Few Surprised by Robbins’ Plea : Reactions: Some residents express grave concerns over repercussions from the senator’s actions.

Martin Jacobs picked up the newspaper he was reading at the counter of a Studio City deli Wednesday and jabbed his finger at a front-page story on state Sen. Alan Robbins, who pleaded guilty to political corruption charges and resigned from office.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” the 43-year-old truck driver said. He later added, “The first thing I thought when I saw it was, ‘They finally got him.’ ”

Jacobs, a Van Nuys resident who has voted twice for Robbins, echoed the reaction expressed by many area residents there and throughout the San Fernando Valley. They just weren’t all that surprised.

“I think it’s been coming for years,” Dolores Cohen of North Hollywood said as she ate lunch with friends. “He’s had such shifty eyes for years.”

Indeed, if anything seemed to surprise people, it was that the Democratic lawmaker, known for his tempestuous career, had not been caught long ago.

“It’s been obvious that he’s been of bad repute for many years,” said Arthur Grebler, 73, a former constituent who was in Sherman Oaks on business Wednesday. “It’s amazing that nothing happened before.”

Grebler and others noted that Robbins was accused in 1981 of having sex with two 16-year-old high school students he met in the Capitol in 1978 and 1979. He was later acquitted of the charges.

Some constituents and Valley residents said they had discussed the scandal with their friends and families and had read about it in the newspaper.

But beyond the “I told you so” But beyond the “I told you so” But beyond the “I told you so” But beyond the “I told you so” But beyond the “I told you so” attitude that pervaded, many comments reflected grave concerns among some constituents over repercussions from Robbins’ actions.

“The unfortunate part is that he’s a Democrat,” said Joyce Schorr, 40, of Sherman Oaks, adding that people might generalize his corruption to the entire party.

Schorr said that despite rumors, she voted for Robbins in the last election because his views on several issues, including his abortion-rights stance, were important to her. Also, she said, the “Republicans up against him weren’t so hot either.”

“I was concerned,” Schorr said as she stood outside a Sherman Oaks restaurant. “But out of the two people, he had the views that I wanted.”

Jacobs said he voted for Robbins in the past two elections because the senator supported issues he was interested in and continued to cater to constituents. “There’s all the bad stuff, like the Kennedys,” Jacobs said. “But, he’s done some good stuff too.”

Residents said they had discussed the Robbins scandal over breakfast with their spouses and chatted about it during breaks in their offices. But the buzz about town did not ensure that everyone had heard the news.

“I’ll tell you the truth,” confided one man at a family restaurant in Sherman Oaks. “I’ve been working on a film for three weeks and I didn’t know anything about it.”