COUNCIL SEEKING `SLUR' PACT.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

Seeking to curb anonymous campaign slurs, the Los Angeles City Council called Tuesday for a policy requesting political candidates to voluntarily agree to identify themselves on all campaign literature.

The issue of whether candidates must disclose their identities on campaign mailers is working its way through the California court system, and the city has taken a stand in support of mandatory disclosure.

In the meantime, the council called for an ordinance that would ask candidates to comply voluntarily and would disclose on sample ballots whether candidates had agreed to do so.

``I think it's despicable when people do scurrilous things under the guise of secrecy,'' said Councilman Joel Wachs, who moved to create the ordinance.

In January, a state appellate court overturned a requirement that candidates identify themselves in any campaign mailers, saying the rule violated the First Amendment's free speech protections.

That ruling was based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a similar Ohio law, said Assistant City Attorney Tony Alperin.

The state's Fair Political Practices Commission is challenging the appellate ruling. The city filed a ``friend of the court'' brief in support of the FPPC several weeks ago, Alperin said.