say they were told not to support O'Farrell because he is gay. The campaign also asserts that Choi canvassers have been falsely telling voters that Kbushyan has endorsed Choi.

In the meantime, a business owner who put a Choi campaign sign in his window claims he was told to take it down because Choi is "anti-Armenian." Choi supporters say other voters say they have been told the same thing.

Both campaigns deny the others' accusations. But tensions have reached such a point that Councilman Paul Krekorian, an Armenian American who represents parts of the San Fernando Valley, issued a statement Friday calling for peace.

Krekorian, who has endorsed Choi, said he hopes both candidates "work together to prevent any more intimidation tactics." In an interview, he said allegations of intimidation are worrisome because some Armenian immigrants came to the United States with a deep distrust of the democratic political process.

On the council, Krekorian has passed legislation requiring the city to conduct voter outreach in Armenian communities in an effort to convince people "that they have nothing to fear by exercising their rights," he said. "It infuriates me when a few would try to subvert that growth and that empowerment."

The recent conflicts underscore the complexity of the 13th Council District, which stretches from Hollywood to Echo Park. The district takes in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods such as Silver Lake and Atwater Village as well as Thai Town, Little Bangladesh and Historic Filipinotown. 

The O'Farrell campaign alleges that the political battle unfolding in Little Armenia has more to do with existing divisions within the community than it does with the candidates.

Although many Armenians who live in east Hollywood immigrated from Armenia and Russia, many of those who live in Pasadena and Glendale migrated from Lebanon, Iran or other places where Armenians settled after genocide in the early 1900s. Those groups don't always get along, and O'Farrell supporters have accused Choi's campaign of bringing in Armenians from other parts of the city to sway the local election. Choi's campaign says it has many local campaign workers, as well.

With less than a month left before the May 21 election, and mail-in ballots going out to voters, both campaigns are stepping up their ground game in Little Armenia. Last week Choi and O'Farrell both appeared at events marking the Armenian genocide, and at Choi's headquarters at Hollywood Boulevard and Wilton Place, campaign workers have prominently displayed a list of "Armenian talking points."

The candidates will be face to face May 5 at a forum in Silver Lake.

kate.linthicum@latimes.com

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Unfinished big-ticket Rose Bowl seating selling fast

The Rose Bowl's new premium seating pavilion has yet to open, but stadium officials say seats are already selling fast.

Construction of pavilion and press box levels on the stadium's west side has been the most significant — and expensive — aspect of ongoing stadium renovations now priced at $181 million.

The renovation was originally billed as a $152-million effort in 2010, but projected costs climbed to nearly $195 million before city officials down-scaled some planned improvements earlier this year.

The pavilion, expected to cost about $84 million, was the source of about $31 million in unanticipated costs, according to stadium documents.

Officials blamed overruns on faulty architectural records that hid costly construction challenges and an accelerated work schedule to accommodate the UCLA football season. Now that installation of escalators and scattered design elements are all that remain, city leaders are breathing a sigh of relief.

"I think we're definitely over the hump," Pasadena City Councilwoman Margaret McAustin said. "This is a very important milestone for the Rose Bowl and the city."

The 185,000-square-foot, tri-level pavilion replaces roughly 50,000 square feet of press box and archaic luxury suites with two glass-walled press areas and various patron amenities designed to boost long-term revenue and keep the 1922 stadium competitive with newer venues, Rose Bowl Chief Operations Officer George Cunningham said.

The expanded layout features 48 midfield loge boxes with access to a shared indoor loge lounge below 54 indoor/outdoor luxury suites on two upper levels. Flanking loges and suites are 1,199 club seats on two levels with access to a pair of club lounges.

Extending stadium walls also made room for a new upper concourse with concession sales for ticket holders directly below the pavilion.

Revenue generated by suites, loges and club seats is expected to exceed $7 million per year, said Cory Shakarian, vice president of Legends, a company hired by the Rose Bowl to market pavilion seating.

"We've come a long way," Shakarian said. "I think we're certainly going to hit $7 million. At this point we're approaching $5 million in sales, with 4 1/2 months leading into the UCLA season."

The stadium has already sold three-, seven- or 10-year leases for about 75% of the 16- to 30-person suites, with pricing at about $20,000 per year for the UCLA season or $47,500 to add in the Rose Bowl game, Shakarian said. Suites can also be rented during other events and on off days for business meetings and private parties.

Four-seat loges sell for $16,000 or more per season, and annual club seat access goes for upward of $2,000 per seat, with food and parking included in both options, Shakarian said.

The pavilion's completion — and the revenue it brings — "is a significant step toward ensuring the Rose Bowl contributes greatly to Pasadena's future," said Pasadena City Councilman Victor Gordo, president of the city-appointed Rose Bowl Operating Co.

"This construction project, like any other, has been difficult," he said. But "Pasadena will be proud of this stadium for generations to come."

The Rose Bowl will begin hosting private group tours in May and start public tours in June after pavilion escalators are completed and ground-level restrooms that were demolished last year are rebuilt, Cunningham said.

joe.piasecki@latimes.com

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For a piano teacher on Skype, lessons in the key of see

SAN GERONIMO, Calif. — Talc Tolchin ducks into the music studio he built behind his Marin County cottage, where the sun filters through a towering redwood tree and his daughter has dotted the flower beds with fairy houses. It's time for his next piano lesson.

An hour's drive northwest of San Francisco, this woodsy town tucked among rolling golden hills claims only 500 or so dispersed residents. But not all of Tolchin's students are close by. When it's time to greet his second student on a recent Friday, he reaches for the laptop perched on his upright piano and summons her — via Skype.

Madeline Sheron pops up, peering at Tolchin from under her dark bangs. They banter — about an app that offers piano, bass and drum accompaniment, adjusted for groove and tempo. Then they dive into "All of Me," the song Sheron had chosen in hopes of mastering jazz improvisation.

Her computer camera is aimed over her shoulder and Tolchin watches her left hand as it bops from sevenths to thirds. Tolchin has two cameras — one mounted on the ceiling so students can watch his hands, the other trained on his face.

"Go, girl!" he exclaims, tapping his foot as she masters the first turnaround.

Sheron was 200 miles away, in the Sierra Nevada ski town of Truckee. But she could just as well have been across the globe.

This is a music lesson, 2013-style, with tailored software, a growing array of videoconferencing platforms and, for Tolchin, a powerful cable Internet connection that on this day allowed him and Sheron to play their pianos simultaneously — with no delay.

It's not for everyone. The world of music instructors is filled with late technology adopters on such tight budgets that even basic equipment needed to conduct online lessons is a stretch, said Rachel Kramer, director of member development for the Cincinnati-based Music Teachers National Assn.

Then there's tradition. "There will be always be teachers who feel it would never ever work," she said.

But plenty are plunging in. Kramer rattled off examples: the saxophone teacher who plies his trade at schools during free periods and resorts to online lessons with those students during snow days. The pianist who spends months with her grandchild in California and has managed to hang on to many students remotely.

For the enthused, she said, "it's a philosophy: 'This can work.'"

::

An accomplished musician, Tolchin began examining new ways of teaching more than a quarter-century ago, when he produced one of the first series of instructional videos on the market. In time, he shifted to DVD, but competition coupled with free YouTube tutorials eventually slowed sales.

Next, the hippie-era New York transplant with wispy gray hair tried phone lessons. It worked for him, "but the students needed to see my fingers." Two years ago, he gussied up his computer setup.

Tolchin, 66, describes himself as "a facilitator, a coach, a trainer, sometimes a parent, sometimes a therapist."

He allows students to choose their music and guides them with intimacy, at their own pace. He promises a mix of "patient disciplining" combined with plenty of acknowledgment and enthusiasm. He loves guiding those with a passion for it into the realm of songwriting.

To him, teaching remotely doesn't change much.

"When you see someone's face, you see their doubt or their excitement," he said. "It's really about the person and the issues they have around performance, being accepted, worrying about being reprimanded. What I really do is develop a relationship."

All but one of his online students have been adults. One tuned in from northern Canada, where Tolchin couldn't help asking about frigid weather conditions. His long-term dream: to accrue enough remote students to one day move to Bali and teach from there.

Tolchin charges $50 per lesson, whether students show up in person or on screen. Most of his students come via personal referral, though he has also drawn some interest through his website. Of his 17 current students, however, only three study remotely.

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Letting non-citizens serve on juries: How can you oppose it?

By Robin Abcarian

April 26, 2013, 3:00 p.m.

Having served on my share of juries, including a six-week  legal malpractice trial over a Malibu real estate deal gone south that gives me a headache just to think about, I think the push to allow non-citizens to serve on California juries is kind of a genius move.

Is anyone excited to get a jury summons?

No, of course not. Like paying taxes and voting for the mayor of Los Angeles, it's one of the drudgeries that make our system great.

So why not make those want to partake of our country's way of life suffer like the rest of us. Let's make them endure the tedious obligation that is jury duty in most California counties. Misery loves company.

This week, the California Assembly became the first legislative body in the nation to approve a bill allowing non-citizens who are legal residents to join the jury pool. Like any citizen called for duty, they would have to be language proficient, 18 or older and residents of the county in which they are called. As The Times' Christopher Megerian reported, the bill "has two goals ... helping immigrants integrate into American society and ensuring there are enough eligible people to serve on juries."

The bill, introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski of Fremont, passed 45-25 and now heads to the California Senate.

Who in their right mind could oppose this bill?

Email: robin.abcarian@latimes.com

Twitter: @robinabcarian

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Mayor leaves L.A. in better shape than he found it

I couldn't have imagined saying this a few years ago, but I wish Antonio Villaraigosa could run again for mayor of Los Angeles.

You can look at broken promises and judge the mayor a flop: too many potholes, and not enough cops.

But I think his legacy is bigger than that. And most Angelenos, it seems, agree. More than half the voters surveyed by Times pollsters last week said they view Villaraigosa favorably.

That public endorsement shocked local pundits, who consider the mayor all style and no substance.

But style counts in Los Angeles. His ego may be bigger than his intellect, but the mayor has managed to leave his mark in ways that matter more than fixing sidewalk cracks.

He helped get us out of our cars and onto subways and bikes. His team took over some of the city's worst schools and showed that test scores could rise. He helped tamp down crime in struggling neighborhoods by bringing nighttime sports and arts to parks once claimed by gangs.

CicLAvia. Subway to the Sea. Summer Night Lights. The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. It isn't rocket science, but it is a reflection of the personality and passions of this particular mayor.

Villaraigosa swept into office eight years ago by trouncing dependably dull James Hahn, the incumbent whose signature accomplishment was hiring former LAPD Chief Bill Bratton.

The contrast was striking, with Villaraigosa showing that charisma counts, in measurable ways.

And with the election just three weeks away, I'd feel a lot better about the next four years if I glimpsed even a little pizazz from the candidates vying to replace him.

::

Villaraigosa was his grandiose best during his mayoral campaigns. He was going to plant a million trees, reform hundreds of city schools, put a thousand more police officers on the street.

He fell short on much of that. His effort to take over the school system failed. Money troubles limited hiring. And his sordid affair with a TV newscaster embarrassed the city and damaged his credibility.

And yet the city he'll hand over to his successor in June is better, busier and more alive than it was when he took the reins in 2005: Crime is down, school test scores are up, the city's budget shortfall has shrunk.

The mayor doesn't deserve credit for all of that. But he ought to get points for sowing seeds of a renaissance in a city accustomed to dull mediocrity as the status quo.

People rolled their eyes when Villaraigosa proposed closing streets to cars occasionally to make room for cyclists. Then hundreds of thousands of people on bikes turned CicLAvia into the city's most popular recurring street party.

The mayor's passions and programs are a product of his background:

He brought us CicLAvia after he broke his arm on a bike ride along busy Venice Boulevard. He launched Summer Night Lights because he knows what can happen to aimless, jobless, fatherless boys; he was one. He pushed for new blood in failing schools because he understands the power of one caring teacher to turn a student's life around.

And it was his outsize confidence in his own vision that helped shape the civic zeitgeist.

The drudgery of this campaign has brought our lively mayor into sharper focus. I found myself missing him already as I watched Villaraigosa charm supporters of the United Negro College Fund at its "Mayor's Masked Ball" fundraiser last month.

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'Super PACs' negate spending limits in L.A. mayor's race

Strict limits on campaign contributions imposed by voters nearly three decades ago are crumbling in the Los Angeles mayor's race, with big donors using loosely regulated "super PACs" to help candidates like never before in a citywide election, a Times analysis has found.

Of the $17.5 million collected so far to support mayoral hopefuls Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti, roughly one-third — a record $6.1 million — has gone into independent political action committees that can accept contributions of any size.

The rise of the parallel campaign finance system, awash in five- and six-figure donations that dwarf the limits approved by voters, has watchdogs of political influence sounding alarms.

GRAPHIC: Campaign contributions by special interest

"This is not the system that the reformers envisioned," said Benjamin Bycel, who was executive director of the city's Ethics Commission in the 1990s. The surge in independent campaign spending, he said, "essentially guts" laws setting contribution limits.

Many of the outsized PAC donations come from interests with a financial stake in City Hall decisions, including public employee unions looking to protect pay and benefits that have long used their financial might to elect political allies.

But increasingly, other donors — developers, entertainment moguls, philanthropists — are utilizing the system of limitless donations to promote their favored candidates.

The rise of the super PAC in L.A. city elections is another byproduct of U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have gradually diluted federal, state and local efforts to limit campaign contributions and spending. Los Angeles' ethics laws cap individual and company contributions in mayoral contests at $1,300 during the primary election and another $1,300 in a runoff, if one occurs.

For decades, the high court has held that unlimited spending by independent campaign groups — and unlimited donations to those entities by individuals and companies — is constitutionally protected free speech. The only real restriction: The advertising, polling and get-out-the vote activities funded by the PACs can't be coordinated with campaign operations controlled by the candidates.

Independent expenditures first became a significant factor in L.A.'s mayoral elections in 2001, when $1.9 million was spent by unions, billboard companies and other business interests in the contest between James Hahn and Antonio Villaraigosa. In a rematch four years later, the number jumped to $4.3 million.

A watershed came in 2008, when organized labor spent more than $8.5 million to elect state lawmaker Mark Ridley-Thomas to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. That was nearly nine times what Ridley-Thomas raised for his own campaign.

With mixed success, labor groups have been seeking to replicate that winning formula at City Hall and, this year, some prominent business interests have joined their efforts.

In the current mayor's race, two candidate super PACs — Working Californians for Wendy Greuel and Lots of People Who Support Eric Garcetti — have received the biggest share of the unlimited money, taking in five- and six-figure donations from unions, contractors, developers and others.

Garcetti is also getting help from the Committee for a Safer Los Angeles, created by Obama campaign fundraiser Samantha Millman. And Greuel has been assisted by a committee created and financed by EMILY's List, a Washington, D.C.-based group that backs Democratic women who favor abortion rights.

McCourt Group, headed by former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, has given $50,000 to Working Californians for Greuel, which is headed by officials with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the union that represents Department of Water and Power employees. McCourt is expected to develop property near the team's Chavez Ravine stadium.

Petrochem Manufacturing, which produces road resurfacing materials for the city, gave $10,000 to Working Californians. Construction management firm AECOM, which regularly seeks city contracts at the airport and harbor, gave $25,000 apiece to PACs backing Greuel and Garcetti. And Meruelo Enterprises, a company involved in real estate, banking and media, spent $34,500 to help Garcetti.

The biggest super PAC donations by far have come from organized labor. The DWP union, which is looking to negotiate a new contract, has put at least $1.45 million into Working Californians for Greuel. Another private-sector branch of the same union, which is pushing for a law allowing new digital billboards in Los Angeles, gave the committee $250,000. So did the city firefighters union, which opposed Garcetti's vote to reduce staffing at stations during a budget crisis.

"The bottom line is, we would have given the same amount of money whether it was Wendy or whether it was Eric," said Frank Lima, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles. "The members didn't go with Eric based on the cuts."

Unions have spent so much on Greuel — $3.5 million in unlimited donations, or more than nine times the amount for Garcetti — that their spending has threatened to become a drag on her campaign. In a USC Price/Los Angeles Times poll conducted last week, voters named Greuel as the candidate who cares more about unions representing city employees than about Los Angeles as a whole.

By comparison, organized labor, mostly private-sector unions, had given $382,000 in uncapped contributions to efforts to elect Garcetti. The Teamsters and longshore workers at the Port of Los Angeles contributed $100,000 each, and the supermarket clerks union, which is fighting a Wal-Mart supermarket in Chinatown, kicked in $50,000.

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UCLA professor to stand trial in death of assistant in lab fire

UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran was ordered Friday to stand trial on felony charges stemming from a laboratory fire that killed staff research assistant Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji more than four years ago.

Concluding a preliminary hearing that began late last year, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench denied a defense motion to dismiss the case, believed to be the first such prosecution involving a U.S. academic lab accident.

Harran, 43, is charged with willfully violating state occupational health and safety standards. If convicted, he faces up to 41/2 years in prison.

"We fully expect to vindicate professor Harran," defense attorney Thomas O'Brien said after the hearing. "This was an accident, a tragic accident. We have always maintained that, as the University of California has, and we expect him to be vindicated."

Sangji, 23, was not wearing a protective lab coat Dec. 29, 2008, when a plastic syringe she was using to transfer t-butyl lithium from one sealed container to another came apart, spewing a chemical compound that ignites when exposed to air. She suffered extensive burns and died 18 days later.

Harran is accused of failing to remedy unsafe work conditions in a timely manner, to require appropriate work clothing and to provide proper chemical safety training. He is to be arraigned May 9.

Identical charges against the University of California were dropped last July when the UC Board of Regents agreed to follow comprehensive safety measures and endow a $500,000 scholarship in Sangji's name.

In a statement Friday, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block offered the university's "unwavering" support for Harran. UCLA also is paying his legal bills.

Harran and UCLA have insisted that Sangji was an experienced chemist who was trained in the experiment and chose not to wear a protective lab coat. Harran's lawyers sought to bolster those contentions at the preliminary hearing and in a written motion to dismiss felony charges or reduce them to misdemeanors.

Among other things, they argued that Sangji, who'd graduated five months earlier from Pomona College in Claremont with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, was adequately trained by a senior researcher in Harran's lab.

Prosecutors said there was no evidence that anyone trained Sangji in the handling of the chemicals that set her synthetic sweater ablaze.

"The bottom line with regard to the lack of training provided by defendant Harran is that, if victim Sangji had been properly trained ... victim Sangji would be alive today," they wrote in court papers.

Harran's lawyers also contended that the university — not Harran — was Sangji's employer, that UCLA never spelled out his obligations under the state labor code, and that he did not willfully violate any laws.

In court papers, they said Harran is "devoted to promoting and protecting society" through his research involving cancer, obesity and other areas. They also said that he already had been punished since charges were filed in December 2011.

"His reputation has been significantly damaged," they wrote. "He faces the threat of loss of funding for his research and difficulties in recruiting and retaining graduate students and staff."

Prosecutors said that holding Harran to answer to felony charges will deter safety lapses at other labs. They said Harran had displayed a "roll the dice" attitude toward lab safety — and that Sangji paid for it.

"Sheri Sangji died, and she died a horrible death," Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Hum said in court. "This was an extremely tragic and horrible way to die, and the defendant needs to be punished for that."

kim.christensen@latimes.com

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California's medical board backs some prescription-drug-abuse reforms

The Medical Board of California on Friday embraced a host of reforms aimed at combating prescription drug abuse and reducing overdose deaths but balked at a proposal to strip it of its authority to investigate physician misconduct.

The board, meeting in Los Angeles, voted to support proposed legislation that would upgrade the state's prescription drug monitoring system, require coroners to report prescription drug overdose deaths to the board, and give the panel new power to halt a doctor's prescribing in some cases.

The pending legislation was inspired by an investigative series published in The Times last year that revealed that nearly half of the prescription drug deaths in four Southern California counties from 2006 through 2011 included at least one drug that had been prescribed by a doctor. The medical board was unaware of the vast majority of the deaths. In some cases, patients died while investigations into their doctors dragged on for months or years.

Although the board was supportive of those reforms, a proposal by two state legislators to transfer its investigators to the state attorney general's office was met with more resistance. Sen. Curren Price (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Richard Gordon (D-Menlo Park) said they think shifting investigative responsibilities to the state attorney general would foster cooperation between investigators and prosecutors and streamline the process.

Board members labeled the proposal "drastic" and "radical," though ultimately decided they did not have sufficient information to take a vote on the matter. Some members struck a defensive tone, blaming lawmakers and the media for failing to grasp the complexity of investigating and disciplining the state's 100,000-plus doctors.

"It's easy to assault us," said board member Reginald Low, adding, "there's no way the attorney general could take our investigators or hire their own and do what we do."

When it came to the board's performance, Low said, "I see the cup as half full, not half empty."

Fellow board member Gerrie Schipske seemed to agree.

"There's nobody who would say we can't improve," Schipske said. "But there's a witch hunt going on right now."

Others seemed to take a more introspective view.

Michael Bishop said he thought Price and Gordon were motivated by a sense of frustration with the status quo — the pair wrote a letter to the board earlier this month threatening to dissolve the panel if it did not become more proactive and show significant progress in its oversight role.

"What they are telling us is: This is your last chance. We've given you a lot of rope and you've hung yourself," Bishop told his colleagues.

"So far, the board just hasn't gotten it," Bishop added. "We need to get it."

The idea of placing investigators in the attorney general's office is not a new one.

A similar plan was proposed in 2004 by Julianne D'Angelo Fellmeth, a public interest lawyer who was appointed by the Legislature to examine the medical board's oversight of physicians. The plan was supported by then-Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, the medical board, the California Medical Assn. and other key players. Ultimately, however, there was political opposition to the idea and it was dropped from proposed legislation.

On Friday, Fellmeth told the board she still considers the transfer "the last best hope" for more timely investigations.

Board members agreed to further study the issues before taking an official position. They also discussed the need to better communicate with the public — and lawmakers — about what they do and how they do it.

To that end, they asked a top staff member to set up a meeting between Price and Gordon and board president Sharon Levine so they could discuss issues, including the proposed transfer of investigators, face to face.

Board member David Serrano Sewell told Levine he thought she needed to personally tell lawmakers of the board's plan for the future and to assure them of the board's commitment to seeing it through.

"It think that's what it's going to take," Sewell said.

In other business Friday, the board voted unanimously to create a task force to develop guidelines for the treatment of pain and the prescription of narcotic painkillers.

Notably absent from the board's discussion was the question of whether it would support the use of CURES, the state's prescription drug monitoring system, to look for problem doctors as well as drug-abusing patients.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called on state medical boards to use prescription data to do so, but the idea has been controversial among physician groups that fear it could have a chilling effect on legitimate prescribing.

Board member Barbara Yaroslavsky appeared to touch on the topic, talking about "the technology out there that allows us to know who is prescribing what to whom."

But the matter was dropped without further discussion.

lisa.girion@latimes.com

scott.glover@latimes.com

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L.A. Unified fight focuses on breakfast program

Los Angeles Unified will eliminate a classroom breakfast program serving nearly 200,000 children, reject more school police, cut administrators and scale back new construction projects unless the school board votes to approve them, according to Supt. John Deasy.

Heading into a fierce battle over funding priorities, Deasy said this week that he would give "maximum responsibility" to the board to decide between those programs and demands by United Teachers Los Angeles to restore jobs and increase pay.

In an April 12 memo obtained by the Times on Friday, Deasy outlined eight items the district would not fund without explicit board approval, including a request for an additional $1.4 million for KLCS-TV public television, small schools that are underenrolled and other unspecified programs.

But the proposed elimination of the breakfast program has drawn the most immediate backlash and pits two of the district's most influential labor unions against each other. Deasy said he proposed eliminating the classroom breakfasts, which were expanded from a small pilot program to 280 schools last year, after "UTLA made it very clear about how this program is a big problem."

UTLA, representing 35,000 teachers, nurses, librarians and others, will not back the program unless it is moved out of the classroom and concerns over lost teaching time and messes are addressed, according to Juan Ramirez, a union vice president. The union posted a video and poll findings on its website stating that more than half of 729 teachers surveyed said they disliked the program in part because it took an average 30 minutes to set up, feed the children and clean up. In a flier to parents, the union said the time lost to the breakfast program amounted to eight instructional days.

"We need to think of our students first, and our biggest concern is instructional time," Ramirez said, adding that the union was willing to seek an alternative nutrition method with district officials.

But Service Employees International Union, Local 99 said more than 900 cafeteria workers among nearly 45,000 school service employees it represents would lose their jobs if the program were eliminated. The union announced that it would begin a week of rallies at schools to save the classroom breakfasts, starting Tuesday at Hooper Avenue Elementary.

Courtni Pugh, Local 99's executive director, said that many of her workers were also L.A. Unified parents who would lose both jobs and extra nutritional opportunities for their children without the program.

The possibility of eliminating classroom breakfasts dumbfounded the program's supporters.

"We'd be out of our minds to cut something that is feeding hungry children," said Megan Chernin, a philanthropist who launched with Deasy the nonprofit Los Angeles Fund for Public Education. The nonprofit has contributed $200,000 to fund an eight-member administrative team to help train educators on how to roll out the program at their schools.

The program was launched to increase the number of children eating breakfast; only 29% of those eligible for free or discounted morning meals were actually eating them when served before school in the cafeteria. Now, 89% of children are eating breakfast and schools are reporting higher attendance, fewer tardies, greater student focus and decreased trips to the nurse's office, according to David Binkle, the district's food services director.

Binkle said the program has brought $6.1 million to the district this year in federal school breakfast reimbursements and that sum is projected to increase to $20 million if the program is expanded to more than 680 schools, as had been planned for the next two years.

Tufts University is evaluating the program and expects to have preliminary findings in the fall.

Deasy said he would recommend that the board restore the program and, in a statement Friday, said he was confident that the board would "enthusiastically and unanimously" do so at its May 14 meeting. But he said the fight over such programs and union demands for more jobs and higher pay would provoke "a very public and intense meeting" in May.

At least one board member, President Monica Garcia, said she would vote to continue the program. Charting a possible way forward were schools such as Malabar Elementary, where students ate together outside their classroom, Garcia said.

She said she wasn't enthralled by Deasy's abrupt move to throw the decisions to the board over classroom breakfasts, more school police and other individual items instead of past practices of bringing an overall recommended budget.

"It's not my favorite strategy, but I understand choices have to be made," she said.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

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20-foot boat that drifted to California is tsunami debris

The barnacle-covered boat with Japanese lettering spent 758 days at sea before it drifted onto a Northern California beach.

Nearly three weeks after the 20-foot boat washed ashore in Crescent City, about 20 miles south of the Oregon border, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined it was from the 2011 tsunami, the first confirmed debris to reach California.

Though official word didn't come until Thursday, a Humboldt State University professor used Facebook to connect the dots shortly after beachgoers discovered the boat April 7. Lori Dengler, who helped examine the craft, recognized the lettering after some of the barnacles were scraped away, the Del Norte Triplicate reported. The characters included "Takata High School" — a school in Rikuzentakata, a fishing town ravaged by the magnitude 9 quake and subsequent tsunami.

Dengler posted photos of the boat on the city's Facebook page, the newspaper reported. Soon after, a teacher confirmed that it belonged to the school.

Though nearly 1,700 pieces of debris have been reported to NOAA, the boat is only the 27^th item found that has definitively been traced back to Japan, said NOAA spokeswoman Keeley Belva. Other items include giant docks that washed ashore in Washington and central Oregon, and a Harley Davidson found in a container that reached British Columbia.

But the boat isn't the first item recovered from Rikuzentakata. A year ago, a soccer ball marked in Japanese was discovered on a remote Alaskan island and eventually traced to a 16-year-old Rikuzentakata boy who recognized it as his. The teenager said his family lost everything in the tsunami, which he escaped by running to higher ground with his dog.

The Japanese government guesses the earthquake and tsunami — which killed thousands and devastated the northern part of the country — swept somewhere around 5 million tons of debris into the Pacific Ocean, NOAA said. Although 70% of that was thought to have sunk quickly, an estimated 1.5 tons remained.

But given the amount of time that has passed since the tsunami, NOAA said it was unclear how much of that debris is still floating — or where it will show up.

"We think that it will probably trickle through as things go on," Belva said. "It's hard to say when anything will show up exactly — it depends on what it is, if something has broken down, weather patterns and currents. It really is challenging [to predict]."

It's also hard to say what debris is from the tsunami and what isn't, Belva said. Officials look for possible identifiers — such as lettering or boat registration numbers — and work with the Japanese government to try and pinpoint where the items originated.

The process takes digging, Belva said.

There are talks of returning the boat to Japan, but nothing has been decided yet, Belva said.

A Rikuzentakata spokeswoman told the Times-Standard in Eureka that the city was giddy to hear the boat had been found.

"Just to know it made it, just to know it made it across the Pacific, that's just one of these things in life that no one is prepared for — but in the best possible way," Amya Miller said. "That something made it across the ocean is beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful."

kate.mather@latimes.com

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L.A. County deputies allege department hid FBI informant

Two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies say the department hid an inmate working as a federal informant from the FBI, according to a lawsuit they filed this week.

The allegations are the latest development in the ongoing question of whether top sheriff's officials obstructed an FBI investigation after learning that an inmate at Men's Central Jail was secretly collecting information on allegedly abusive and corrupt deputies.

In the summer of 2011, sheriff's deputies discovered the inmate's cellphone with a history of calls to the FBI. In an unusual move, sheriff's officials responded by transferring the inmate, a convicted bank robber, to a different jail under aliases, including Robin Banks.

Department officials assigned at least 13 deputies to watch the inmate around the clock, according to documents reviewed by The Times, and dubbed it "Operation Pandora's Box."

A federal criminal grand jury has been probing whether sheriff's officials were hiding the inmate and the phone from the FBI, or whether they were simply protecting the inmate from retaliation by jail deputies he was "snitching" on, as a sheriff's spokesman has said.

In the lawsuit, the two deputies, both from the jail's intelligence unit, allege that after the inmate's status as an informant was discovered, they were told by their boss to do things that would "keep the FBI out of the jails." They allege that officials also considered doing surveillance of interview rooms when the FBI or informants were present.

The lawsuit is the first public claim by sheriff's employees that the intent was to hide the inmate, Anthony Brown.

The lawsuit was filed by Deputies James Sexton and Michael Rathbun. Sexton is the son of Sheriff Lee Baca's newly hired homeland security chief.

The Times has previously reported that the two deputies collided with their boss after they reported allegations that another deputy was working as an operative for drug-smuggling skinhead gang members. After writing a memo about the tip, their boss shared the contents of the memo with the accused deputy rather than forwarding it along to internal criminal investigators, who could have conducted a sting operation.

Both men allege they were retaliated against for reporting misconduct to the FBI and others. Sexton says he has been the victim of threats and intimidation.

Rathbun, who is on paid administrative leave, alleges that officials are seeking to fire him over a drunk driving offense. According to the suit, other deputies who committed such misconduct were punished less severely. A video of that incident reviewed by The Times shows the deputy was belligerent as he was questioned by colleagues afterward.

Sexton remains on active duty.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said department officials have cooperated fully with the federal investigation of the county's jails and said the two deputies were not retaliated against.

"The sheriff has made it clear throughout the department that there won't be any retaliation whatsoever," Whitmore said.

robert.faturechi@latimes.com

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Appeals panel voids case against Irwindale officials

Los Angeles County prosecutors failed to present grand jurors with evidence favorable to Irwindale officials before seeking an indictment in connection with lavish business trips that city officials took to New York, a panel of state appellate justices said Thursday.

The appeals court panel threw out the embezzlement counts against four Irwindale officials, who prosecutors said enjoyed meals at pricey restaurants, attended Broadway shows and saw baseball games paid for by the city during trips to meet with bond raters in an effort to obtain better bond ratings.

The appellate panel described the amount of money spent on the trips as "shocking" as well as "an abuse of the public trust and perhaps violative of certain criminal laws." The panel's opinion noted that one New York visit cost Irwindale more than $62,000 and included stays at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Central Park and tickets to the musical "Wicked."

But the panel's three justices also ruled that prosecutors should have presented two significant documents to the grand jury that might have undermined the district attorney's theory that the officials were "double dipping."

A prosecutor said district attorney's officials were reviewing the decision and would consider appealing or refiling charges against the Irwindale officials.

"We still believe that our case on the merits is strong," said Assistant Head Deputy Dist. Atty. Max Huntsman.

The appellate court's decision comes about a year after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy dismissed perjury and voter fraud charges against Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife, finding that the district attorney's Public Integrity Division failed to properly present the grand jury with evidence favorable to the couple.

Then-Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley sharply criticized the judge's ruling, and his office refiled the charges, which accuse the Alarcons of lying about living in a house in Panorama City so that the councilman could run for his 7th District seat. Last year, another judge ordered the couple to stand trial after listening to evidence at a preliminary hearing.

In the Irwindale case, public integrity prosecutors argued that three council members — Mark Breceda, Rosemary Ramirez and Manuel Garcia — were paid $75 daily allotments meant to cover meals and travel. Financial consultants initially paid for expenses on the New York trips, including the meals of city officials, and were later reimbursed by the city.

The justices wrote that prosecutors failed to show grand jurors documents in which the city manager explained that the daily allotments were to be paid even if meals had otherwise been paid for.

The documents "arguably would have shown that there was no deceit whatsoever," Justice Jeffrey W. Johnson wrote for the panel. "While greed and fraudulent intent may be siblings, they certainly are not identical twins."

The district attorney's office argued that the two prosecutors who presented the case to the grand jury — Huntsman and Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Schwartz — had not known about the documents. But the appellate justices said other district attorney's officials had known, including the lead investigator on the case.

"It is the duty of the office of the district attorney to gather all the information made available throughout the office and present that information to the grand jury," Johnson wrote in the opinion.

The district attorney's office initially charged Irwindale officials in 2010 with misappropriating public funds. In December 2011, prosecutors asked the grand jury to issue indictments for embezzlement against most of the same officials and the misappropriation charges were dismissed.

The appellate court on Thursday threw out the embezzlement counts against Breceda, Ramirez, Garcia and retired Finance Director Abe De Dios. Former City Manager Steve Blancarte pleaded guilty in 2011 to misappropriating public funds and paid $20,000 in restitution and fines.

De Dios' attorney, Daniel V. Nixon, said he and his client were pleased with the appellate court's ruling and believed "all along that the case should have been dismissed." Steven Graff Levine, who represents Garcia, said his client was gratified by the decision.

A single count against Ramirez remains, alleging that she attempted to dissuade a witness from testifying.

jack.leonard@latimes.com

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L.A. fire chief to shift firefighters from trucks to ambulances

Los Angeles Fire Chief Brian Cummings said Thursday he was pressing ahead with a controversial plan to move dozens of city firefighters from fire engines to ambulances, despite warnings from labor groups that the change would put lives at risk.

In the coming days, the chief plans to deploy 11 new ambulances by reassigning one firefighter per shift from 22 firetrucks across the city. Cummings says the department must adjust to fewer fires and a growing number of medical emergencies, and has limited funding to make the change.

"After asking for money and not receiving it, I am moving forward," he said.

Both candidates for mayor have expressed concern about the change.

City Controller Wendy Greuel, who has been endorsed by groups representing city firefighters and most commanders, said the new plan "continues to put our first responders and our communities at risk."

A spokesman for her rival, Eric Garcetti, said the councilman does not believe the changes should be implemented until the department can prove they make sense. "He wants to see the real data," spokesman Jeffrey Millman said.

Medical calls now account for more than 80% of 911 responses, and the chief says that figure is growing rapidly. In the first two months of this year, medical calls increased 6.2%, compared with the same period last year, Cummings recently reported.

Labor leaders said Thursday that the chief's plan was hastily drafted and thinly researched. They called on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council to provide more money to staff ambulances, rather than take firefighters from engines.

The firefighters' union president, Capt. Frank Lima, urged residents to complain to elected officials about cuts to the force in recent years. "It's time to speak up, it's time to get angry," he said.

He spoke at a news conference outside of the charred remains of a North Hollywood apartment where one person died and four others were injured earlier this week.

Two fewer firefighters would have responded to the blaze under Cummings plan, he said. "Without a doubt, there would have been more fatalities," he said.

Earlier in the day, labor officials tried unsuccessfully to persuade the Fire Commission to postpone the changes. Assistant Chief Andy Fox, president the Chief Officers' Assn., complained that Cummings had failed to show that firefighter safety would be protected.

"If you remove one firefighter, it's like asking the Dodgers to play without a center fielder," Fox said. "Yes, they can play the game. Over time, it would prove to be a very bad idea."

About 60 firefighters assigned to so-called light forces, teams made up of a ladder truck and fire engine, will be reassigned under the plan. Currently, each light force is staffed by six firefighters who perform specialized roles during fires and rescues, including car accidents.

The chief's redeployment would leave many light forces with five firefighters, but allow for the new ambulances, LAFD officials said. The ambulances would be staffed by firefighters trained to handle less serious medical emergencies not requiring a firetruck or more highly trained paramedics.

The department's fleet of non-paramedic ambulances will increase by about one-third, to 45, officials said. That will help free up about 90 paramedic units to respond to the most life-threatening calls, they said.

The shift also aims to reduce responses by heavy firetrucks to many medical calls.

"To send an aerial ladder truck, or let alone lights and sirens, to someone with abdominal pains is dangerous and foolish," said Marc Eckstein, the department's medical director.

A Villaraigosa spokesman said only that the mayor supports Cummings and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck "in their efforts to respond to the needs of the city through changes in deployment plans."

Cummings said his plan was based on solid data analysis. But so far, his office has released only a draft report of less than two pages describing the changes.

The department's planning and data analysis has been under increased scrutiny since early last year, when fire officials admitted that they published response times that made it appear that rescuers arrived at emergencies faster than they actually did.

A task force of experts found that that fire officials charged with crunching numbers were poorly qualified and previous departmental data analysis "should not be relied upon." Subsequent Times investigations found delays in processing 911 calls and summoning the nearest medical rescuers from other jurisdictions, as well as wide gaps in response times in different parts of the city.

ben.welsh@latimes.com

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Suspect in girl's kidnapping, sexual assault arrested in Mexico

A man who police allege kidnapped a 10-year-old girl from her Northridge bedroom and sexually assaulted her was captured Wednesday at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Mexico, ending a monthlong international dragnet.

Tobias Dustin Summers, a 32-year-old felon and reputed gang member, was found in Las Misiones, a small community about 200 miles south of the border, said Alfredo Arenas, commander of the Baja California state police fugitive squad.

Officials did not provide details about his movements in Mexico, but LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said a phone tip received late Tuesday night narrowed the focus of the search. The FBI relayed that information to Mexican authorities, who made the arrest.

Although fliers distributed among authorities in San Diego and Mexico described Summers as possibly armed and dangerous, Arenas said the suspect was surprised and frightened by the sight of officers and arrested without incident. Police confirmed Summers' identity through a Superman logo tattoo on his chest.

"I'm very happy that we caught this trash," Arenas said. "I always make a point to capture people that have sex with children. Because if given the opportunity, they will rape a Mexican child."

Summers was charged earlier this month with three dozen counts, including sexual assault, kidnapping and first-degree burglary, in connection with the March 27 incident. A felony complaint alleges that he broke into the girl's home and used a knife to abduct her, then committed numerous sexual acts on the child and took nude photos of her.

He is expected to be arraigned Friday in a Los Angeles courtroom.

The girl was discovered missing about 3:40 a.m. by her mother, who heard a noise and went to check on her daughter. Dozens of law enforcement officials quickly joined the search, which ended about 12 hours later when the girl was found wandering in a parking lot several miles away. She was barefoot, dazed and appeared to be wearing different clothes than those she wore when taken from her home.

Days later, Los Angeles police publicly identified Summers as their primary suspect. A federal complaint alleges that he crossed the border into Tecate, Mexico, "within several hours" of that announcement.

Arenas said Summers checked into the rehab facility under a fake name and, judging by its remote location, said: "Obviously, this guy wasn't interested in getting rehabbed, just trying to hide out."

Investigators broadened their search to San Diego and then, after receiving the video footage, south of the border. Mexican authorities distributed a "wanted" poster and police were alerted in cities including Tijuana, Tecate, Ensenada and Rosarito Beach. The FBI also issued the $25,000 reward, Beck said.

Summers was returned to Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon, where Beck said he would be held in lieu of $19-million bail.

Beck said he was "extremely pleased" at the arrest, but cautioned that "there's a long way left to go in this case."

"We can never make whole the lives of that family and the young girl after this horrific event," Beck said later at the news conference. "But we can and we will and we do make plain to anybody in this city that thinks they can commit that kind of crime and remain free after doing so — we can make sure that they know that is not true."

"We will hunt you," he said. "We will find you. You cannot hide."

The girl's family declined requests for interviews through the LAPD, but her mother told KTLA that she was "relieved that he's been captured and glad that he won't be doing this to anyone else."

Also charged in connection with the case is Daniel Martinez, who pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and burglary counts earlier this month. Martinez, 29, was arrested two miles from the girl's home, and was described by Los Angeles police as a secondary suspect in the crime. If convicted, he faces up to 12 years in prison.

Police do not believe Martinez initiated the kidnapping or participated in the assault, but was believed to be the driver in what authorities said began as a burglary.

Both men have extensive criminal histories, though neither is a registered sex offender. It is unclear how long either man has spent behind bars.

Summers has convictions for receiving stolen property, grand theft, petty theft, possession of an explosive, and presenting false identification to police, according to records. In 2009, he was convicted of battery. Originally, he was also charged with annoying a child, but that charge was dismissed.

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

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Female Marine convicted of 'attempted adultery' and lying

CAMP PENDLETON — A female Marine was convicted Wednesday of "attempted adultery" and lying to investigators in a case involving allegations of sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse in the enlisted ranks.

The Marine, a staff sergeant with 17 years' service, could receive a year in the brig and a bad-conduct discharge when the judge, Lt. Col. Leon Francis, announces the sentence Thursday. She was convicted of attempting "to have sexual intercourse with … a man not her husband," but she was acquitted of adultery.

The military seldom files a criminal charge for adultery. The offense must be seen as prejudicial "to good order and discipline," an allegation in this case tied to the fact that the defendant, her husband and the man with whom she allegedly had sex were all part of the same logistics group stationed at Camp Pendleton.

Gary Solis, a former Marine attorney now teaching law at Georgetown University, said adultery "is almost always charged in conjunction with another offense" — in this case the charge that she lied to investigators.

At a court martial, the Marine's lawyer asserted that she was too drunk to consent to sex when she and another Marine staff sergeant checked into a motel in Temecula on March 2 of last year after an afternoon of heavy drinking. That staff sergeant, who is unmarried, testified that he was unaware that the defendant was married. He was not charged.

Testimony indicated that the incident was initially to be dealt with through the non-judicial punishment system, where a Marine faces a senior officer and takes responsibility for his or her actions, with punishment limited to possible loss of pay and a demotion.

But investigators then reported to prosecutors that the defendant had lied to them about never seeing her alleged sex partner after March 2. In truth, they said, she had tried repeatedly to convince him that "we need to get our stories straight."

When those facts were found out, a decision was made to take the case to a formal court martial, prosecutors said. The incident had come to the attention of authorities when the Marine's husband, a warrant officer, filed a complaint alleging adultery.

The lead prosecutor, Maj. Doug Hatch, told Francis that "when painted into a corner she pulled out the ultimate trump card by claiming sexual assault."

Defense attorney Capt. Rafiel Warfield countered that "the government wants you to be an accomplice to their inability" to adequately investigate an allegation of sexual assault.

Francis, after an hour of deliberation, found the Marine was not guilty of adultery but that by checking into the motel, she was guilty of "attempted adultery" even if later she was too drunk to consent to sex.

Because the verdict did not directly address her claim that she was sexually assaulted, The Times is withholding her name.

The defendant, who did not testify during the three-day trial, showed no emotion when Francis announced his verdict.

Five women attended the trial — three of them wearing sexual assault awareness ribbons. Two of the five appeared to have tears in their eyes when the verdict was announced. Court rules prohibited them from talking to reporters.

tony.perry@latimes.com

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3 of top 10 most polluted ZIP Codes in California are in L.A. County

If it's any consolation to Southern California, none of its ZIP Codes claimed the top spot as the state's most polluted, according to a California Environmental Protection Agency report.

That dubious distinction went to Fresno. But three of the 10 most pollution-heavy ZIP Codes were in Los Angeles County. The other seven, including Fresno, are in the San Joaquin Valley, according to the nation's first comprehensive statewide environmental health screening tool, called CalEnviroScreen.

The top three places on the list of polluted ZIP Codes were all in the San Joaquin Valley: Fresno, Bakersfield and Stockton. In fact, two of the most polluted ZIP Codes were in Fresno and three were in Stockton.

The most polluted ZIP Code in Southern California was in Vernon, a city of only about 100 residents composed almost entirely of factories and other businesses, at No. 4. Also in the top 10 were Baldwin Park at No. 7 and unincorporated East Los Angeles at No. 8.

Sam Delson, a spokesman for the state's EPA, said the study encompassed 1,769 ZIP Codes, looking at things such as pesticide use, traffic density and groundwater pollution. He said the agency hopes the study will result in investments to tackle the problem in the most pollution-burdened communities.

"CalEnviroScreen represents an important step in honoring our commitment to address environmental justice issues for the benefit of all of California's communities and residents," said Arsenio Mataka, the EPA's assistant secretary for environmental justice.

Every major region of the state except the rural northern parts of California had some communities that were ranked among the highest 10% for combined "vulnerabilities from pollution," according to the EPA.

Overall, about half the ZIP Codes that ranked in the top 10% for pollution in the state are in the greater L.A. area, Delson said, including the Inland Empire.

"Some people expected most of these ZIP Codes to be in industrial, urban areas," Delson said Wednesday. "It was surprising to some that while many were in urban areas, a lot of them were in agricultural areas."

hector.becerra@latimes.com

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Student stabbed to death at Cleveland High School in Reseda

By Robert J. Lopez and Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times

April 24, 2013, 10:17 p.m.

An adult school student was stabbed Wednesday afternoon in an altercation at Cleveland High School in Reseda and later died of his wounds, law enforcement authorities said.

The victim was a student at West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills, according to Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Sharon Papa. He was believed to be 18.

The student was attacked on one of the school's handball courts about 4 p.m. after an argument with two men who were described as being between 18 and 20, authorities said. He was stabbed multiple times before walking a short distance and collapsing on the ground, according to authorities.

The incident was observed by a number of witnesses, including players and coaches with the school baseball team. One of the coaches rushed to the victim and used a shirt to apply pressure to stop the bleeding as a teacher called 911, a witness told The Times.

The area was swarmed by school police and LAPD officers who fanned out as they searched for the two men. Police said they did not believe that the two men were students at the school.

The baseball team canceled practice. There was no lockdown because classes had ended for the day, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District said.

The victim was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. "He passed away from his injuries," LAPD Officer Christopher No said.

The victim's name was not released Wednesday night.

Cleveland High, which in recent years has had about 3,800 students, has been recognized for its humanities magnet school. One parent said the incident is not reflective of the school, which she described as safe.

"My kids have always felt safe on campus," said Bonnie Goodman, whose children have attended classes at Cleveland High for the last seven years. "This appears to be an isolated incident where the school became a setting for an unfortunate event that did not involve our students."

robert.lopez@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

Times staff writers Richard Winton and Eric Sondheimer contributed to this report.

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California ignoring some English learners, lawsuit says

The state Education Department has ignored its obligation to make sure that thousands of students learning English receive adequate and legally required assistance, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

State officials said they had not studied the lawsuit, but insisted they are meeting their legal obligations.

The suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others, focuses on an estimated 20,000 students who are receiving no help or inadequate services as they work to learn English and keep up academically at the same time.

"It is a blatant violation of the law not to provide these students the most basic and essential component of their education — language to access their classes," said Jessica Price, staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.

Advocates based their conclusions on information that school districts report to the state Department of Education. About 250 districts acknowledge they are providing no services or inappropriate language help to these students, and yet "the state of California does absolutely nothing in response," Price said.

The suit includes narratives, such as that of F.S., a student in the Compton Unified School District who was allegedly denied language help in third grade, failed most of his classes, and ultimately was retained. The next year, the same student, in the same school system, received help and "finally showed progress in his classes," according to advocates. Compton Unified is not a target of the litigation.

The suit was filed on behalf of six students and their guardians. They are remaining anonymous out of concern over possible retaliation from their local school systems, attorneys said. Also suing is Walt Dunlop, a former Oxnard Union High School District teacher who has worked with English learners and criticized his district's programs for them.

Although federal and state funds are set aside to help English learners, the best approach has long been a topic of contention. Programs that offer the teaching of academic subjects in a foreign language have become more rare. It's more common for English-speaking teachers to receive training in how to make their lessons more accessible. And students can also receive support in classes taught in English.

The ACLU's Mark Rosenbaum said it was outrageous that so many students received no help at all.

A state official insisted California was not shirking its obligations. The education department is "determined to ensure that all English-learner students receive appropriate instruction and services," said Chief Deputy Supt. of Public Instruction Richard Zeiger.

"When questions arose," he added, the department "asked local educational agencies to provide additional information regarding the services they are required to provide."

Zeiger also urged parents with specific issues to contact the department though its established complaint process.

Earlier this year, state officials said 98% of the state's 1.4 million English learners were receiving services.

In an earlier round of litigation, advocates targeted Dinuba Unified as well as the state. Dinuba settled the suit, setting the stage for the current legal action targeting the state.

Also participating in the suit are the Asian Pacific American Legal Center and the law firm of Latham & Watkins.

howard.blume@latimes.com

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Gov. Jerry Brown promises fight over education overhaul

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday promised lawmakers "the battle of their lives" if they balk at his bid to overhaul state education.

A day after Democratic state senators announced their differences with him over his proposal to change the way schools are funded, the governor came out swinging.

"This is not an ordinary legislative measure. This is a cause," a combative Brown said at a Capitol news conference, flanked by 20 school superintendents who support his program. "I will fight any effort to dilute this bill."

Brown wants to direct more money to districts that serve large numbers of poor students and non-native English speakers than to wealthier areas, while giving all of them more flexibility in how they spend state dollars. Senate Democrats want a less radical redistribution of money, more restrictions on how it is spent and a one-year delay in any funding change.

Brown vowed to do everything in his power to protect his plan. "If people are going to fight it, they're going to get the battle of their lives," he told reporters. "Everything we have to bear in this battle, we're bringing it."

The nascent dispute adds to differences that have already emerged between Brown and fellow Democrats in other key policy areas, including healthcare, water and environmental rules. And an Assembly committee on Wednesday rejected a Brown proposal to speed students toward graduation in hopes of lowering costs in California's two public university systems.

The proposal is part of the governor's larger blueprint for overhauling higher education, which a legislative analysis said "could lead to less rigorous courses … or grade inflation."

The rifts could grow as the legislative session rolls toward summer and negotiations begin in earnest on Brown's proposed budget, which contains his education plans. Democrats won supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature in last November's elections — enough to override a gubernatorial veto.

Brown set education as his top priority in January, saying: "Equal treatment for children in unequal situations is not justice." On Wednesday, he said his school funding proposal was a matter of civil rights and the key to reversing a growing gap between rich and poor in California.

"Increasingly this state is turning into a two-tier society," he said. "Those at the top are doing better and better and those in the middle and the bottom are doing worse and worse.

"The very least that we can do is invest in our schools in a way that recognizes reality," he said.

Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. John Deasy was among those joining Brown on Wednesday. He said the governor's plan could mean as much as $300 million more annually for the district than the Senate Democrats' proposal.

Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who briefly discussed the education issue with Brown on Tuesday and plans a news conference Thursday to detail his counterproposal, said he supported the central goal of more funds to help poorer students. But he said his caucus had other ideas about how to ensure that the money would help the right students.

Brown and the lawmakers are haggling over how to use about $2 billion of the $49 billion that Brown proposes for K-12 education beginning in July. The governor said he was concerned the Senate's preference, which is to distribute the $2 billion to more districts around the state, would dilute its impact.

"It's a relatively small amount of money," Brown told reporters. "If you spread it out to all the districts, it will have a trivial effect. If you put it into the districts that have high concentrations of poverty, it will have a very powerful effect."

Brown also railed against lawmakers' preference for limiting the flexibility he wants to give school districts, saying there are groups with "very powerful lobbyists" who want to protect the status quo.

Steinberg took Brown's comments in stride.

"The governor introduced this plan in January, but now he's beginning to engage," the Senate leader said. "And we're ready to engage."

During Wednesday's Assembly committee hearing, lawmakers, university officials and activists aired concerns about the governor's plan for higher education, which involves tying some new state funds to requirements that include higher graduation rates.

Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla (D-Concord) said Brown's ideas seem "like we're talking about a factory, with these projections and percentages and outcomes."

A representative of the Legislative Analyst's Office said the governor's plan should focus more on ensuring that students are receiving a quality education and are correctly trained for the workforce.

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Rumor of deal roils teachers union

The leadership of the Los Angeles teachers union is roiled over whether its officials made a private deal with a Board of Education candidate whom critics view as an ally of anti-labor forces.

The dispute centers on an alleged understanding worked out between candidate Antonio Sanchez and Gregg Solkovits, a union vice president. According to people with knowledge of the matter, Solkovits has said that Sanchez, if he wins, would let United Teachers Los Angeles choose his chief of staff.

Sanchez and Solkovits deny any such arrangement. Sanchez said he has no idea what the claim is based on; Solkovits blamed a willful misinterpretation of comments he made in leadership meetings.

The internal dispute says as much about union politics as about Sanchez. A struggle exists between pragmatists, such as Solkovits, who talk about the importance of working with current and potential school district officials, and idealists who want to see a relentless push to replace current leaders and unpopular policies.

An arrangement with Sanchez would be notable because he is endorsed by the Coalition for School Reform, a political action committee that supports the policies of L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy and wants to keep his job secure. Its endorsed candidates, including Sanchez, have pledged as much.

Deasy has successfully pushed to include student standardized test scores in teacher evaluations and to limit job protections in the name of improving the teacher corps, among other things.

The union has been sharply critical of Deasy, even handing him an overwhelming "no confidence" vote from its members this month.

But in March, UTLA mounted only one serious campaign for the Board of Education. That effort helped to reelect incumbent Steve Zimmer. Also winning, however, was incumbent Monica Garcia, the board president whom the union dislikes.

The east San Fernando Valley District 6 seat remains up for grabs in a May 21 runoff. Sanchez, 31, a former aide to L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, faces teacher Monica Ratliff, 43, a former attorney. In March, Sanchez took 44% of the vote compared with 34% for Ratliff.

In the primary, the union had endorsed three candidates for District 6, but provided no financial support to any of them. As a result, the coalition, spearheaded by Villaraigosa, was key to a huge funding advantage for Sanchez. Some unions also helped Sanchez.

In the runoff, the teachers union has given $1,000 to Ratliff. The coalition has amassed close to $1 million for Sanchez.

The internal dispute within UTLA became a topic on a website used by activist teachers.

"How about the backroom deal UTLA leadership made with Sanchez to support his campaign as long as he agreed to hire someone from UTLA as his chief of staff????" wrote UTLA board of directors member Jose Lara in a March 30 post. "I am not okay with backroom deals and then being told, 'That's the way things get done.'"

When contacted, Lara declined to elaborate, but didn't recant either. Lara supports Ratliff, and, like some other members, questions how the union could support Sanchez.

Solkovits said that the union had interviewed Sanchez before the coalition embraced him. He added that all UTLA-backed candidates were open to the idea that "at least one of the people on the staff would have relatively close ties to UTLA. I mentioned that at a board meeting," Solkovits said. The critics "chose to construe this as a deal."

"The goal was always to have good working relationships with whoever got elected," Solkovits said. "We don't ask for guarantees."

Several union veterans insist that Solkovits is underplaying the message that he and his allies conveyed. But they would not speak publicly because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.

"This is something that Gregg was pitching to sell Sanchez to UTLA," said one veteran union leader, echoing comments that typically came from Ratliff supporters. They added that the pitch for Sanchez also included his support from powerful elected officials — and that these officials were needed to fight off unwanted legislation that would affect teacher job evaluations and job protections.

Solkovits acknowledged that at union leadership meetings he suggested two UTLA insiders who would serve well in a staff position: former school board staffer Ed Burke and former UTLA President John Perez.

Burke retired in December from a position with board member Bennett Kayser, a staunch union ally. Burke said only that he nixed the idea of possibly working for Sanchez. He also recently attended a fundraiser for Ratliff.

Perez, who is a vehement Deasy critic, said he has had no discussions with Sanchez about working for him. Sanchez characterized Perez as one of a number of people he respects as a source of advice.

howard.blume@latimes.com

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