Paragraph: (Society_Law_and_Justice/oanc-Coup_Reshapes_Legal_Aid-2.txt)
Sent 1: Iwasaki's careful respect for the Long Beach program and its lawyers earned him the political capital he needed to complete his takeover in a matter of weeks.
Sent 2: "The Long Beach program had strong support in the community so in a situation like that, one has to recognize that it's not like a takeover where I have all the answers and I know best," Iwasaki said.
Sent 3: "The people in the community who are working there have the contacts and the knowledge that will allow service to continue."
Sent 4: Things have gone less smoothly across town.
Sent 5: There, Dudovitz, a longtime poverty lawyer and executive director of the San Fernando Valley's 36-year-old legal aid program, continues to struggle with his hostile takeover of the neighboring San Gabriel-Pomona Valleys service area one year after it was accomplished.
Sent 6: On the bright side, Dudovitz has extended his respected program to clients in the San Gabriel-Pomona Valley, and he now operates on a much larger budget, $6.5 million last year.
Sent 7: However, his clash with the old San Gabriel program resulted in litigation, bitter feelings and a mission that some say is not clearly focused on serving poor people.
Sent 8: "It was a difficult situation that was probably mishandled by everyone," a longtime observer of the public interest community said of the San Fernando Valley-San Gabriel-Pomona Valley merger.
Sent 9: "There are very few people who come out as the heroes.
Sent 10: Personalities got involved when they shouldn't have.
Sent 11: Things were said that caused bad feelings and couldn't be unsaid."
Sent 12: Iwasaki's merger with the smaller, 48-year-old Long Beach program was friendly and fast, and no one - not even Long Beach board members - lost a job.
Sent 13: When it was over, Iwasaki had $1 million more in federal dollars and two new offices.
Sent 14: Long Beach clients regained services they had lost years ago when federal budget cuts and dwindling grants reduced the staff of 15 lawyers to five and cut immigration and consumer law programs.
Sent 15: Iwasaki said, "[I judged the transition] better than I could have hoped for."