Roberti Expected to Seek Seat Vacated by Robbins : Politics: Move will avert Senate race showdown with Herschel Rosenthal or Newton R. Russell.

State Senate leader David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), whose home district was carved up by the state Supreme Court, is expected to announce today he will run for the San Fernando Valley seat vacated by former Sen. Alan Robbins, a source close to Roberti confirmed Tuesday.

Roberti’s decision averts a possible political showdown with Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) or Sen. Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale), both of whose districts Roberti has considered in his efforts to remain in the Senate, where he has been president pro tem for 12 years.

Robbins resigned from the Senate in November after agreeing to plead guilty to federal corruption charges, opening the door for several would-be contenders to consider running in his district, which covers the south-central Valley.

Roberti has scheduled a news conference for this morning at the State Office Building in Van Nuys to formally announce his decision on the race. He met Saturday in North Hollywood with Latino leaders to discuss his positions on education, job training and other issues, and to assess his support among local Latinos.

A special election is scheduled for April 7 to fill the remaining two years of Robbins’ unexpired term in the 20th Senate District. Attorneys have told Roberti that under the term limits of Proposition 140, he could not seek another full term in the Senate if he won the two-year seat.

Thus, even if he runs and wins, Roberti’s Senate career would end in 1994 unless he prevails in an appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out the term limits, which were largely upheld by the state Supreme Court.

The lawmaker recently failed in a separate bid to persuade the state Supreme Court to move up the next regular election for the 20th District seat, scheduled for 1994, to this year, which would have allowed him to win a four-year term and stay in office until 1996.

Roberti, who has served in the Senate since 1971, was left with only a piece of his Hollywood-based district after the state Supreme Court redrew California’s legislative and congressional district boundaries to reflect population changes measured by the 1990 federal census.

Strategists for Roberti have said that his opposition to abortion could hurt him if he ran against Rosenthal in a newly created Westside district with a preponderance of liberal voters. Conversely, they say his abortion stance might help him in Russell’s conservative, Republican-dominated district, but might be offset by his reputation as a liberal.

Two Valley-area state Assemblymen--Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles) and Richard Katz (D-Sylmar)--have also said they are interested in Robbins’ seat, and both said Tuesday they may still run.

Two lesser-known Democrats--Encino political activist Glenn Bailey and Sherman Oaks attorney Fred N. Gaines--already have declared their candidacies.

A Roberti spokesman said last week that Roberti has about $500,000 in campaign funds available for the Senate race. Friedman said he had about $120,000 on hand and Katz said he has about $100,000.

Friedman said Roberti is “clearly a powerful figure” who has authored some notable legislation, including a 1989 bill to ban sales of assault rifles in California.

“On the other hand, he’s clearly out of step with many people on women’s right to choose,” said Friedman, who said he has been urged by abortion rights groups to run for the Senate seat.

But a Democratic political consultant said abortion rights may play a secondary role this year to economic issues such as job creation.

Roberti’s present home is in Los Feliz, and he would have to move into the 20th District to run.