First Meeting Since Stroke in January : Hahn Returns to Board in Wheelchair

The photo is black and white and dated Dec. 1, 1952. Newly elected Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, dark-haired and flashing a boyish smile, stands tall among gray-haired colleagues. The next photo, dated 1957, shows Hahn wearing glasses. The next, next, next and next in the permanent display show the hair going gray and just going.

“Look at these photos. Look at ‘em!” Hahn crowed Thursday morning as an aide pushed his wheelchair through the back corridor at the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration. “I was here before they built this place!” He flashed that same smile and gave a thumbs-up sign.

How do you feel?

“I just feel great!”

Are you nervous?

Hahn raised his right hand and made it tremor. “Nerves? What are they?” he joked. The left hand, immobile, remained at his side.

As Hahn was pushed up a newly constructed ramp toward the meeting room, he got suddenly wistful. “I remember when I took the oath of office . . . I felt the same way.”

Back in Action

Eight months removed from a life-threatening stroke, Kenny Hahn was back, taking his seat at a Board of Supervisors meeting for the first time since early January. The man who sometimes seems to have served on the board forever made it clear that he plans to stay on a while longer.

The body is damaged, the speech a bit slower. The mind and spirit show no signs of change.

The audience stood and applauded. Hahn’s colleagues, the 1987 edition, came over to greet him. Reporters, photographers and TV camera crews crowded around. Hahn, who will turn 67 on Aug. 19, relished the moment and made it linger.

The secret of recovery, he said, is to “fight, fight, fight back.” He thanked God, his family, his friends who prayed for his recovery. He thanked his fellow supervisors for looking out for his district. He speechified.

“My presence here is a symbol for forward-looking plans,” he declared into the microphones. “We won’t look back, we’ll look ahead.” The purpose of government “is to promote liberty and freedom, and to protect the people.”

He gave the thumbs-up signal again and again.

The other four supervisors--Pete Schabarum, Ed Edelman, Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana--got behind Hahn’s wheelchair for a photo. It was the first time, Hahn quipped, that he had all four supervisors backing him up.

For now, his condition permits him only to be a part-time supervisor. He is able to walk with a cane, but the wheelchair helps him conserve energy. Movement is gradually coming back to his left hand.

“The challenge has been to bring his body up to speed with his mind,” said Dan Wolf, Hahn’s press aide. “He’ll start off slowly, a couple of hours a day, then build up.” His public activity Thursday lasted about an hour.

Still, Hahn proved decisive on the first issue since his return--the incorporation election for the would-be City of Santa Clarita.

Schabarum and Dana were against cityhood for the Santa Clarita Valley area, noting that incorporation would cost the county tax dollars.

“The birth of a child is painful, and the birth of a city is painful . . . but it’s good for the people,” Hahn told his colleagues.

Then Hahn made like a municipal midwife, joining Antonovich and Edelman in the 3-2 vote to place the incorporation issue on the November ballot.

Hahn couldn’t resist a historical footnote: The county had 31 cities when he joined the board; Santa Clarita would be the 85th.

A handful of Santa Clarita activists cheered and headed for the door. But Kenny Hahn, politician, didn’t want them to leave just yet.

“Remember this vote,” he called out, smiling. “I came in here in a wheelchair for you!”