TIPOFF : STATE SENATE LEADER COLD TO SECESSION TAB.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

WITH the new $8 million price tag for a study on secession of the San Fernando Valley and other areas of the city, a call for city, county and state governments to fund the review is expected.

But don't expect to get a sympathetic ear from at least one powerful state senator.

Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, said he doesn't believe the state should have to pay anything for the study.

``This is like a divorce,'' Burton said last week. ``If you want to divorce me, fine, go ahead. Just don't expect me to pay for it.

``Besides, this is strictly an L.A. issue. If the Valley wants to break away, it should pay for it.''

Burton also offered his views about why Mayor Richard Riordan has been able to maintain such high approval ratings compared with the political problems of San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr.

``Maybe it's that Los Angeles is so damn big, that you can't focus on one person,'' Burton said. ``In San Francisco, everyone knows each other.''

Speaking of Riordan, that silver-tongued devil just keeps finding a way to make a mess of his speeches.

In one of those cases of ``this sure sounded good when we first thought of it,'' Riordan tried to give some football-type nicknames to Eli Broad andEd Roski during a news conference announcing Broad's joining the effort to get a National Football League team.

To their credit, both men winced only slightly when the audience groaned as Riordan dubbed them ``Bronco'' Roski and ``Bulldog'' Broad.

Also, Broad made sure that he would receive somewhat of a cordial welcome from the NFL.

The week before the announcement of his involvement was announced, Broad flew back to New York to meet with NFL officials for discussions.

Now that it appears there is some consensus on a consensus City Charter plan - depending on what the elected panel does Monday night - city officials are dropping their plans on what designation to give the measure when it goes on the June ballot.

City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie has been only half-jokingly suggesting that any measure on the ballot that does what City Council members believe would be harmful would be given the designation of Proposition C.

``That way we can campaign against it as being for `cronyism' and `corruption,' '' Comrie said.

California Republicans are flexing their muscles for their convention next month in Sacramento and already have received commitments from six potential presidential candidates.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle, former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, businessman Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council lobbying group, and Sens. John McCain and Bob Smith have all agreed to appear at the Feb. 26-28 meeting of the party faithful.

The only major candidate still not committed is Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who recently has raised questions about his willingness to suffer the intrusions of the media.

In the meantime, California Republicans and Democrats are working with their national parties to try to resolve how the state's primary election in March 2000 will be conducted.

Presently, it's an open primary in which voters can cross party lines - making it a violation of the parties' rules of having only their own voters select their nominees.

One of the options being studied is to color-code ballots so there would be in effect two elections - one by all voters and a second by those of each party.

MEDIA WATCH: The city's two legal newspapers - the Metropolitan News-Enterprise and the Los Angeles Daily Journal - are locked in a battle over anticompetitive practices in legal advertising.

The trial has been going on for months with the News-Enterprise accusing the Daily Journal of enticing customers by undercutting costs and with unfair competition.It is not a small-time affair. The News-Enterprise estimates that it has lost $10 million.