Democrat Killea Will Become an Independent

Delivering a scorching attack on the Legislature, state Sen. Lucy Killea (D-San Diego) said Monday she wants to quit the Democratic Party and become a political independent because partisan lawmakers “have lost the public’s confidence.”

Killea, addressing colleagues in a highly unusual speech on the Senate floor, said voters believe “that this Legislature is interested only in itself” and warned her colleagues that public opinion polls are giving them failing marks.

“I would be surprised if we got 30% (of the voters) approving of our job,” she said. “That’s an F grade.”

Killea’s announcement drew a cool reception from colleagues, including Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), who suggested that it was designed to increase her chances of reelection next year in the heavily Republican San Diego district she represents.

“I think it has to do with her reelection,” said Roberti, who helped her win a narrow upset victory in the central San Diego Senate district in December, 1989. A Roberti spokesman said the Senate leader helped steer between $175,000 and $200,000 to her campaign, which drew national attention because of Killea’s views on abortion rights.

Roberti said that Killea’s defection also was symptomatic of a larger problem for the Democratic Party nationally--its leaders have failed to define and project “what our essential message is,” or even field presidential candidates.

“The Democratic Party is going through some soul-searching problems. . . . We really don’t have national leaders to form and articulate a coherent Democratic message. If we did have that, we probably wouldn’t be suffering these small erosions,” he said.

Although Roberti and others took Killea’s pronouncements seriously, the gesture was largely symbolic, at least for the present. State law prevents her from changing registration less than a year before next summer’s primary. Killea acknowledged that she probably will be listed as a Democrat on the 1992 ballot, but said she will stop attending Senate Democratic caucus meetings and start acting as an independent.

Killea noted that she had been a Democrat for more than 40 years and registered as such out of college specifically to vote for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a leader who she said was dedicated to protecting working Americans.

In contrast, she said, today’s lawmakers are commonly viewed by the public as self-serving, concerned primarily about picking up their tax-free expense allowances, “carving out” safe political districts through redistricting and collecting huge campaign war chests to discourage challengers.

“I’m talking about a much deeper dissatisfaction, even resentment, a sense among a broad section of the public . . . that this Legislature is interested only in itself,” she told her colleagues, who sat stone-faced.

Roberti publicly rejected Killea’s charge that the Legislature has failed to respond to demands for reform. Within the last two years, he said, lawmakers have voted to ban honorariums, limit gifts and throw the politically thorny issue of pay raises to an independent salary commission.

Killea’s narrow election victory came after San Diego’s Roman Catholic bishop touched off a national controversy by telling her she could no longer partake of Communion because of her public position in support of abortion rights.

Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno said Killea’s announcement caps months of frustration on her part with the power structure of the upper chamber, which rewards longevity with committee chairmanships and other desirable assignments.

Roberti said Killea’s speech will produce no major change in the balance of power in the 40-member Senate, where Democrats hold the majority with 26 seats.