Secession Foe Named to Influential Panel

A key foe of San Fernando Valley secession legislation, state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), was named Monday to the committee that could kill two secession-related bills this week.

Polanco, who was appointed to the Local Government Committee by Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), vowed to do his best to block the legislation by amending it to apply statewide.

That, Polanco said, would change the attitude of some legislators who don’t care about Los Angeles but would care if cities in their own districts were affected by a change in the law governing dissolution of municipalities.

Polanco said he would also amend the pending bills to include a state-funded study of the impact of secession on Los Angeles.

Such a study had been part of Lockyer’s own secession legislation, which he dropped last month in deference to Polanco and other Los Angeles senators who oppose facilitating a breakup of Los Angeles.

Lockyer--in a letter to Polanco made public by Polanco--also stated that if the law is changed to eliminate the power of city councils to veto secession requests, the change should apply throughout the state, not just to Los Angeles.

“I believe the City Council veto should be eliminated statewide,” Lockyer wrote. “If a City Council veto is indefensible in Los Angeles, fairness suggests that it is indefensible as a statewide policy.”

The Local Government Committee, which has supported two earlier secession bills, meets Wednesday to take up two measures passed by the Assembly.

One is co-sponsored by Assemblymen Tom McClintock (R-Northridge) and Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and the other is sponsored by Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar).

McClintock said he is not worried about having Polanco join the committee because he is confident that five of the seven committee members support his bill.

“I’m counseling calm in light of this recent development,” McClintock said.

Lockyer, who killed former Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland’s secession bill last summer, promised to stay neutral after dropping his own measure.

Polanco replaces Sen. Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) on the committee. Calderon also was expected to have argued for statewide application of any secession bill. But he was not as fiercely opposed to a change in the law as Polanco and state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), who is also a member of the Local Government Committee.