Favored Holden Unfazed by His 6 Previous Defeats

If nothing else, Nathan N. Holden is a persistent candidate. He has run seven times for public office in the last 20 years and has won only once, a 1974 race for the state Senate. He has been defeated in local, state and federal elections. But none of that bothers Holden.

In his present bid for the Los Angeles City Council’s 10th District seat, he is the favorite.

“I win every fourth time,” laughed Holden as he sat in the tiny office of his campaign headquarters in the mid-city area.

The tall, gray-haired Holden jokes easily about his election losses. But at the same time, he bridles at suggestions that he has become the Harold Stassen of local politics.

“I don’t think I’ve ever lost a race,” insisted Holden, surrounded by the memorabilia of his four years in the Senate, his only taste of victory. “Maybe, I wasn’t elected, but I didn’t lose the race. And every time I ran a race, I think the community benefited.”

The view of Holden as a perennial loser has been a favorite theme of his opponent--former Public Works Commissioner Homer Broome Jr.--in the last days before the election next Tuesday. In a campaign that has become increasingly strident, Broome has chided his rival for clinging to his Senate title despite giving up the legislative seat to run for Congress a decade ago.

When Holden lost that congressional race in 1978, he ran a year later for this same 10th Council District seat only to be beaten by incumbent Dave Cunningham in a close contest. Last year, he finished third in a campaign for the State Board of Equalization.

Now, less than a year later, he has returned as a council candidate in an ethnically diverse area that was once the home district of Mayor Tom Bradley. The district extends from the area southwest of downtown westward to the Palms community. Holden has built his front-runner status on a recognizable name and on his close ties to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn--a popular white politician in a heavily black district.

Holden works for Hahn as an assistant chief deputy, and he showed that he has learned something from his mentor when Holden warned his supporters recently at a fund-raising dinner not to take victory for granted.

“Just keep on pushing, walking precincts, knocking on the doors, trying to work half as hard as I do,” he told the crowd.

Working hard at politics is a Holden trait that both supporters and detractors agree upon. The difference, however, is that while his backers believe that Holden is working hard to help the public, his critics claim the chief beneficiary is the candidate himself.

“If you talk to him for five minutes, he’ll tell you he was a senator,” chuckled Hahn when asked about his deputy. “And if you’ve been in my office, you’ll see that he put on his desk a sign that says: ‘Senator Nate Holden.’ He never put up ‘assistant chief deputy.’ ”

But Hahn stressed that he has no doubts about Holden’s sincerity or his qualifications.

“He’s a very caring person,” Hahn said. “He likes politics and his strength is getting things done.”

Others, however, hold a less flattering view. When he ran against him in 1978, Rep. Julian Dixon (D-Los Angeles), who now supports Broome, downplayed Holden’s Senate accomplishments and characterized him as “a legislative lightweight.”

Another public official, who has worked with Holden and supports his candidacy, said, nonetheless, that his “giant-sized ego” can be a problem. “No one thinks more of Nate Holden than Nate Holden himself,” the supporter said ruefully.

Dressed in his distinctive pinstriped suits, Holden has recently attended council meetings, testified at city budget hearings and showed up at press conferences ready to speak out on such issues as Proposition 7, the proposed police tax measure on the June ballot--a controversial proposal that both he and Broome oppose.

Some council members privately dismissed Holden’s sudden visibility at City Hall as a campaign ploy to grab headlines. The publicity-seeking issue also arose when Holden broke form four years ago and invited a Juvenile Court judge to swear him into office as a director of the Southern California Rapid Transit District.

One fellow board member, describing Holden as “bright and intelligent,” said that his relationship with other directors is anything but smooth and that “he sets their teeth on edge.”

“He wants to do the right thing, but his ego gets in the way,” he added.

Holden, who emerged as a vocal critic of the RTD and its management practices, scoffed at such criticism.

“That’s just hogwash,” responded Holden, who also called his RTD ceremony an attempt to boost the district’s tattered public image.

Asked about his City Hall critics, Holden was visibly irked. “They’re all crazy,” he said. “You mean because I have initiative and insight, I should be criticized for that? I should be applauded. It’s nothing but petty jealousy.”

Holden, who turns 58 next month, is no stranger to political controversy. He was head of the liberal California Democratic Council during a period when Vietnam War protests and other issues rocked the Democratic Party.

As a state senator, he authored legislation that included a successful anti-redlining bill banning lending institutions from discriminating against applicants who live in certain geographic areas. But he also made news by scuffling with State Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) at a local television studio after both men had engaged in a heated televised debate.

Today, Robbins has only warm words for his former rival.

“He was the most aggressive, tenacious, toughest adversary I’ve faced in 14 years in the California Senate,” Robbins said. . . . He had more street smarts than anyone else in the place.”

Born in Macon, Ga., the son of a railroad brakeman and a Southern homemaker, Holden moved to New Jersey with his family when he was 10 years old. He quit high school at 16. And after lying about his age, he enlisted in the Army. When he returned 18 months later, Holden went to night school for his high school diploma and later picked up college degrees in engineering.

Holden moved to California in 1955 and worked as an aerospace engineer--with time out for a losing congressional race--before joining Hahn’s staff in 1971. Since then, it has been a life of politics with little time for other pursuits except caring for an ailing mother and, as a divorced father, finding time for his two adult sons.

The senior Holden, meanwhile, realizes that his critics would love to retire him from the political arena--by handing him a final election loss. But Holden insisted that he relishes the fight.

“There’s nothing wrong with competition,” he said. “It’s like boxing. If you get up in that ring and you’re there by yourself, you’re just shadowboxing. It’s always good to have a contest. There’s nothing wrong with that.”