BREAKUP FOES LOSE VOTE FIGHT LAFCO STANDS BY DECISION ON SHARED SECESSION BALLOT.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Nine months after the original decision was made, secession foes tried but failed Wednesday to overturn a plan to hold simultaneous elections for San Fernando Valley cityhood and for elected officials of the new city.

The Local Agency Formation Commission and its legal counsel rejected secession opponent Jeff Daar's arguments, and upheld its original decision to place the election for Valley mayor and city council on the same ballot as the cityhood vote itself, tentatively on Nov. 5.

Addressing the LAFCO panel Wednesday, Daar questioned ``whether the millions of dollars of activity in the San Fernando Valley for city offices that may never exist will result in a skewing of the election in the Valley compared to the rest of the city.''

The issue is a key one in the Valley cityhood political battle. Secessionists want concurrent elections because they believe they will benefit by having dozens of individuals campaigning and raising money for their own political office as they also campaign in favor of cityhood. Opponents want to deny that base of support.

LAFCO officials had thought the issue was already settled last August when Assistant County Counsel John Krattli ruled that the elections must be on the same day unless the secession applicants request otherwise - which they haven't.

But Daar, co-chairman of the Valley anti-secession group One Los Angeles, tried to revive the issue several weeks ago.

He argued Krattli was wrong in his interpretation of the law and said concurrent elections would cause unnecessary expense to hold council and mayoral elections which would be meaningless if cityhood fails.

Daar also argued that it was a violation of constitutional rights to due process because more people would show up to vote in the Valley than in the rest of the city because of the additional campaigning.

He argued that because the Valley city would not have a runoff election, as Los Angeles does, a candidate could win a race against multiple challengers with a relatively small percentage of the vote.

But Krattli said he had studied the issue again and determined his original opinion was correct.

``That's simply an argument, in my opinion, without merit,'' Krattli said about Daar's assertions.

LAFCO is expected to decide on May 22 whether to place Valley cityhood on the ballot.

LAFCO Chairman Henri Pellissier was annoyed with Daar for trying to bring back an issue that had been decided nine months ago with Krattli's original opinion. LAFCO began to study Valley secession in 2000.

``We've been at this for 2 1/2 years and we're two weeks from the end and you come in with all this,'' Pellissier said.

Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment, said Daar's comments were a strategic ploy that failed.

``The opposition wants us to have a leaderless city,'' Close said. ``We need to elect people on Nov. 5 to take charge against the lawsuits that are going to be brought by the city and unions.''