Democrats Endorse Katz for Valley Senate Seat

Former Assemblyman Richard Katz won the state Democratic Party’s endorsement Sunday for a state Senate seat in the San Fernando Valley, despite a last-minute challenge by his main opponent, City Councilman Richard Alarcon.

Katz called the endorsement significant, saying it will boost his campaign.

“It sends a message,” he said. “It shows you have some organizational support.”

But after challenging the endorsement on the floor of the state party convention in downtown Los Angeles, Alarcon said the endorsement process was biased in favor of what he called “entrenched politicians.”

“I wish it were a fair fight,” Alarcon said. “Clearly, it is a flawed process.”

Alarcon had previously sought, unsuccessfully, to keep Katz from getting the endorsement. His challenge Sunday on the convention floor ended with a heated debate among party delegates.

The endorsement fight once again signaled that the race for the state Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) will be a heated, contentious battle, with both sides unwilling to concede any ground.

Rosenthal is leaving his post after 16 years in office due to term limits. The Van Nuys-based 20th Senate District includes most of the East Valley.

The party’s endorsement could play a pivotal role in the race because district voters are heavily Democratic. With the endorsement, Katz is assured a spot on party mailers that urge voters to support the party’s slate of candidates.

“If the party does a slate or a get-out-the-vote effort, it could be important,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at the Claremont Graduate University.

Several party delegates said it would have been surprising if Katz were not endorsed, considering he served 16 years in the Assembly, his final year as the Assembly’s party leader. Katz was also instrumental in helping the Democrats retake control of the lower house in 1996. Term limits forced Katz out of office in 1996.

Alarcon was elected in 1993 as the Valley’s first Latino member of the City Council. In his bid for the Senate, he has secured the support of several Latino party members, including state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles).

The endorsement fight began March 1, when party delegates from the Senate district voted to recommend Katz for the endorsement by more than 70%. Alarcon had the support of enough delegates, however, to force a second vote Saturday. Katz again won that vote by more than 70%.

On Sunday, Alarcon and his supporters circulated a petition, asking the party to make no endorsement in the race. To overturn the recommendation of the district delegates, Alarcon needed to collect the signatures of 200 delegates.

A party committee ruled, however, that Alarcon and his supporters had collected only 187 valid signatures. Alarcon supporters challenged the ruling, arguing that the party committee disallowed many valid signatures.

But after a heated debate on the convention floor, the entire party, by an overwhelming majority, voted to stick with the Katz endorsement.

Afterward, Alarcon criticized the process and contended that many of the pro-Katz delegates in the 20th Senate District were appointed by Katz allies in the last few weeks. “I don’t accept this as a mandate of the party,” Alarcon said.

Katz rejected Alarcon’s charges, saying the process was fair.

“In the end, he failed not because of entrenched politicians but because he couldn’t get 200 signatures,” Katz said.