Roberti Farewell Draws Bipartisan Praise : Retirement: Wilson headlines fete to help former Senate leader pay off campaign debt.

The twilight of a man’s career is not a time to hold grudges--not even in partisan politics.

So with state Sen. David A. Roberti only weeks from retirement after a quarter-century in the Legislature, his opponents laid down their rhetoric, dusted off their sentimentality and joined his supporters Thursday night at a dinner in the Van Nuys Democrat’s honor.

In a rare goodwill gathering over chilled cucumber dill soup and tournedos of beef, Gov. Pete Wilson and top legislative leaders put aside ideological bickering to share a microphone and a spotlight to praise the former Senate leader.

About 300 guests turned out at a Radisson Hotel ballroom for a “This Is Your Life” fete that longtime Capitol observers declared historic for its bridging of the partisan gap.

Like retirement parties anywhere, people brought jokes, stories, memories, skits and gifts. But because this is an election year, the gifts took the form of legal tender. With Democrats and Republicans alike paying $100 to $500 a head, the 55-year-old Roberti got a hand in reducing nearly $200,000 in leftover campaign bills that had forced him to mortgage his Tudor-style Los Feliz home and borrow from his father.

“It’s a touch of political history for the most ranking Republicans in California--and especially the governor--to lend their names to help retire a Democrat’s campaign debt,” said Robert Forsyth, a former Roberti spokesman who now works in public relations. “At one time or another, David has fought viciously against them.”

It was pay-back time for the private, portly politician who retained a record-breaking 13-year hold on the Senate leadership in part by raising and doling out contributions to loyal Democrats. The event this week raised $90,000 to help pay off the debt incurred during Roberti’s failed state treasurer’s bid in June and an earlier gun-lobby-led recall attempt in the San Fernando Valley.

That Wilson would consent to headline Roberti’s farewell fund-raiser came as little surprise to anyone who recalled that the two started their careers as elected officials together in 1966. That year, as the Vietnam War dominated the news and sideburns set the fashion standard, both became rookie assemblymen.

“When I met him, I thought this was a shy--almost painfully shy--young man,” Wilson told the crowd. “Obviously, he was intelligent. But I had no idea he would flower as he has. And I had no idea I would feel personal affection for him, which I do.”

Speculation abounded over the plans of Roberti, who in December becomes the first career politician to be ejected from the Legislature by voter-approved term limits. Although he is mum about his options, Roberti says he believes a judgeship might be too structured, and has been talking to law firms.

As Senate president pro tem until earlier this year, Roberti became known for his skill at stitching together a united Democratic front and preventing it from unraveling in times of dissent.

The fact that he occasionally did so by exacting political revenge--stripping committee chairmanships and withholding endorsements--was recalled Thursday night, with humorous digs, as no more than business as usual in Sacramento.

If the evening’s entertainment was worth the price of admission, then the credit goes to four female state senators who performed imitation rap songs under the stage name The Dames Under the Dome.

State Sens. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), Lucy Killea (I-San Diego), Teresa Hughes (D-Inglewood) and Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) donned backward baseball caps, sunglasses and street attire to sing: “David talked the right thing. David did the right thing. Whatta man, whatta man, whatta man. Oooooo, aaaah.”

Roberti was also toasted by a parade of lobbyists. One cracked a joke about senators and felons that fell flat with an audience still stinging from the Senate’s latest political corruption conviction.