LOCAL ELECTIONS / 33RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : Roybal’s Daughter Expected to Sweep In

Quietly, while Los Angeles’ attention has been riveted on the Rodney G. King case and the riots that resulted from the not guilty verdicts, a campaign has been under way to pick a new member of Congress to represent downtown.

For much of the last three decades, the Civic Center and surrounding area has been the domain of longtime Democratic Rep. Edward R. Roybal, the acknowledged leader of Latino politicians in Los Angeles. He has used his position as the congressman from downtown and East Los Angeles to champion causes important to his urban and largely impoverished district.

But earlier this year, the 75-year-old Roybal, who in 1959 became the first Mexican-American in this century to be elected to the Los Angeles City Council, unexpectedly decided to retire because of his wife’s health problems associated with the frequent travel between Southern California and Washington.

While a field of 10 Democrats are scrambling to lay claim to the veteran lawmaker’s legacy and seat in the new 30th Congressional District, part of Roybal’s power base--downtown Los Angeles--has been put in the newly drawn 33rd Congressional District, which stretches to the south.

And the congressman’s daughter, Democratic Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, has waged a campaign without much fanfare to win in the 33rd.

With no major Latino opposition in Tuesday’s primary election, the 52-year-old lawmaker from Los Angeles is expected to sweep past two lesser-known Democrats. And many believe that in a congressional district where Democrats hold a 61%-22% registration edge over Republicans, she should win easily in November.

Such thinking led some rivals within the Latino political community to support her. For example, state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) decided to endorse Roybal-Allard although she is an ally of Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who defeated Torres for the supervisorial seat in 1991.

“Why not?” Torres said of his endorsement.

Whoever wins the seat, the people and the problems of the 33rd District will challenge the winner.

The district, encompassing downtown, portions of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles and the Southeast-area communities of Commerce, Vernon, Huntington Park, Bell, Bell Gardens, Maywood, South Gate and Cudahy, has the highest concentration of Latinos--84%--of any congressional district in the country. In the Southwest portion of the district, neighborhoods that were Anglo blue-collar areas 15 years ago are now Spanish-speaking enclaves choked with recent immigrants.

Chronic unemployment, gang-related crime and dwindling heavy industrial opportunities are among the area’s most visible ills.

Ironically, Boyle Heights, a poor Latino community with mostly turn-of-the-century housing, has some of the most valuable homes in the 33rd District. The median value of a home in Boyle Heights is $136,200--well below the citywide figure of $244,500--but it is above what some homes are worth in the Southeast area.

Roybal-Allard, for one, thinks she is up to the challenge.

First elected to the Assembly in 1987, Roybal-Allard has followed the grass-roots approach used by Molina to galvanize community support to oppose the proposed state prison near Boyle Heights and other unwanted projects. An industrial incinerator and a toxic-waste recycling plant, both proposed in Vernon, were abandoned because of opposition marshaled by Roybal-Allard, Molina and others.

“Latino communities really have to empower themselves,” she said. “There can be friendly arrangements with companies coming in to provide jobs and, at the same time, meet the concerns of the communities.”

Crime and the need for more educational opportunities, especially in the wake of the civil unrest resulting from the verdicts in the King trial, need urgent attention, she said.

So far, the assemblywoman has raised $120,000, a figure that has raised some eyebrows since she is expected by many observers to win easily.

“You can’t take the constituents for granted,” Roybal-Allard said.

However, the two Democrats facing the assemblywoman in the primary accuse her of being a candidate backed by a political machine headed by Molina that cares little for the Southeast portion of the congressional district.

Lucy F. Kihm, a 48-year-old paralegal who lives in Commerce, said she admires Molina but wonders why the supervisor would support an “unimpressive” candidate like Roybal-Allard.

“I heard (Roybal-Allard) speak recently and there was no oomph in her speech,” said Kihm, who was born in Argentina and speaks fluent Spanish. “I wasn’t impressed. I’m not going to owe any favors to anybody. If anything goes bad or good, I’m clean. I come without any debts.”

The other Democrat, developer and real estate broker Frank Fernandez, has focused on the need to reinvest the so-called “peace dividend,” about $500 billion in defense expenditures over five years, to aid America’s cities. “A superpower (is) not because of our formidable capacity to destroy in war but because of our formidable capacity to create in peace,” said Fernandez, 52.

Waiting for the winner of the Democratic nomination in the fall will be Robert (Rob) Guzman, 37, the son of a preacher who is the lone Republican in the race.

He expects his opponent to be Roybal-Allard.

“I’m not as liberal as Lucille is,” said Guzman, an education consultant. “She’s a fine person but she’s of a different ideology.”

* RELATED STORY: B3

Congressional District 33

Overview: Longtime Democratic Rep. Edward R. Roybal, the leading Latino politician in Los Angeles, is retiring. His daughter, Democratic Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, waging a low-key campaign to represent a district that includes some of his power base, is favored.

Where: Under redistricting, part of Roybal’s turf was put in the 30th Congressional District to the north. Another part of his power base--downtown Los Angeles--was linked to cities to the south from Vernon to South Gate to form the new 33rd District.

Demographics

Anglo: 8%

Latino: 84%

Black: 4%

Asian: 4%

Party Registration

Demo: 22%

GOP: 66%

Others: 12%

Candidates:

Democrat

* Frank Fernandez: Developer, real estate broker

* Lucy F. Kihm: Paralegal

* Lucille Roybal-Allard: State assemblywoman

Republican

* Robert Guzman: Education consultant