CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / PROPOSITION 128 : Hayden Says He Won’t Run for Environmental Post

Assemblyman Tom Hayden, seeking to separate his own political ambitions from the fate of Proposition 128, announced Saturday that he will not be a candidate in 1992 for the environmental advocate post that would be created by the initiative.

The Santa Monica Democrat is one of the principal sponsors of the sweeping environmental initiative called “Big Green” by its backers and “The Hayden Initiative” by opponents. On Thursday, the Proposition 128 campaign disclosed that he had loaned $830,000 of his money to help win passage of the measure.

“I just feel that the voters really ought to be free to decide on Big Green on the merits of the issues, phasing out cancer-causing pesticides and other toxic chemicals,” Hayden said in an interview. “I am not on the (statewide) ballot in November and I won’t be two years from now.”

Among its many provisions, Proposition 128 would ban at least 20 cancer-causing pesticides and seek to reduce the use of chemicals that contribute to global warming and destruction of the ozone layer. It also would create the position of California environmental advocate to enforce the state’s environmental laws.

Until recently, Hayden had said publicly that running for the post was an option that he was considering if the measure won. But in deciding to loan the campaign such a huge sum of his money, he said, he realized he had to make it clear he had no personal stake in the passage of the measure.

“I felt that if I gave a major loan or contribution to the campaign, the other side would assert it was because I had a self-interest and I wanted to remove that altogether,” he said. “I want to be thought of as an environmental crusader, not as a career politician.”

The opposition campaign, financed largely by oil and chemical companies, has focused heavily on the onetime anti-war radical’s central role in putting Proposition 128 on the ballot. Commercial after commercial has branded the measure “The Hayden Initiative.”

“As I’ve watched the campaign unfold, I’ve felt that the lies and distortions of the chemical companies needed to be answered,” he said. “My name is Hayden, not Hayden Initiative.”