Former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre is enjoying a second coming at City Hall.
Six years after he left the public stage -- his reputation in tatters after admitting that he took cash from people trying to influence him -- he has returned as an advocate for companies seeking city business.
The gravel-voiced 64-year-old, a pioneering Mexican American politician known as one of the architects of Latino empowerment in California, is trading on his status as an elder statesman. He is also an informal advisor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
On behalf of various businesses and unions, he has called upon at least five City Council members and mayoral appointees at the Department of Water and Power, the Department of Recreation and Parks, the Planning Department, the Housing Department, the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports and the Community Redevelopment Agency, according to interviews and records.
But unlike dozens of other political professionals who do such work, Alatorre is not registered as a lobbyist under the city's open government law. Registered lobbyists must reveal whom they work for and how much they are paid, or they risk jail or fines.
Jon Kirk Mukri, general manager of the parks department, said Alatorre has spoken with him six times over the last year and a half about the city's park rangers, about a company seeking to renew its golf concession and about a charter school that wants to operate on parkland in El Sereno. Mukri said Alatorre receives no special treatment, calling the former councilman "just a lobbyist like anybody else."
Sylmar neighborhood activist Bart Reed, who opposes a project that Alatorre has discussed with at least one council member, said community groups depend on disclosures to show them how much of an advantage special interests hold at City Hall. "Having that information about who's lobbying . . . tells you what kind of uphill mountain you may have," he said.
Alatorre did not respond to repeated requests by telephone and letter to be interviewed for this report.
To many in Los Angeles politics, Alatorre has been a legendary figure. He represented portions of the city's Eastside in the state Assembly and on the City Council for more than a quarter of a century, from 1973 to 1999. And he built a powerful local political machine based in Boyle Heights, spearheaded the redesign of voting district maps to expand Latino representation throughout California and doled out a career full of favors in the form of jobs and advice.
