Redistricting Commission Leaves Floyd Out in the Cold

Veteran South Bay Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd would become a politician in search of a district under a plan unveiled Friday by a bipartisan commission appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson to draw new state legislative and congressional boundaries.

The panel recommended that pieces of the Carson Democrat’s district be parceled out to other South Bay area lawmakers, forcing him to run against another Democratic incumbent if he wanted to stay in the Assembly.

The Wilson panel drew boundaries that would wed Floyd’s political base in Gardena and Hawthorne with a predominantly black district based in Inglewood, the home turf of Democratic Assemblyman Curtis Tucker.

Floyd’s Carson home, meanwhile, would be placed in a district that would include predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods in North Long Beach and Compton, where he is not well known. If he ran in that district, Floyd presumably would have to square off against Assemblyman Willard Murray (D-Paramount), who currently represents much of the area.

The recommendations of the commission--appointed by Wilson in August--go to the state Supreme Court, which last month agreed to take over the once-a-decade task of redrawing legislative and congressional districts after the governor and state legislators failed to agree on a plan.

For its part, the high court appointed a special panel of retired state judges to review various reapportionment proposals and make a recommendation to the court by Nov. 29.

Wilson embraced most of the recommendations issued by his commission, but suggested some changes, including one that would boost the reelection prospects of Sen. Robert Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach).

The panel recommended that the districts of Beverly and Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) be combined into a district that would hug the coast from Santa Monica to Torrance. Instead, Wilson suggested placing Rosenthal into a Hollywood-area district with fellow Democrat David A. Roberti, the president pro tem of the Senate.

Other highlights of the commission’s plan include:

* Giving a ray of political hope to veteran Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena). Democratic-backed plans vetoed last month by Wilson wiped out Dills’ district. The commission’s proposal would encompass in a single district the communities of Carson, Compton, San Pedro and parts of Long Beach currently represented by Dills.

Although sources close to Wilson suggested that a black candidate would have an excellent chance in a Democratic primary for the seat, they also acknowledged that Dills, who is white, might win.

* Pushing the West Los Angeles anchored congressional seat of Rep. Mel Levine (D-Los Angeles) further south into Rolling Hills and Torrance. The district, which Levine is giving up to campaign for the U.S. Senate, now leans Democratic, but would be given a 4% Republican voter registration edge by the commission’s plan. One source close to Wilson said that Deane Dana III, son of the Los Angeles County supervisor, might be a likely candidate for the seat.

* Merging parts of the districts represented by Democratic Reps. Glenn Anderson and Mervyn Dymally into a single seat. Sources close to Wilson said most of the seat is now in Dymally’s district. Democratic remapping plans had completely collapsed Anderson’s district.