VALLEY VOTE SUPPORTS CALL FOR INQUIRY; STAFF, VOLUNTEERS RALLY AT AIRPORT.

Byline: Melissa Schmitt Daily News Staff Writer

Still shocked by the actions of city officials at Van Nuys Airport last weekend, Valley VOTE staff and volunteers gathered at Burbank Airport on Saturday morning to rage against city officials.

Demonstrators made clear their support for U.S. Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon's request Thursday that the U.S. Attorney's Office investigate what led to the ousting of Valley VOTE signature gatherers at Aviation Expo '98 last weekend, a free event held on public grounds attended by nearly 250,000 people.

According to petitioner Ann Hoyt, she was getting signatures at the rate of 118 per hour when she was ordered by police to leave the grounds.

Such an opportunity to gather signatures will not be duplicated, Valley VOTE volunteers lamented. ``If this was an attempt to sabotage (the signature drive), this was the place to do it,'' said attorney Steve Pearl, who represents Valley VOTE, a group also known as Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment.

``We want to know who ordered this, and we want those people held responsible,'' he said. ``The city attorney and the Department of Airports are going to try to whitewash this, to make it go away.''

Valley VOTE leaders are furious that their signature gatherers were forced to leave Van Nuys Airport by airport police last weekend, while asking registered voters to sign a petition.

If 200,000 signatures are gathered by Aug. 27, a study into the financial feasibility of the San Fernando Valley seceding from the city of Los Angeles would be required.

While it is only a study, it is the first step necessary to get the secession question on the ballot.

The right to petition government for redress of grievances is the First Amendment to the United State Constitution.

McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, has asked that the U.S. Attorney's Office conduct an investigation into what led to the removal of the petitioners, and that the person responsible be held accountable.

But city and airport officials said last week the removal of the Valley VOTE volunteers and staff from the air show was the product of an unfortunate misunderstanding.

Airport manager Ron Kochevar earlier defended himself and the airport, claiming his staff simply notified petitioners they couldn't set up a booth on airport grounds because they didn't get permission far enough in advance.

Kochevar said that on the morning of July 19, after the first brouhaha erupted the day earlier, he called the City Attorney's Office and was instructed to allow the petitioners to gather signatures, just not with a booth and signs.

``I relayed that to the sergeant, and I thought we had it resolved,'' Kochevar told the Daily News on Tuesday.

But Jeff Brain, president of Valley VOTE, said Saturday blaming the incidents on a misunderstanding is a transparent excuse for furthering the personal agendas of city officials who don't want secession for the San Fernando Valley.

``There's no misunderstanding at all,'' Brain said. ``The facts are undisputed. Our people were kept out of the air show. There's no misunderstanding at all.''

Don Schultz, who sits on both the airport's advisory board and Valley VOTE's board, said Saturday he, too, believes what happened was intentional.

``If they say it was intentional, I feel it was intentional,'' Schultz said of the petitioners, explaining 20 people were there, several of whom Schultz is familiar with. ``There are people who work for the city, who don't want this to be successful.''