Flores Plots a Challenge to Secretary of State Eu

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores is expected to announce her candidacy for California secretary of state today, becoming the second Republican to mount a challenge to four-term Democratic incumbent March Fong Eu.

Flores, 53, who represents the 15th Council District that stretches from Watts to San Pedro, has scheduled a morning press conference on the steps of City Hall for what her office would only say is an announcement that she will run for a statewide office.

But several sources who have spoken with Flores said she told them she is running for secretary of state and will file by today’s 5 p.m. deadline.

Flores, a three-term council member, will face Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Gordon Levy, the only other announced Republican candidate, in the June primary,

If she defeats Levy, Flores would go on to run against Eu--the only announced Democrat in the race--in the November general election. Eu has consistently been one of the highest vote-getters on the state ballot since rising to prominence in the early 1970s by campaigning against pay toilets in public buildings.

State Republican Party officials said it could be difficult for Flores to achieve enough name recognition and backing to mount a successful campaign against Eu.

“That’s a pretty big leap from local to state office,” said John Kurzweil, communications director for the California Republican Party.

But Flores is known to have been aiming for higher office for years.

She will start her run for secretary of state with more than $588,000 on hand in three separate campaign committees, according to documents filed with the city clerk’s office last week. The money had been raised for her City Council races, but under a federal court ruling, the funds are transferable to a statewide race.

John Barbieri, a San Pedro businessman and a longtime Flores backer, said the councilwoman formed a committee about five years ago that looked into her options, including bids for secretary of state and the county Board of Supervisors.

Flores has hinted on several occasions during the past year that she also has her eyes on the mayor’s office.

In an interview during her reelection campaign last April, Flores said: “I don’t want to be in this job forever. People get stale. You get tired of doing the same thing.”

Flores was first elected to the City Council in 1981 after serving for 25 years as an aide to former Los Angeles City Councilman John S. Gibson Jr. She got her start in politics as a stenographer in the city clerk’s office, eventually moving to Gibson’s office, where she worked her way up to chief deputy.

When Gibson, a Democrat, retired, he endorsed Flores as his successor. She won a close election in 1981 against then-Los Angeles school board member John Greenwood and cruised to easy reelection victories in 1985 and 1989.