Rep. Diane Watson plans to retire after representing the 33rd Congressional District for 10 years.
Story Created:
Feb 10, 2010 at 7:25 PM PST
Story Updated:
Feb 10, 2010 at 7:25 PM PST
In a move that has been almost six months in the making, Rep. Diane Watson is expected to announce her retirement from Congress on Thursday.
Watson, 76, has scheduled a 10 a.m. news conference in her Wilshire Boulevard office at which she will announce her intention to retire from the 33rd Congressional District seat in the House of Representatives, which she has firmly held since 2001, and not seek re-election when her fifth term ends this year.
Watson is also expected to announce her support of Assembly Speaker Karen Bass to succeed her as representative of the overwhelmingly Democratic district, and Bass, who terms out of the Assembly in 2011, is slated to come out of the wings next week and formally announce her intent to run for Watson’s soon-to-be vacated seat.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, whom Watson invited to stand with her for her announcement, said: “Congresswoman Watson’s retirement from public office signals the latest chapter in the generational change in South Los Angeles’ leadership. No one is more deserving of the respite in our time than Congresswoman Diane Watson, although we know that she will remain active as an advocate for our community.”
For her part, Bass declined to comment on her plans, stating she is respectful of Watson’s right to reveal her own plans first.
According to Washington insiders, this whole Los Angeles scenario is unfolding pursuant to a plan by the Obama White House to strengthen and make more effective the Congressional Black Caucus. I was told months ago that President Obama was not pleased with the CBC and that he needed a strong workhorse/policy/action wonk, such as Bass, in Congress to help him push his agenda.
I was also told White House officials then looked and saw that California’s staunchly Democratic 33rd District — a district that encompasses Bass’ 47th Assembly District — was up for re-election this year and they decided to encourage Watson to relinquish her congressional seat to Bass and accept an appointment to another federal post, such as an ambassadorship, which is a post with which Watson is familiar, having already served as ambassador to Micronesia for a year before she was elected to Congress.
Evidently, all the parties involved agreed to the plan, as Bass took an unprecedented step to relieve herself of her Assembly speaker responsibilities by orchestrating the early election of Los Angeles Assemblyman John Perez to her leadership position in December, seven months shy of the usual minimum two-year term for an Assembly speaker. Bass has announced that Perez will be officially sworn-in as Assembly speaker on March 1, thus affording Bass more time to embrace a national agenda and run for the House of Representatives — a run that is expected to see her sworn into the 112th Congress in 2011.
Now, the question is: Who will replace Bass? I don’t know. I haven’t been told yet.
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