Snyder Out of City Hall but Not Advocacy Business

He was once a “barefoot barrio kid from East Los Angeles,” but Arthur K. Snyder wound up serving 18 years on the Los Angeles City Council. He can still look out over his old Eastside district from his 37th-floor law offices in downtown’s Wells Fargo Center.

A burly redhead of German-Irish descent, Snyder, 56, defied all the odds and drove his opponents to distraction after a 1972 court decision forced a change in his district’s boundaries, handing him a district that was 60% Latino.

At the time, he objected vigorously--not because he didn’t like Latinos, he said, but because political opponents were trying to win in court what they couldn’t win at the ballot box.

“The city approached it as if they would elect a Hispanic,” he said. “What a phony baloney thing they did.”

Even his opponents concede that he paid scrupulous attention to his constituents’ needs. He spoke Spanish at public gatherings and kept winning reelection--even as his district became more Latino.

“It gave me a real challenge,” he said. “Nobody was interested in doing what was needed on the Eastside.”

Controversy was never far removed, despite his political success. He had a series of accidents in city-owned cars and once was tried--and acquitted--on drunk driving charges.

He was removed as chairman of the council’s powerful Planning Committee in 1979 after colleagues complained that he was using the position to solicit campaign contributions. Similar charges led to his ouster from the South Coast Regional Coastal Commission in 1980.

Moreover, his second wife, Michele Noval, charged in divorce proceedings the same year that he battered her and abused their then 5-year-old daughter. Neither allegation led to criminal charges, and Snyder was given visitation rights.

Time spent with his child since the divorce has enabled him to “appreciate what a father and daughter relationship should be,” he said in a recent interview. “Right now, I would say, is the happiest time of my life.”

Through all Snyder’s personal and political controversy, his constituency remained loyal.

“The ones who laughed and cried with me were the people in my district,” he said. “They were the ones who knew I cared. It didn’t matter what the press said.”

Citing concern for his current wife’s health, Snyder resigned from the council in 1985. Richard Alatorre succeeded him, becoming the council’s first Latino member in more than 20 years.

Capitalizing on valuable connections built during 30 years in local politics, Snyder has moved smoothly into a new legal career, practicing what he prefers to call “advocacy.” The former councilman’s contacts have made him one of the most sought after lobbyists in the city, although, he said, “I don’t consider myself as a lobbyist. I represent my clients as an attorney.”

He said he might “fold up” his firm when he turns 65, and only “maintain a small practice that keeps me close to my friends. I don’t know that I could ever completely retire.”

He has learned to take a “longer view” that keeps him from getting as excited with “momentary matters,” he said. But that view “doesn’t keep me from being a very strong advocate for my clients.”

“I don’t like to lose.”