REPORT: COUNCILMAN USED COCAINE WITH FRIEND, HELPED HIM GET

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- City Councilman Richard Alatorre on Wednesday denied a
newspaper report that he snorted cocaine in the office of a longtime friend
he helped to obtain more than $2 million in government contracts.

The allegations in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times editions are ``absolutely
untrue,'' Alatorre said at a news conference.

Alatorre, who has admitted to previous alcohol abuse, said he has been
``clean and sober for a decade.''

``These constant attacks on me are outrageous and it's getting kind of old,
especially when I've made no secret of my past,'' he said.

His friend, Julian G. Carrasco, a one-time waste hauler and demolition
expert, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in 1977
to possessing and intending to distribute heroin.

He and Alatorre have been friends for more than 20 years. In the mid-1990s,
the councilman helped him obtain more than $2 million in government
contracts, including deals with the Department of Water and Power, transit
and other agencies, the Times said, citing various court documents and
interviews.

Alatorre has not been charged with any crime. But he has been questioned as
part of an investigation into Carrasco's business dealings and a separate
probe into his own financial dealings.

Carrasco told the newspaper he and the councilman have been ``longtime,
loyal friends'' but he did not use the relationship to gain business
contracts. He also flatly disputed the allegations of drug use with
Alatorre, saying cocaine ``has been out of my life for a long time'' and
that he has always used the drug alone.

However, employees of Carrasco's now-defunct JCI Environmental Services
either witnessed Alatorre and Carrasco snorting cocaine on the glass desktop
in Carrasco's office or saw Alatorre emerge from the office with a white
powder on his face and clothes, the newspaper said.

Accusations of drug use also are part of a custody dispute. Alatorre has
been legal guardian of his wife's 9-year-old niece, whose mother died of
cancer. The girl's father has been attempting to regain custody.

In the custody case, former secretaries for Alatorre and Carrasco gave
statements about the men's alleged cocaine use.

``He (Carrasco) was clearly addicted, and his nose required reconstructive
surgery on several occasions due to his overuse of cocaine,'' his former
secretary, Beverly Vasquez-Bumgardner, said in court records.

Vasquez-Bumgardner also said her boss implied that Alatorre helped him
obtain government business because he supplied the lawmaker with drugs.

``Councilman Alatorre will do whatever I tell him, because he needs me,''
the secretary quoted Carrasco as saying.

Carrasco has denied making that statement.

In a signed declaration provided to the Times, former JCI employee Donald
Benefield said he witnessed Alatorre preparing or using cocaine with
Carrasco about half a dozen times over several years.

Last year, the relationship between the contractor and the councilman became
part of an FBI investigation into whether Carrasco's JCI was improperly
dumping hazardous waste.

Alatorre is under investigation by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service for
allegedly having financial dealings with people who have government
contracts, including receiving cash and obtaining help in purchasing and
remodeling his home. A0

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett