LOCAL ELECTIONS / 30th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : School Board Member Quezada to Seek Roybal’s Seat

Los Angeles school board member Leticia Quezada said Wednesday she will run for the seat of the retiring Democratic Rep. Edward R. Roybal, the longtime patriarch of Latino politicians in Los Angeles.

The decision by Quezada, 38, is likely to set up a fight in the June Democratic primary for the 30th Congressional District seat. Roybal, who announced last week that he would not seek reelection, has endorsed his chief of staff, Henry Lozano, for the job.

Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), who shares much of the same Eastside power base as Quezada, is also considering a run for the seat. But Quezada, who has been on the school board since 1987, said she was not deterred by her potential challengers.

“I’ve already weighed that,” she said. “I’m going to run for the seat. I think I’m the best candidate.”

Quezada is scheduled to formally announce her candidacy this morning at a news conference on the steps of the downtown Federal Building.

The battle among Latinos for the congressional seat could be a replay of last year’s bitter fight for the 1st Supervisorial District seat, when the Latino community lined up on opposite sides behind two of of its brightest political stars, Gloria Molina and Art Torres.

Roybal was among those who supported Molina, then a Los Angeles city councilwoman, over Torres, a Democratic state senator.

When Roybal announced his retirement last week, Molina and her allies--Rep. Esteban Torres (D-Pico Rivera), Assemblyman Xavier Becerra (D-Monterey Park) and Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez--quickly backed Lozano.

Art Torres and Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre, who supported Torres in the supervisorial race last year, have not decided whom to support in the race. But Polanco, a one-time Alatorre aide who is disliked by Molina because of his role in the fight over a proposed Eastside state prison, had some barbs for Lozano and his supporters.

“Leticia and I--if I decide to run--bring more experience and credibility than the back-room Trojan horse candidate,” said Polanco, referring to Lozano. “Talk about a Trojan horse.”

A high-profile Molina supporter, who asked that her name not be used, shot back, “Who is the Trojan horse? He said he would fight for our community and he sold us out when he voted for the prison.”

Polanco, then a freshman assemblyman, provided a key vote in 1986 on a committee that recommended approval for the proposed state prison across the river from Boyle Heights. He later voted against it on the floor of the Assembly but it was approved in the Legislature and by then Republican Gov. George Deukmejian.

For her part, Quezada said she would seek the endorsement of all important Latino officeholders in Los Angeles, including those who have already endorsed Lozano.

Quezada, born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, said she would focus her campaign on improved child care, affordable federal housing and job-training problems. “I want to make sure Los Angeles gets its fair share of federal dollars,” she said.

She said she had a “woman’s agenda,” adding “the Anita Hill-Thomas (Senate) hearings really brought out a lot of anger in women. There is a gap between the representation of men and women in Congress.”

Reelected to the school board last year, she recently made a controversial proposal that non-citizen parents be allowed to vote in school board elections.