Sen. Ayala Tries to Get Leg Up on Garden Chores, Takes a Fall

Off the Fence: State Sen. Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino) wouldn’t have been in political office for 35 years if he didn’t know how to straddle a political fence, but his footing wasn’t as sure when he climbed a five-foot-high back yard fence last weekend.

Ayala, 69, is recovering from a broken leg after losing his balance and falling off a fence while trying to trim a tree at his home in Chino. Ayala’s wife called paramedics after the fall, and he was rushed to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.

Al Irwin, the senator’s administrative assistant, said Ayala suffered a compound fracture of his right leg, but that it didn’t slow him down much. Irwin said he took a briefcase full of work to the hospital every day last week for Ayala, and the senator also kept the phone lines busy issuing instructions to his office in Sacramento.

Irwin said Ayala was expected to be released from the hospital this week.

Cole Roast: Pasadena City Director Rick Cole, reelected March 5 to a third term, has offered himself up for skewering at a Monday roast at 7:30 p.m. at Pasadena’s Doubletree Hotel.

“It was the easiest way to make money,” Cole said. He said fellow Director William Paparian volunteered to be a roaster. Others getting their digs in include former City Manager Donald McIntyre, former Pasadena Mayor William Bogaard and newly elected City Director Isaac Richard.

Proceeds from the $20 event will help retire a $5,000 campaign debt Cole said he incurred running against Ed Bryant.

Short Subjects: State Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier) will have some extra clout in the Legislature’s budget deliberations this year. He has been appointed as the only Republican senator on a six-member legislative committee that will resolve differences in the Assembly and state Senate versions of the state budget. . . . Rep. David Dreier (R-La Verne) has been named chairman of the California Congressional Target Committee, which will recruit Republican candidates for the 1992 congressional elections.