Boland Blasts Senators for Treatment of Secession Bill

Saying her bill to ease a San Fernando Valley secession bid may be killed due to political games and “Mickey Mouse excuses,” Assemblywoman Paula Boland lashed out Monday at members of the state Senate leadership who oppose it.

“What we have in this building is tyranny instead of statesmanship,” said Boland, a Granada Hills Republican.

The target of Boland’s anger is Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), who appeared to force Boland to choose between having the measure die due to inaction or killed in a hostile committee.

Boland accused Lockyer of trying to kill the bill to make points with fellow Democrat Richard Polanco of Los Angeles, chairman of the Senate Elections Committee.

“[But] he is trying to keep his hands clean so he doesn’t have to be the bad guy,” she said of Lockyer.

A spokesman for Lockyer rejected Boland’s charges, saying the president pro tem is simply trying to get the bill placed before the proper committee. “Lockyer has nothing to win or lose by holding this up,” said aide Sandy Harrison.

The bill would nullify the Los Angeles City Council’s power to veto a secession request by any section of the city, a move that Boland says would free Valley residents to determine their own future.

But Lockyer has refused to set a hearing for the bill before the Senate until Boland revises it to clarify who would pay for a secession election. If she refuses to amend her bill, it could die when the current session ends. The summer break is set for next week.

However, if she agrees to amend it, the bill could end up in the hands of Polanco’s Elections Committee, where he has vowed to kill it.

The latest twist in the dispute over the bill is whether Boland promised to find an unrelated measure to which she would add language clarifying who would pay for a secession election.

Lockyer says that during a hearing before the Local Government Committee, Boland committed to tie the bill to another measure. Such a move would allow Lockyer to direct the bill to Polanco’s committee, and to its death.

But Boland said she never made such a commitment but simply promised that she would try to find another bill on which to add the clarifying language.

On Monday, both the Lockyer and Boland camps produced tapes and transcripts of the hearing to make their cases.

On the tape played by Boland, she is heard telling the committee: “I promise I will look for a measure.”

But in a transcript provided by Lockyer aide Harrison, Boland says: “I would double join it, absolutely.” Double joining refers to adding clarifying language to an unrelated measure.

Harrison said the comment indicates a clear commitment by Boland that Lockyer will force her to keep. “‘That is pretty unambiguous,” he said.

Meanwhile, Harrison said Lockyer is considering sending the entire bill back to the Local Government Committee to be heard again, this time with an amendment that was added calling for a secession vote to coincide with the next general election.

Another hearing before the committee increases the chance that the bill could be delayed further and die for lack of action before the session ends.