Boxer’s Gala Draws Seven Sisters of the Senate

It made for a splashy centerpiece to Barbara Boxer’s fund-raising push for reelection -- about 1,000 women at a $175-a-plate gala at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel, with cholesterol-conscious Chinese chicken salad and matzo instead of rolls in honor of Passover, and an all-star lineup of seven U.S. senators, all Democratic women, in honor of Boxer.

Boxer, who’s had the word “liberal” appended to her name for ages, spoke about peace and terrorist attacks, but not the war.

Her call to arms to the female voters who are her strongest backers also touched on crowd-pleasers like the environment and Arctic oil drilling, the courts, the undermining of abortion rights, Social Security and Medicare.

It was Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu who finally brought up the war, in the context of female soldiers and how proud the country is of them, adding, “We’re proud of our troops.”

Washington’s Sen. Patty Murray cast it thus: “My definition of patriotism is to fight for what you believe in. My favorite patriotic senator is Barbara Boxer.”

And when Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow took her turn, she cited “a different kind of war, a war on our values, on real American values,” and added in reference to Boxer, “It is not un-American to speak up for what you believe in.”

The only female Democratic senator not there was New York’s Hillary Rodham Clinton, former sister-in-law to Boxer’s daughter. Boxer says Clinton will be here in June for a fundraiser.

Boxer has never lost an election, but she’s had some squeakers. The Field poll recently found that only 38% of California voters intend to vote for her reelection, but up against potential GOP nominees, she still drew better favorable ratings.

An Ethical Role Is Waiting for You

Laura Chick wants YOU for the ethics army!

No money in it, just the gratitude of citizens and the enmity of some politicians.

Los Angeles’ city controller is conducting an open casting call to find “new voices and leadership in City Hall” to fill the seats at the city Ethics Commission.

“I am casting a very wide net by reaching out to the people of Los Angeles who are often unaware of the many city commissions in which they are eligible to serve,” Chick said.

You don’t need 8-by-10 head shots, but you must be a registered voter in the city of L.A., you can’t hold any other public office, give money to or work in a city election or for a candidate, or be a lobbyist or work for one. And no revolving door, please: If you do get the job, and cast a vote about any elected city office, you have to observe a cooling-off period of two years before you run for a city office yourself.

It’s a five-year gig, and you’ll have to be able to play nicely with the other four members, appointed by the mayor, the city attorney, the council president and president pro tem.

Still want the part? Send cover letter and resume to City Controller Laura Chick, 200 N. Main St., Room 300, Los Angeles 90012.

A Political Teacher Without a Soapbox

One gripe about academic programs is that they often have little to do with the real world.

Not so for instructor Gerald Berman’s human resources management class in Cal State L.A.’s political science/public administration program. The recent guest lecturer was Albert Robles -- yes, that Albert Robles, South Gate’s former city treasurer and deputy city manager who was recalled in January, whose trial for threatening to kill some political opponents and rape a state senator ended in a deadlocked jury and a mistrial, who pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of possessing semiautomatic assault weapons. In Robles’ three-hour presentation, he “did not get on his soapbox,” said Berman, but his students asked “some pointed questions about his troubles.” Robles, whom Berman described as “fascinating,” also exhorted students to get into public service careers, and detailed his plan to “rise from the ashes like a phoenix.”

Robles, who once drew down a $111,000 salary from one of the poorest cities in L.A. County and could get a handsome severance package, was not paid for his speaking gig.

Points Taken

* California has been good to the Democrats’ field of presidential prospects recently, as reported under federal campaign finance law. L.A. donors gave their money, if not yet their votes, to North Carolina Sen. John Edwards ($637,000), making L.A. his richest cup-rattling region of the country. Angelenos gave $560,000 to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, $388,000 to Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, $232,000 to former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, and $221,000 to Connecticut Sen. and former V.P. candidate Joseph Lieberman.

In San Francisco, Kerry raised $445,000, and Dean took home $91,000. Winner of the most geographically eclectic fund-raiser award so far: Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, whose California “check list” includes L.A., San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Cruz.

* He’s thinking that he just might be POTUS timber again (that’s not TIM-BERRRR, as in a falling tree, but presidential material). But so far Gary Hart is absolutely not soliciting California interns for his campaign. An e-mail sent to poli sci students at UC Berkeley inviting them to spend the summer working for the former Colorado senator is absolutely not of Hart’s doing, a spokesman says. (A tabloid photo imploded Hart’s presidential campaign in 1987, turning the prospect of a victory lap into a defeat lap -- the lap being his, occupied by a woman named Donna Rice, aboard a yacht with the fate-tempting name of “Monkey Business.”)

* Orange County’s GOP powerhouse Thomas Fuentes has received a White House recess appointment as a board member of the Legal Services Corp. The LSC’s $350-million-plus budget provides legal services to the poor; Republicans and the Christian Coalition have advocated privatizing the LSC or pulling the plug on its budget.

* Visalia’s Cal Dooley is the Democratic Leadership Council’s “New Democrat of the Week” for his work on behalf of asbestos exposure victims and prescription drug programs.

* The state’s Assn. of Clerks and Election Officials is opposing proposals to require California’s presidential primary to be held on a different date from other primary elections, costing the state as much as $60 million more than it would cost to have the elections on a single day.

You Can Quote Me

“You shouldn’t trust the state. Why would you?”

-- Sacramento Democratic Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, speaking to officials from Orange County fretting about the state’s habit of withholding money it’s promised to local governments in order to balance its own books.

Patt Morrison’s column appears Mondays and Tuesdays. Her e-mail address is patt.morrison@latimes.com. This week’s contributors include Mark Z. Barabak, Andrew Blankstein and Carol Pogash.