Roberti Seeks to Juggle District Numbers to Serve Longer

SAN FRANCISCO —  The political life expectancy of Democratic state Senate Leader David A. Roberti of Los Angeles would be doubled--from two years to four--under a plan for renumbering legislative districts submitted Monday to the state Supreme Court by the Senate’s lawyer.

Roberti, a legislator since 1966 and Senate president pro tem since 1980, is one of the incumbent senators most adversely affected by a plan for new political districts drawn by three retired judges at the high court’s direction.

Under the proposal by the so-called “special masters,” Roberti’s current district, which includes parts of West Los Angeles, Hollywood and Burbank, would be divided among several new districts. To remain in the Senate, he would have to run against Republican Sen. Newton R. Russell of Glendale or Democrat Herschel Rosenthal of Los Angeles, or seek the remainder of the term of former Sen. Alan Robbins, who resigned after admitting to corruption charges.

But Roberti’s lawyers have told him that if he were elected in a special election on April 7 to fill out Robbins’ unexpired term, he could serve only until the end of that term in 1994, not beyond. The remainder of Robbins’ term would be considered Roberti’s second and final term under provisions of Proposition 140, the term-limits measure adopted by voters in 1990.

Enter the numbers game, which is based solely on this quirk of Senate election law: Districts with odd numbers are up for election this year; even-numbered districts will have elections in 1994.

Because of that, Roberti proposes assigning an odd number to the newly drawn district in the area previously represented by Robbins. That way, Roberti could run there in June for a full four-year term ending in 1996.

The old Robbins district is even-numbered--the 20th. Roberti would like to number it 23, assigning 20 to a neighboring district now represented by Rosenthal.

Roberti maintains that his plan could also save the cost of a special election for Rosenthal’s seat.

Under the maps drawn by the masters, Rosenthal plans to jump from his even-numbered district to an odd-numbered seat. If he wins the new seat, election law would force a special election to choose someone to complete the remainder of his term in the old district. That special election would cost at least $500,000, according to Allan Browne, the Senate’s lawyer.

Browne argues that renumbering the new districts--switching 23 and 20--would eliminate the need for such an election.

Browne also suggested that the same switch be performed on the special masters’ proposed 16th and 17th districts, which he said would avoid another special election that will probably be prompted when Republican Sen. Don Rogers of Bakersfield quits the old 16th and runs for the new 17th, which covers much of his current territory.

Browne conceded that the plan he advocates would violate a provision of the state Constitution requiring districts to be numbered 1 though 40 in sequence from north to south. But he said that rule had been “bent” before and suggested that the masters’ plan violated it elsewhere in the state.

Several justices asked questions about the proposal but none indicated whether they were likely to accept it.