Potential Successor Vows Support for Roberti in Recall Battle : Politics: Assembly’s Barbara Friedman will wait for regular vote rather than offer herself as a replacement.

State Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman, widely viewed as the leading candidate to succeed embattled state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys), said Friday she will wholeheartedly support Roberti’s effort to defeat a recall campaign leveled against him by anti-gun control activists.

“I’m supporting Sen. Roberti in whatever way I can,” Friedman said in an interview. “He’s played an incredibly valuable role on the gun-control issue.”

Friedman, risking the ire of the forces lined up against Roberti, said she wants to expand existing gun-control measures, but offered no specifics.

The North Hollywood Democrat added that she would not place her name on a recall ballot as a candidate to replace Roberti. If Roberti were recalled in a special election that could be held as early as April, his successor would be picked from a list of candidates appearing on the same ballot.

Instead, Friedman said she would wait for the regular election cycle to run for Roberti’s seat. Because of term limits, Roberti, recall or not, will be leaving office by year’s end. The regular primary election to fill his seat will be held in June, with the general in November.

But by waiting, Friedman could be put in the awkward position of having to run against an incumbent--that is, whoever won the recall election. “That’s a theoretical possibility,” Friedman acknowledged Friday. But it’s not a factor that will govern her planning, she said. She will make a final decision on whether to run for Roberti’s seat later this month, Friedman said.

Roberti’s political problems surfaced dramatically this week with the announcement that supporters of a recall drive against the state Senate leader had submitted 45,000 signatures to the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder.

The anti-Roberti forces need only 20,000 valid signatures to force a recall ballot--and the registrar has already certified 10,000 as valid out of 17,000 reviewed, spokeswoman Grace Romero said Friday.

Roberti’s advisers are not optimistic that a recall can be avoided. Thursday, Roberti held a news conference to announce that he was prepared to fight “with every ounce of my being” against “the bully boys” and “wackos” of the anti-gun control movement sponsoring his recall.

Recall supporters, however, claim their gripe against Roberti goes beyond his 1989 support for legislation banning the sale of military-style semiautomatic assault rifles. They accuse Roberti of being a soft-on-crime carpetbagger and of condoning political corruption in the Senate.

The recall fight has begun to take the form of a national referendum with the disclosure Thursday that gun-control activist Sarah Brady, wife of James Brady, the presidential press secretary severely injured in the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, has vowed to throw her formidable national organization behind Roberti.

Brady’s group, Handgun Control Inc., was the driving force behind last month’s federal mandate of a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases.

Roberti aides expect a tough fight if the recall goes to a ballot test, because highly motivated special-interest groups often prevail in low-turnout special elections.

All this raises the prospect that Friedman, who represents the southern half of Roberti’s Senate district in the Assembly, might face a tougher battle than expected in her bid to succeed Roberti.

So far, the only person to commit to running in the recall election is Dolores White, who finished fourth in the 1992 vote that gave Roberti leadership of the 20th Senate District.

But political observers expect other candidates to quickly enter the field should the recall qualify for the ballot.

There were also signs Thursday that although the recall forces are united in their desire to oust Roberti, they may split over his successor.

Questioned by reporters, recall leader William Dominguez said he would not endorse White, a Republican. “I’m a Democrat, and I don’t want a Republican representing this district,” said Dominguez, chairman of the Coalition to Restore Government Integrity, the ad-hoc group behind the recall.

Despite the potential pitfalls of declining to run in a recall election, Friedman is not without considerable political resources should she find herself running against an incumbent.

The 43-year-old assemblywoman can expect the backing of the Howard Berman-Henry Waxman political machine, a group with a formidable following in the liberal and Jewish communities, and support from organized labor. Before her election to the Assembly in 1991, Friedman was a labor union official and a top aide to Los Angeles Controller Rick Tuttle.