BOLAND OPEN TO CITY VOTE ON MEASURE.

Byline: Mark Katches Daily News Sacramento Bureau

Accusing Senate Democrats of trying to kill her reform measure, Assemblywoman Paula Boland said Tuesday that she might accept a partial victory in her effort to restore political self-determination to the San Fernando Valley.

Boland, R-Granada Hills, had vowed there would be no compromise on her effort to strip the Los Angeles City Council of its 19-year-old veto power over Valley secession and eliminate a citywide vote on secession.

But faced Tuesday with Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer's drastic changes to her bill and its possible defeat by the Democratic majority, Boland said she would consider a compromise that repealed the council's veto but left secession an issue to be decided by a citywide vote.

``If they want to go down that road, I'd just bet the people in the Valley may think it's a good idea,'' she said. ``I'll run it by them.''

But she warned that the bruising fight against her bill will strengthen the secession movement in the Valley and elsewhere in the city.

``They'll be sorry they ever did this to us,'' she said.

``The San Fernando Valley is so determined,'' she said. ``We'll go get Venice, and we'll get the Harbor, and we'll get West L.A., and we'll get all those communities that are real unhappy with the city of L.A., and we'll have our extra million votes. Then we'll all detach, and they will have brought it on themselves by insisting on a citywide vote.''

Boland rejected Lockyer's proposal Monday that would eliminate the council's veto and set up a commission appointed by the governor and the Legislature to study the economic impact of Valley secession.

``There would be no reason for me to let the bill go through as a sick bill,'' she said. ``If they attach these amendments it will not be with my approval at all. It's real simple, these amendments are a way to kill the bill.''

Boland said she spoke briefly with Lockyer on Tuesday morning but didn't make progress toward a compromise.

``If there is a middle ground nobody has thought of it yet,'' Boland said. ``I'm keeping an open mind. The senator said he was keeping an open mind, and we'll keep an open mind for a couple of more days and see if something else is brought up, and see if in fact something else can be reached. I just know this isn't what the people want.''

Lockyer, D-Hayward, issued a statement warning against taking an uncompromising position.

``Those who ignore constructive suggestions might wind up with nothing,'' he said in the statement. ``I'm trying to make the bill more fair and palatable, and she should work with me.''

Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, a possible mayoral candidate, claimed credit Tuesday for working behind the scenes to help fashion the Lockyer plan.

Hayden said he hoped Boland and her supporters in the Valley would not take an all-or-nothing view.

``If they take that position, are they comfortable with the possibility of reform going down in flames?'' Hayden said. ``Or do they want to continue for a day or two to seek to make progress toward their goal?''

Boland's bill, which sailed through the Assembly, has been subjected to roadblock after roadblock in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Her bill removes the City Council veto inserted into the law in 1977 that enables the council to block any secession vote.

For more than six weeks, the bill has remained bottled up in Lockyer's Senate Rules Committee. The panel is expected to meet Thursday to either amend the bill or send it to the Appropriations Committee where it could be revised there.

Boland said she found fault with all of Lockyer's suggestions, saying that the blue-ribbon commission could be stacked against the Valley and there are a ``million questions'' about how it would operate.

She also said the commission appears to be a way for the Legislature to avoid taking responsibility on the issue.

The panel will ``do the dirty work of politicians and let them vote `no' so politicians don't have to vote `no' on the democracy issue,'' Boland said.

If she cannot salvage her bill, Boland would have to add two other senators to her list of 19 supporters, giving her the 21 votes necessary to rescind any amendments and pass the bill in its original form in the upper house.

That, however, is an unlikely scenario, sources in the Capitol said. She has been stuck on 19 votes for more than a month with no signs that her support is growing. Meanwhile, Lockyer - considered one of the most influential lawmakers in the state - appears to have firm control over his majority caucus.

The Lockyer plan came together over a series of individual discussions with a deeply divided Los Angeles County delegation of Senate Democrats.

More than two weeks ago, Lockyer said he assigned members of the Senate staff to explore possible compromise solutions to bring the factions together.

The factions broke along three lines. Valley Democrat Herschel Rosenthal supports the Boland bill as written, while Hayden, who also represents part of the Valley, said he was a reluctant backer of the bill.

Hayden has said he would vote for the measure only as a last resort. He has said he wants a citywide vote, but would rather see the Boland bill pass in its current form than not at all.

In another camp were downtown Democrats such as Richard Polanco and Charles Calderon who have made it clear they want the bill killed because they want the city to remain intact.

These two senators said at the very least they agreed with the city position seeking a citywide vote in exchange for loss of the City Council veto.

No member was as active behind the scenes as Hayden, sources say. He spoke with either Lockyer or his staff directly nearly every day over the course of the last few weeks.

Hayden acknowledged that he played a major role. He also argued strenuously against an outright defeat of the bill, saying it would help Boland politically in her race for the 21st District state Senate seat being vacated by Republican Newton Russell.

Lockyer ended up borrowing bits and pieces from all sides to fashion his amendments, according to Hayden and Rosenthal.