Assemblywoman Boland May Run for Russell’s State Senate Seat

PAULA’S PLAN: State Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) is seriously eyeing the possibility of running for the seat now held by state Sen. Newt Russell (R-Glendale). According to Boland’s top political advisers, climbing into the Russell seat is well within the realm of possibility after Russell retires in 1996 and Boland faces a term limits-mandated end to her career in the state Assembly in 1996.

Both seats are heavily Republican. And until the 1992 reapportionment, Boland’s 38th Assembly District included portions (Sunland-Tujunga and La Crescenta) of what is now Russell’s 21st Senate District seat.

Meanwhile, Boland may have some opportunity to use a new post to keep her political future viable. Just before the close of the state legislative session last weekend, Boland got a note from Assembly Speaker Brian Setencich saying that he was naming her chairman of the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, a post the speaker lightly claimed in the note would make her the state’s “new sheriff.”

Scott Wilk, Boland’s chief deputy, said his boss has not yet decided what agenda to pursue in her new post. This fall Boland will be preoccupied with seeing that her school breakup initiative bears fruit in Los Angeles, Wilk said.

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BASHING THE BOARD: The desperate efforts of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to balance its budget are getting a failing grade from Valley business leaders. The budget-balancing antics of the board have been short-sighted, shown contempt for voters and bordered on the infantile, according to the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.

Especially singled out for condemnation by VICA was the plan, approved by the state Legislature, to transfer $150 million from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to the county. It was an end-run around the voters, according to VICA President Bonnie Copabianco. “The taxpayers voted on ballot measures to finance a regional transportation system and it’s not right to now shift that money to the county’s general fund without first going back to the voters,” she said.

VICA’s board of directors voted to condemn the MTA transfer as well as the plan to increase by 2% the county tax on tickets to Magic Mountain and Universal Studios.

“The entertainment industry has become a main force in the economic life of the region,” said VICA chairman Walter W. Mosher. “It seems curious that the County Board of Supervisors would intentionally set out to discourage our benefactors.”

So what do the business leaders say ought to be done?

“They ought to be looking to reform themselves before grabbing tax dollars from elsewhere,” Copabianco said. How? “There ought to be some blue-ribbon panels set up that would work hand-in-hand with professional accounting firms who would do [management] audits of county operations,” she said, echoing the strategy being pursued by Mayor Richard Riordan’s administration to streamline Los Angeles City Hall.

“All sorts of things need to be explored,” Copabianco said. But closing down County-USC hospital is not among them, she said. “When they talk about that, they sound like a pouting teen-ager threatening drastic action because they can’t get the family car.”

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MAIL BASHING: Has Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), an ardent supporter of pro-choice positions, quietly flip-flopped and begun working behind the scenes to restrict abortions?

That’s what readers of a recent letter from the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League might believe.

A Sept. 5 fund-raising letter sent to 976 of Waxman’s constituents from the national pro-choice group made just such a claim earlier this month, accusing Waxman of taking an anti-abortion position on three critical votes before the House of Representatives this year.

The only problem: The letter got it wrong.

A computer glitch caused the organization to incorrectly report Waxman’s voting record, and the voting records of just about everyone else in the House.

“We have never made such a mistake before and I hope it’s a once-in-a-lifetime mistake,” said the group’s spokeswoman, Karen Schneider.

Waxman had voted against--not for--a plan to eliminate federal family planning funding. He voted nay--not aye--on a proposal to permit states to deny Medicare coverage for abortions for women who are the victims of rape and incest. And he had opposed--not supported--limiting abortion training for medical residents training to become obstetricians and gynecologists.

The letter recorded Waxman’s votes as the opposite. And to make matters worse for the pro-choice group, Waxman was not the only victim of the snafu. Letters went out to just about every congressional district in the country--and all 64,000 letters were wrong.

A follow-up letter went out last week to all recipients of the original missives apologizing for the incorrect facts. And Kate Michelman, president of the group, also apologized in letters to the affected lawmakers.

“I apologize for this error--especially because you have been an important advocate on behalf of a woman’s right to choose,” Michelman wrote to Waxman. “We greatly appreciate your steadfast support during these difficult times and your effort to safeguard this fundamental freedom from anti-choice attacks in Congress.”

Waxman’s office, which took the mistake good-naturedly, was not barraged with calls from outraged constituents. In fact, Waxman first learned of the error from the action league itself and received a rather muted response from voters--a single telephone call and a single fax.

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LAYING DOWN THE LAW: Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon has moved his first bill through the House of Representatives, winning bipartisan support along the way and making lawmaking look like a relative breeze.

Dubbed the Consolidated and Reformed Education, Employment and Rehabilitation Systems Act, McKeon’s new law will consolidate more than 150 federal job training and literacy programs into four block grants to state and local governments. By trimming the budgets and reducing overlap, McKeon predicts the effort will result in better programs and save billions of dollars over the next five years.

“This was the first big thing for us,” said McKeon’s spokesman, Armando Azarloza. “Buck is thrilled.”

The process moved along quickly by congressional standards and McKeon’s plan won strong support from both Democrats and Republicans. Shepherding the complicated bill through the process, however, was not a complete cakewalk for the former Santa Clarita mayor, who just this year became chairman of the House subcommittee on post-secondary education, training and lifelong learning.

The sophomore congressman was forced to juggle competing interests, compromise on many fine points and learn the ins and outs of the bureaucracy on the run.

During the hour of debate last week, while the fate of his hard work hung in the balance, some 15 last-minute amendments were offered on the House floor. McKeon and his supporters were able to defeat all but one, a change by Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) that altered McKeon’s plan by removing programs for the disabled from the bill.

In the end, McKeon’s first legislative proposal to reach the House floor passed by a comfortable 345 to 79 margin.

Schwada reported from Los Angeles and Lacey from Washington, D.C.