Dills Gets an Ally in Senate Race

Longtime state Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena), who is facing a strong challenge in the June 7 primary, is enjoying the support of Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) in a race that touches on a 50-year-old issue.

Lockyer has criticized Torrance Councilman George Nakano, a Japanese American who spent four years in a relocation camp during World War II, for challenging Dills in the Democratic primary in the 28th Senate District, which includes Long Beach and Compton. Dills, 84, has long been personally and politically allied with Japanese Americans.

“Everything I have heard is that council member Nakano is a very fine person,” Lockyer said. But he noted that Dills was vilified by colleagues in 1943 when he was a state assemblyman for opposing Japanese internment camps.

“There’s something wrong about terminating” Dills’ career when it is “about to end anyway because of term limits by someone who is from the (Japanese American) community,” Lockyer said. “People’s memories should not be so short.”

Nakano called Lockyer’s comment “a very condescending remark.”

“If someone took a strong stand for women’s rights, does that mean a woman shouldn’t be able to run against them?” Nakano said.

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FIRST NAME, PLEASE: Two unrelated lawyers who have the same last name, Polsky, are heading to court Friday.

The trouble began when Trudy Polsky, a real estate lawyer and Long Beach City College trustee, stopped by her favorite donut shop one morning last month. There, in the store window, was a big sign reading “Polsky . . . Municipal Court Judge.”

The problem was, she wasn’t running for office. Alexander Polsky, a Long Beach resident taking his first crack at elected office, was the Polsky on the sign. Trudy Polsky, fearing her good name was being used to someone else’s advantage, asked an employee to take the sign out of the window. Alexander Polsky heard about his sign being removed and reportedly became upset.

Alexander Polsky said he would add his first name to the signs, but didn’t do it fast enough to satisfy Trudy Polsky. She, on the other hand, continued to annoy him by asking merchants to remove the signs.

She filed suit in Long Beach Superior Court last month, asking that a judge order Alexander Polsky to include his first name prominently on all signs.