Torres Retires, Seeks To Anoint Son-in-Law As Successor

By Marc Birtel, CQ Staff Writer

Gang member, Army veteran, autoworker, union leader, ambassador, White House official, legislator -- few members of Congress can list as many identities as Rep. Esteban E. Torres, the eight-term Southern California Democrat. On March 3, he added one more: retiree.

Torres, 68, told friends and supporters in his Pico Rivera district office that he is retiring to spend more time with his family. He said he wants to stay active in the political community (he will remain a regent of the Smithsonian Institution) while writing a book and creating more of his sculptures and paintings (which have been exhibited in Washington and on his Web site).

"I told myself that it's time to live up to what I preach and pass on the torch to the next generation," he said.

Torres' announcement came just three days before California's filing deadline -- leaving little time for potential successors to organize themselves in the majority Hispanic and predominantly Democratic 34th District.

But that will probably benefit the candidate Torres has favored as his successor, Jamie Casso, his son-in-law and longtime chief of staff. Casso has been on Torres' staff since he came to Congress and married Torres' daughter Selina in 1991. But he said this was not a case of nepotism. "People support you not because you are someone's son-in-law but because you can do the job," he said.

But the succession might not be automatic. State Rep. Grace F. Napolitano, a Democrat, has reached her term limit in the state Assembly, where she has represented more than half of the East Los Angeles-based 34th District for six years. Although already a candidate for state Senate, she immediately switched to the congressional contest -- as she had told supporters she would.

"She's been aiming to do this for a while," said Richard B. Harvey, a political scientist at Whittier College. "She's been waiting for Ed Torres to retire."

Napolitano said the timing of Torres' announcement appeared to be an effort to lock other candidates out of the race. "He has never wanted me in that seat," she said. "He's always indicated to people that Jamie would be his successor."

Although Napolitano is willing to spend $150,000 of her own money in the primary, Casso has already secured the endorsements of some prominent public officials, including Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., co-chairman of the state delegation.

Cabinet Mention

Torres grew up in East Los Angeles in a single-parent home. His father, a Mexican immigrant who worked in Arizona copper mines, had been deported during the Depression. Torres still has tattoos on his hands from his youthful days in street gangs. After four years in the Army he worked on a Chrysler assembly line in Los Angeles and began his rise through the ranks of the United Auto Workers.

In the 1960s, he became head of the union's community development efforts in East Los Angeles. After a losing campaign for Congress in 1974, he joined the administration of President Jimmy Carter, first as ambassador to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and then in the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs.

In 1982, he won his second bid for Congress and has been re-elected easily since. One of the House's most senior Hispanic members, Torres was mentioned among candidates for secretary of Labor or secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Clinton's second term.

He is the sixth Democrat and second Californian to retire from the Appropriations Committee in this cycle. He has endorsed passing the seat to Roybal-Allard, saying that it should remain in the hands of a Southern California Hispanic Democrat. But fellow California Democrat Maxine Waters, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, is among several others who have expressed interest in the slot.

March 7, 1998

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• Gop Has Heated Fight To Pick Challenger For Moseley-Braun
• Productivity Likely To Be Low As GOP Sets Slow Pace
• Differences May Prompt Gop To Leave The Surplus Alone
• Torres Retires, Seeks To Anoint Son-In-Law As Successor