Roberti Won’t Seek Edelman’s Board Seat : Politics: Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky becomes the front-runner in the supervisorial race, experts say.

Citing the divisiveness and “obscenely excessive” cost of running against a powerful fellow Democrat, state Senate leader David Roberti (D-Van Nuys) said Wednesday that he will not enter the race to succeed retiring Los Angeles County Supervisor Ed Edelman.

Roberti’s decision made veteran Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, also a Democrat, the clear front-runner to replace Edelman, political consultants said. Yaroslavsky announced his candidacy last week after several other political heavyweights said they would not run.

Roberti said he would not seek Edelman’s 3rd District seat after reviewing the results of a detailed poll of voters conducted last weekend in the sprawling district, which covers much of the San Fernando Valley and Westside.

Roberti spokesman Steve Glazer said the poll showed that the powerful Senate President pro tem would “be highly competitive” in a race against Yaroslavsky, who has represented a mostly Westside constituency since 1975.

But it also revealed that a Roberti win would require “campaign spending that would be obscenely excessive and a debate that would be divisive,” Glazer said.

“ ‘Tough’ is a nice way to put it,” said Glazer, saying a Roberti-Yaroslavsky matchup would very likely have produced a stream of sharp political charges and countercharges.

Glazer said the senator will continue to explore the possibility of running for state treasurer. In September, Roberti announced his plans to run for that office but became interested in the supervisorial race only hours after Edelman surprised the Los Angeles political community by announcing that he would not run for reelection next year.

With Roberti staying out of the race, Yaroslavsky’s only other announced opponent is Don Wallace, a retired Los Angeles County Fire Department captain. Wallace ran in 1991 against Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who then represented much of the Valley portion of what is now the 3rd District.

But Yaroslavsky has much better name recognition and is expected to raise far more campaign dollars than Wallace. As of last week, Yaroslavsky’s war chest contained more than $223,000.

“Obviously, I’m pleased,” Yaroslavsky said of Roberti’s decision. “David was the last remaining elected official actively considering the race. He had the resources and portfolio to make a race very tough.”

Local political consultants said Roberti’s decision indicated that he felt he could not win a race against Yaroslavsky.

“It’s plain as day that their polling showed that they would not be able to put together a winning campaign,” Democratic political consultant Richard Lichtenstein said of Roberti’s camp.

Roberti barely managed to win his current Van Nuys-based Senate seat during a 1992 special election against a poorly financed novice candidate, Republican Carol Rowen of Tarzana. Roberti spent more than $1.4 million against Rowen, who spent about $120,000 and lost by just 4% of the vote.

A source close to Roberti said the senator would have had to spend at least $2 million in a race against Yaroslavsky.

Rowen repeatedly attacked Roberti for his opposition to abortion rights as well as his tenure as Senate president during a period when three fellow Democratic senators were convicted on political corruption charges.

Glazer said Roberti would have been vulnerable on the issue of his long incumbency in the Senate, to which he was elected in 1973. But Glazer denied that the abortion and corruption issues would have hurt him badly.

But Lichtenstein said Yaroslavsky almost certainly would have hit Roberti hard on both issues. The councilman favors abortion rights.

Roberti’s strategists “have not been able to come up with positions that David is comfortable with that they could sell to the electorate,” Lichtenstein said.

The consultant added that Yaroslavsky, who is Jewish, also was very likely to have a leg up with the district’s large group of Jewish voters. Roberti is Italian-American and Catholic.

A member of Yaroslavsky’s camp, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Roberti probably decided that it would be prohibitively expensive to “drive a wedge” between Yaroslavsky and local voters who know of the councilman and approve of his record.

The source also said Roberti’s handling of his inquiry into the Edelman seat might have damaged his bid for the state treasury post. By letting it be known he had done a poll and then deciding not to run, Roberti unwittingly signaled that “he can’t even win in his back yard when he’s trying to run for a state office,” the source said.

Yaroslavsky said that despite Roberti’s decision, he is taking “nothing for granted” and will run hard for supervisor.

“We’re going into this like I have to be a giant-killer,” Yaroslavsky said. “It’s still two months yet before the official filing for the office opens and a lot can happen. Things are fluid, the voters are very frustrated and they want action now. But David’s removal is one less major thing to worry about.”

In recent days, Yaroslavsky has moved fast to consolidate support among labor unions, homeowner and environmental groups and elected officials in the 3rd District.

Last weekend, Yaroslavsky spent time courting Calabasas City Council members to line up their endorsements. The 3rd District includes the Westside but a majority of its population lives in the Valley. Calabasas and Malibu are also part of the district.

Although Yaroslavsky’s camp criticized Roberti’s handling of his poll, the councilman took a similar action in 1989. Then Yaroslavsky, after nearly two years of preparation, finally dropped plans to challenge then-Mayor Tom Bradley after reviewing results of a poll.