WASHINGTON — About this time a year ago, Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles) was planning to run for a 16th term in anticipation of serving at least two years in Congress alongside his daughter.
"We would have been the first father and daughter team in history," Roybal said in a recent interview.
But his wife's poor health--combined with the drain of constant travel between Washington and California--persuaded Roybal last February to retire at the end of this year after three decades in the House. Assemblyman Xavier Becerra will occupy Roybal's East Los Angeles seat, but the 76-year-old Democratic congressman said he views his daughter, who won a neighboring House district, as his true successor.
The election of Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard to Congress is "one of the highlights of my political career," the elder Roybal said. "I never dreamed that my daughter would be interested. I feel I am passing on to her many of the things that I have started."
Roybal established himself as an institution in Los Angeles political circles, having served 43 years continuously as a city councilman and congressman. A new downtown federal office building near Union Station is named after him, as is a geriatric center he founded at Cal State Los Angeles.
He was the first Latino elected official in Los Angeles, the first to serve on the City Council, the first to run for statewide office this century and the first sent to Congress from California.
"If you take a look at Hispanic political development over the past 30 years, there is no one with clearer leadership qualities than Ed Roybal," said Harry Pachon, executive director of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. "He has been the driving force behind national Hispanic organizations."
In his heyday, Roybal was considered among the most influential members of Congress in his areas of interest--adequate health care for minorities and the elderly, humane treatment of illegal immigrants and bilingual education.
As one of 13 "cardinals" who headed appropriations subcommittees that control House spending, Roybal wielded considerable power over federal programs. He assumed the role of a national champion for senior citizens after the 1989 death of Rep. Claude Pepper (D-Fla.) In his dozen years as chairman of the Select Committee on Aging, Roybal said, he succeeded in earmarking funds for 10 geriatric centers across the country, including three in California.
