POLITICIAN WATCH : Succession Story

Their political careers were not without controversy, but Southern California benefited from the contributions of both Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles) and Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton) during their many years of public service.

Both men announced this week they will retire from Congress, Roybal at 75 and Dymally at 66.

Roybal was the dean of California’s Latino politicians. He was the first Mexican-American elected to the Los Angeles City Council, in 1949, and might also have been the first on the County Board of Supervisors except for a suspect election in 1958 that many still believe was stolen from him. Elected to Congress in 1962, Roybal has championed education for the young and health programs for the elderly.

Dymally is a native of Trinidad who immigrated to the United States at 20. His first job was as a janitor, but he became a teacher and union leader before being elected to the Legislature. There he rose through the ranks to become the state’s first black to be elected lieutenant governor. In Congress since 1980, he has worked to improve relations between this country and the emerging nations of Africa.

Both men take pride that their daughters followed them into public life--Dymally wants his, Lynn Dymally, to succeed him; Roybal’s, Democratic Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, is running for Congress in another district. But an even greater tribute to the groundbreaking political work both men did is that many other Latinos and blacks are ready to run for Congress to succeed them.