diff --git a/product/ZSQLCatalog/SQLCatalog.py b/product/ZSQLCatalog/SQLCatalog.py
index 7c4d88524fc69a39f45dabd6bd66d11e98e12adb..69d55ea115d6216790457e71fe572846b80a6ef4 100644
--- a/product/ZSQLCatalog/SQLCatalog.py
+++ b/product/ZSQLCatalog/SQLCatalog.py
@@ -440,14 +440,8 @@ class ComplexQuery(QueryMixin):
   """
   Used in order to concatenate many queries
   """
-  def __init__(self, *args, **kw):
+  def __init__(self, operator='AND', *args, **kw):
     self.query_list = args
-    operator = None
-    if kw.has_key('operator'):
-      operator = kw['operator']
-      del kw['operator']
-    if operator is None:
-      operator = 'AND'
     self.operator = operator
     self.__dict__.update(kw)