Two demises on last Wednesday’s front page. One death was literal: Tom Bradley’s, at 80 years of age. The other was political: 14th District Councilman Richard Alatorre’s, at 55.What a contrast.Bradley died at 80 after over 50 years of public life: He came closer to representing most of this city than has any other mayor. We ought not forget the lessons of his sad last years in office. But all we have to do to measure his true importance is to try to imagine what this city would have been like without him.The political death of Richard Alatorre was without honor: He flunked a court-ordered drug test after swearing he was clean. Ironically, he lost the custody of his beloved niece in the same moment the cocaine-use disclosure cost him his political future.For 25 years, Bradley and Alatorre bracketed the spectrum of California ethnic politics. One was the inclusive example, the other the exclusive. Alatorre went to the state Assembly as Bradley became mayor. Their paths crossed 13 years later, when Alatorre traded his Assembly seat for Art Snyder’s council position. It was Bradley who appointed Alatorre to the transit agency that was to become the MTA. Yet, their dissimilarity remained strong.