Alatorre

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has decided not to file felony criminal charges against former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre, even though investigators found that he worked as a lobbyist for years without identifying himself as one. Cooley's Public Integrity Division concluded "without doubt" that Alatorre was an unregistered lobbyist at City Hall from 2003 to 2007 — an activity that qualifies as a misdemeanor violation...

A court-appointed overseer in a massive housing fraud case is demanding that former city councilman-turned-political consultant Richard Alatorre explain nearly $1 million in payments he received from a developer accused of bilking Los Angeles and other entities of at least $134 million. Attorney David Pasternak, the receiver in the case, said he has found scant records explaining what Alatorre did for the steady stream of payments he received between 2002 and 2010. The politically connected firm at the heart of the scandal, Los Angeles-based Advanced Development and Investment, is under scrutiny from the FBI, the IRS and the U.S. attorney's office.

It has been 16 tumultuous months since a special election swept Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre into office in Northeast Los Angeles' 14th District. Alatorre was the endorsed successor of Arthur K. Snyder, who resigned after 18 years on the council. Since then, the former state assemblyman has presided successfully over a bloody redistricting plan, maintaining the reputation he earned in Sacramento as a hard-nosed deal maker.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has decided not to file felony criminal charges against former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre, even though investigators found that he worked as a lobbyist for years without identifying himself as one. Cooley's Public Integrity Division concluded "without doubt" that Alatorre was an unregistered lobbyist at City Hall from 2003 to 2007 — an activity that qualifies as a misdemeanor violation...

For several weeks now, I've been waiting for an opportune time to set up a Hack Hotline, and former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre has finally inspired me to get it up and running. If you'd like to drop the dime on a public servant who's a no-show, a double-dipper, a knave or a scamster, all you'll have to do is pick up the phone and notify the Hack Hotline. Operators will be waiting, and your privacy always will be protected.

The ignorance of City Council members Alatorre and Molina of their own city's history, and of American and Latin American history, is both appalling and ludicrous. Their shoot-from-the-hip oratory succeeded in insulting the representative of another country for no reason other than their failure to pay attention to what was being discussed, either in council chambers or back when they were in their high school or college history classes. Your reporter says Alatorre believes "that to honor a Spanish king that reigned prior to Mexico's independence would be to celebrate tyranny."

No sooner had an agreement been reached to end the bickering over the future of Olvera Street then a new dispute surfaced between two prominent Latino politicians--Rep. Edward R. Roybal and Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre--that threatens the truce. At issue is whether Olvera Street's 77 merchants can link up with a developer of their choosing and bid on the long-awaited city modernization project to spruce up the popular but aging tourist spot just north of the Civic Center.

In the aftermath of two separate disturbances that marred weekend Cinco de Mayo celebrations, Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre said Monday that the incidents could threaten future Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day festivities at Lincoln Park. "The jury's out," Alatorre said. "I'll be in consultations with others, and if in their judgment it shouldn't (happen), then it won't. . . . I think it's a sad commentary for 1% of people who go to a function with destructive purposes to control whether events should be held or not for everyone else."

Politics is a cynical game, nowhere made clearer than when politicians draw the lines for the districts from which they must be elected. The first rule is to "protect thyself"; the second is to look after those who will remember that you looked after them and who have been around long enough to have support worth wanting. Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre has followed the rules, but the city will suffer some unfortunate consequences.

The city of Los Angeles, led by Councilman Ferraro and pushed by councilmen Yaroslavsky and Alatorre, has decided to become landlord and business manager for developers who can't manage their own property. This is the same City Council that helped create the homeless problem in the first place by letting affordable housing and older, lower-rent apartments be torn down and replaced with higher-cost condominiums and high rentals, the same City Council that doesn't know how to manage our budget and that increased the homeless by cutting many necessary programs.

Victor Ortiz is less than a year removed from winning six of seven bouts by knockout or technical knockout in five rounds or fewer. It's those memories Ortiz wants to build from, not that messy upset loss to Argentina's Marcos Maidana at Staples Center last June. A one-sided performance like that on Thursday night is what the 23-year-old from Ventura needed to maintain enthusiasm among those who believe Ortiz has a world junior-welterweight title in his future. Ortiz (26-2-1, 21 KOs)

Eleven years ago, Robin Kramer and I were part of a delegation that accompanied then-Mayor Richard Riordan on a trip through the Far East, she as his chief of staff, I as a reporter. One afternoon, we were stuck in a conference room in Beijing, surrounded by a cluster of scrambling mayoral aides and business people. They were frenetically preparing for a meeting, but nevertheless found the time to fret about a story of mine in that day's paper. In it, I recounted how the mayor had muffed the introduction of a Chinese official the night before.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has opened an inquiry into the lobbying work of former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre and whether he violated city laws by failing to disclose those activities, several sources said. Cooley's Public Integrity Division, joined by investigators with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, also have been seeking information about any lobbying work by former city commissioner Leland Wong, who was sentenced last month to five years in prison.

A former Los Angeles city councilman who has worked behind the scenes to influence city officials for years submitted forms this week publicly identifying himself as a lobbyist, Ethics Commission officials said Wednesday. Former Councilman Richard Alatorre filed the forms Tuesday, two weeks after The Times reported that he had spoken to city representatives on behalf of a dozen businesses and unions. Unlike other professional advocates, he had not registered as a lobbyist.

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.

At the peak of his Los Angeles City Council career, Richard Alatorre could be found on any given night at political events and social soirees all over the city. So it has been a humbling experience these last eight months. Alatorre has been under house detention for evading income tax in 1996 on $42,000 in payments from people who sought political influence. Alatorre's sentence ends Friday, and he is looking forward to having more freedom to go about his life.

The Los Angeles City Council is edging warily toward an unfamiliar and uncomfortable role--the investigation of a sitting mayor. A committee headed by one of the council's more reflective, least combative members, Michael Woo, today begins the task of monitoring the progress of a probe, already under way by the office of City Atty. James K. Hahn, of Mayor Tom Bradley's relationship with two financial institutions that have done business with the city. With Woo's Governmental Operations Committee testing the waters, the City Council is going to have to decide whether it wants to become a participant in the conflict-of-interest investigation--a role it has not played since a 1973 inquiry into former Mayor Sam Yorty's ties to Occidental Petroleum Corp.

Why does The Times continue to perpetuate stereotypes of nonwhite members of the Los Angeles community? I specifically refer to Bill Boyarsky's Dec. 31 column on Richard Alatorre. Alatorre's speech style does not sound "like it came straight out of the Garfield High campus." How insulting to those of us who attended Garfield High School. East Los Angeles, where Alatorre was raised, was a hard-working, predominantly Mexican immigrant neighborhood, and remains so. High ethics and verbal respect toward authority, especially elders and teachers, were and are highly valued.

The Compton Community College District has canceled its $5,000-per-month consulting contract with Richard Alatorre, with officials arguing that the former Los Angeles city councilman's tax-evasion conviction made it impossible for him to serve as a lobbyist for college interests. The five-member board of the tiny district, which includes only a single community college, voted unanimously Tuesday night to cancel the contract.

Crime doesn't pay? (Unless it's white-collar.) Richard Alatorre [former assemblyman and Los Angeles city councilman] receives probation and is ordered to pay $12,970 in back taxes after admitting he accepted $42,000 as a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from parties seeking influence (Aug. 28). The L.A. Department of Water and Power rewards him with a consulting contract at $7,500 a month, and now the Compton Community College District hires him at $5,000 a month. Ever wonder why there is cynicism about politicians?