Ailing Hahn Deemed Politically Invincible

Although he faces several weeks or even months of rehabilitation for a stroke suffered 11 days ago, veteran Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn is viewed as politically invincible and likely to represent his district as long as he wants.

But the 66-year-old Hahn, as evidenced by a tightly controlled release of information on his condition, is not taking his political future for granted. Beginning his third day of rehabilitation today at Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood, Hahn, although out of intensive care and listed in good condition, remains unavailable for interviews or photographs.

It also was not until four days after his stroke that the public learned that Hahn had experienced anything more than a dizzy spell and a temporary loss of strength in his left arm. Hahn’s chief deputy, Mas Fukai, said that “80%” of the reason for the sketchy information was the Hahn family’s wish to protect the supervisor’s privacy. The remaining 20%, Fukai said, was due to political considerations.

“Naturally, we did have to consider that (Hahn’s political future) and we did,” Fukai said. Among those considerations, Fukai said, was the belief that many other elected officials in Hahn’s district might consider challenging the supervisor if they believe that he is vulnerable.

Fukai added that it also would have been “unfair” to Hahn’s constituents if it had been revealed that the supervisor had had a stroke before doctors had completed all their tests.

Hahn’s political future does not appear to be in any jeopardy, interviews with both critics and admirers of the supervisor said this week. Hahn faces reelection next year and is expected to seek an unprecedented 10th term as the representative of the mostly minority district encompassing South-Central Los Angeles, Inglewood, Culver City, Hawthorne and Lynwood.

“Kenny could probably be reelected from his hospital bed,” said Mike Lewis, chief deputy to Supervisor Pete Schabarum. Schabarum, a member of the board’s conservative majority, has been at odds with Hahn, a liberal, for more than a decade.

In 1984, Schabarum tried to persuade a black Republican member of the Reagan Administration to oppose Hahn’s eighth reelection bid; Hahn’s district is nearly 50% black. But after testing the waters, J. Steven Rhodes decided against it. Hahn beat four challengers with more than 85% of the vote. Rhodes, now with the investment firm of Smith Barney Harris Upham & Co., could not be reached for comment.

Lewis said it is unlikely that any Republican will challenge Hahn’s grip on the district next year. But other supervisorial aides said that if Hahn’s condition prevents him from returning to office, Gov. George Deukmejian, a Republican, would be able to fill the vacancy by appointment. The district is more than 76% Democratic, with Republicans making up only 16% of the registered voters, according to the county registrar-recorder.

Hahn often reminds his backers that complacency has dealt fatal blows to many politicians and that he does not plan to be among them. So, even though he has repeatedly won reelection by landslide margins, Hahn has proceeded politically with great caution--comparable to a freshman Democratic congressman, say, in a heavily Republican district.

First elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1947, Hahn won election to the Board of Supervisors in 1952. In the strongest challenge against him, then-City Councilman Billy Mills was able to garner only 40% of the vote to Hahn’s 60% in a 1968 runoff. No other elected official, Democrat or Republican, has dared to try to unseat him since.

“The sharks are always circling,” said press aide Dan Wolf, “I’m sure there are people in politics out there who would like Supervisor Hahn’s job, but I think they all know that as long as he wants it, it is his.”

True or not, Hahn is taking no chances. The partial blackout of news about the supervisor’s stroke is an example of Hahn’s cautious ways.

Although doctors strongly suspected soon after he was hospitalized that Hahn had had a stroke, Hahn’s family and staff waited four days, until Jan. 15, to confirm that fact through spokesman Wolf. It was later disclosed that Hahn also had experienced some brain hemorrhaging resulting in temporary loss of control of his facial muscles and partial paralysis of his left leg.

Wolf defended the late disclosures, saying that “even a politician is entitled to some privacy” and adding that Hahn’s family wanted to learn the full extent of the stroke before going public.

Members of Hahn’s family, including his son, Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn, were not talking to reporters. Nor were his doctors or other hospital officials. One hospital spokesman said that she is prohibited from discussing anything about Hahn and has orders to direct all calls to Wolf.

However, two doctors who are not attending Hahn said that, based on reports of the symptoms he has been experiencing, the supervisor stands an excellent chance of full recovery after weeks or months of rehabilitation. Drs. Eliot Corday Sr. of the UCLA Medical Center and neurosurgeon Mark Fisher of the USC Medical School said that the information available suggests that Hahn should regain his strength after rehabilitation.

The normally media-accessible Hahn is not going to submit to interviews with reporters until he has fully recovered, Wolf said. Under consideration are news media requests for a photograph of the convalescing officeholder. Part of that decision is because of doctors’ orders, but part of that also is because Hahn is not interested in the public seeing him in less than tip-top shape, another aide said.

Chief deputy Fukai said that Hahn is being kept abreast of district matters, is reading newspapers and books and is watching television while hospitalized in a private room. Fukai said that Hahn has ordered him to run the office “as if he were there.”