Hayden Again Takes On the System : Politics: This time it’s the Democratic bigwigs, who stripped him of his district in remap plan. He vows to educate voters on party ‘corruption.’

Tom Hayden may not have a district right now, but he does have a political home base and he touched it last week, telling the Santa Monica faithful that he is going to expose the “corruption” of the state’s Democratic political machine during his reelection campaign.

“Embarrassment is probably the best strategy,” Hayden said.

A relaxed, upbeat Hayden spoke to a partisan crowd of 65 members of the liberal Santa Monica Democratic Club who gathered in an elementary school library Wednesday night. He called on his troops to rally ‘round to help him get reelected.

“We’ll get a storefront, get out the signs, turn on the phones and get going,” Hayden said. “You’ll have to bear with me while we try to decide what seat we’re running for.”

Hayden’s 44th Assembly district was eliminated in two of the three reapportionment plans submitted by his fellow Democrats. He was the only incumbent assemblyman whose district was not protected. Westside seats, including Hayden’s, were vulnerable because of population shifts in the ‘80s.

Gov. Pete Wilson has vetoed the proposals, throwing the reapportionment dispute to the California Supreme Court, which will make the final decision on where the lines are drawn.

But Hayden said he is going to turn the Democratic snub into an opportunity to educate the voters about the way things work in Sacramento, with an eye toward meaningful reform of the process.

“I can’t tell you the whole story, but the whole story will come out in this campaign,” Hayden said. “I didn’t ask for this battle.”

He singled out the organizations of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and the campaign arm of the powerful Westside cabal headed by Reps. Howard L. Berman and Henry A. Waxman.

“Tom Hayden running against the system. Who would have thought?” he said.

Hayden said he is “planting his garden” by asking for support from Democratic clubs from Burbank to Tarzana to Santa Monica, which is his political base--as was evident by the generous applause that greeted him.

He is most likely to run in a district drawn with Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman in mind, if that district survives the court challenge. “I know there’s a seat that will run east from the ocean,” Hayden said.

Friedman is associated with the Berman-Waxman political organization. Consultants Michael Berman and Carl D’Agostino, whose firm is known by its acronym as BAD Campaigns, were hired by the California congressional delegation to draw the new districts. Berman is the brother of Rep. Howard Berman.

Hayden took aim at BAD Campaigns and Brown’s “ultimate” machine in his Wednesday night speech, saying his district had been collapsed because he had not played ball with them.

Hayden said he was being punished because he backed a term-limits proposal for state legislators, and did not give money to support Brown’s plan to defeat term-limit measures. “If you are loyal to the machine . . . you are supposed to give unlimited dollars to things the machine wants,” he said.

Noting that Brown has been quoted as saying that Hayden didn’t “schmooze” enough in Sacramento, Hayden retorted, “I was not elected to schmooze. I was elected to stand tough on the issues.”

He said that it was difficult to get anything done in Sacramento because special interests spread large campaign contributions around to key people like Brown. Brown received more money than any other legislator from the liquor industry and then voted against a dramatic increase in the liquor tax.

Hayden also attacked the BAD Campaign slate mailers, saying they purported to represent the Democratic Party by using the party’s donkey emblem, while printing a legally required disclaimer in virtually unreadable small print.

“I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think it’s right and I do not think it should be legal to use the symbol of the Democratic Party,” he said.

Hayden also criticized Michael Berman as a businessman who had asked for $200,000 to place “Big Green,” the environmental measure, on the statewide mailer. Hayden said he refused to pay.

Berman’s partner, D’Agostino, responded in an interview that a recommendation to vote for Big Green was included in a list of ballot measures on the statewide slate mailer, but the proposition was not featured--and legally could not be featured--without paying.

D’Agostino said they turned down “very, very significant offers from the other side to carry them. It was not ideologically something we would agree to do. I don’t see what his gripe is in terms of what we did for Big Green.”

D’Agostino dismissed the complaints about the use of the donkey as a matter of free speech that he thought Hayden would understand. “I didn’t realize people were prohibited from using donkeys, elephants, stars or flags. . . . I think Hayden is just bitter that he ended up not having a seat specifically drawn for his needs.”