Indeed, while political speculation may be the hottest non-Nintendo game in parts of the Eastside and the city, even Alatorre's most bitter rivals - Supervisor Gloria Molina included - have been careful not to gloat in public over his troubles.
Some of that is due to caution. "Anyone with any experience in politics knows that between now and April of '99, there's a lifetime," says Pla.
Adversity may even make Alatorre - who has historically performed best under fire, both politically and personally - stronger.
After losing his first attempt at elective office in 1971, Alatorre has endured a long line of political adversaries, from powerful Assembly speakers like Leo McCarthy, who made legislative life hell for Alatorre in the 1970s, to Gloria Molina, the media darling under whose shadow he has operated in city politics the last decade. On the personal front, Alatorre has weathered two failed marriages, a bout with alcoholism and the painful breakup of his onetime friendship with the late farm-labor leader Cesar Chavez.
And always he has persevered.
Moreover, Alatorre can depend on the unusual degree of respect that Latinos always accord their elected officials. The Eastside community historically has been blindly supportive of its politicians despite public disgraces: from former Congressman Roybal's involvement in the 1970s Koreagate scandal, to state Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres' series of drunk-driving arrests in the 1980s while he served in the state senate - not to mention Alatorre's own previous run-ins with city and state ethics authorities.
At the inaugural dinner meeting of the Mexican-American Political Association's newest chapter in Boyle Heights last month, for example, a roomful of Eastsiders were dying to ask Alatorre specific questions about the allegations against him.
"It was on everyone's minds, but out of respect, no one was going to bring it up,'' says Terry Castaneda, secretary-treasurer of the Corky Perez MAPA chapter. "There's tremendous respect for him, and no one is going to embarrass himself in public by asking him to explain the [allegations] against him.''
But the MAPA meeting also showed how things have changed between Alatorre and his constituents. Alatorre is notorious for hitting and running at community events, usually staying just long enough to be seen and shake a few hands. But at this chapter meeting of MAPA, an organization often regarded as a paper tiger, Alatorre stayed more than an hour.
"We were surprised," says Castaneda. "Maybe everything that has happened has made him more responsive. And he knows he needs the community behind him."
