Veteran Democrats Square Off in Costly Race : Politics: Hayden, in a fight for political survival, takes on fellow liberal Rosenthal in primary battle in the new 23rd state Senate District.

In a political showdown the likes of which the Westside hasn’t seen in many years, a bitter and costly Democratic primary battle is taking shape between two liberal lawmakers--Assemblyman Tom Hayden and state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal.

The two veteran legislators are gearing up for a hard-fought race for Democratic votes in the June 2 primary in the new 23rd Senate District, stretching from Hollywood to Malibu and Santa Monica to Woodland Hills.

For Hayden, the Senate race is a fight for political survival.

After a decade in the Assembly, reapportionment left the former anti-war activist with three choices: He could run for reelection in a new Assembly district that does not appear to be especially friendly territory for a Democrat; he could slug it out with Rosenthal in a new, solidly Democratic Senate district, or he could leave the Legislature.

Last week, Hayden finally announced his choice to seek four more years in Sacramento, this time in the rarefied atmosphere of the Senate instead of the rough-and-tumble world of the Assembly.

As a hallmark of his campaign, he offered a 40-page blueprint for leading California into the 21st Century. The program stresses environmental protection, higher education, economic development and political reform.

But in choosing to challenge Rosenthal, Hayden also ensured a head-on collision with the powerful Democratic political organization headed by Reps. Henry A. Waxman and Howard L. Berman.

With its ample financial resources, expertise in targeting voters, its roster of officeholders and cadre of loyalists, the Waxman-Berman organization has long dominated Westside Democratic politics.

Hayden, 52, is now taking them on. While he carefully avoided any overt mention of the Waxman-Berman organization in launching his campaign in Beverly Hills last week, he made clear he intends to run against what he called “the special-interest state” in Sacramento.

And part of that crusade, Hayden said in his campaign blueprint, is running against political machines that “revel in developing the latest techniques for obfuscating issues and winning elections by any means necessary.”

Rosenthal, 73, vows to run on his own liberal voting record. Even before Hayden entered the race, Rosenthal worked the phones and locked up dozens of endorsements from key elected officials, homeowner groups, environmentalists, consumer activists and Democratic leaders.

“I’m prepared to wage an all-out campaign,” Rosenthal said in an interview. “It’s unfortunate that I have to think about raising a lot of money. . . . We could well spend as much as half a million dollars.”

Rosenthal said he hasn’t faced a serious challenge since he was elected to the Assembly in 1974. He moved over to the Senate in 1982, the same year Hayden was elected to the lower house after one of the most expensive legislative races in California history.

The senator said a key issue in the race will be effectiveness--his versus Hayden’s. “He’s been around 10 years and because of his past history he has not been effective,” Rosenthal said. “I am more effective than he is.”

Rosenthal said Hayden’s philosophical prescription for the future seems geared “to solve the problems of the world. I’m not sure he’s talking about California.”

The two legislators will be joined in the Democratic primary by businesswoman Catherine O’Neill of Pacific Palisades. O’Neill, a veteran activist, is seeking to make a political comeback 20 years after narrowly losing a state Senate race on the Westside.

Returning to Los Angeles last October after 10 years on the East Coast, she organized the successful campaign to overturn a contract for Metro Green Line rail cars that the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission had awarded to a Japanese firm, Sumitomo Corp.

O’Neill, 49, said she plans to run a tough, anti-incumbent campaign against both lawmakers. “They’ve been there 28 years combined,” she said in an interview. “They have had ample time to put forth any proposed positive solutions to anything that crossed their mind that was necessary for California.”

O’Neill hopes to capitalize on widespread voter discontent. “This is a year in which there is disgust about corruption and stalemate and lack of innovation in the Legislature,” she said.

But first O’Neill must become better known, an expensive undertaking in a district where direct mail has long been the standard means to reach masses of voters. Fund raising is a top priority.

“We will try to give them a run for their money and campaign in an unorthodox way,” she said. “We will actually try to go out and meet voters in movie lines and shopping malls.”

For the next three months, the newly drawn Senate district will be a battleground for these candidates. The area is so solidly Democratic that the Republican Party did not bother to field a candidate in the race.

Fully 53.3% of the district’s nearly 400,000 registered voters are Democrats; 34.5% are Republicans.

During his political career, Rosenthal has represented much of the Westside territory covered by the new district. Hayden’s base has been in West Los Angeles, Venice and Santa Monica. New to him will be tens of thousands of Democratic voters across the southern San Fernando Valley, from Studio City to Westlake Village.

Hayden refused to estimate how much the campaign will cost, saying he intends to “go flat out and raise as much money as I can.”

The question he will pose to voters is: “Who’s the most independent and effective advocate. I have been an independent reformer fighting in Sacramento,” he said.

His decision to enter the Senate race came as his political options were narrowed by reapportionment, which weakened his own Assembly district, and deteriorating relations with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco).

Hayden’s support for an ill-fated environmental initiative on the November, 1990, ballot known as “Big Green,” has been blamed by Brown for diverting resources from efforts to defeat another ballot measure that imposed strict limits on how long legislators can serve.

A result of the passage of the term-limits measure, Proposition 140, is that if Rosenthal wins election in the 23rd District, it will be his final four-year term. Hayden, because he has not served in the Senate before, would be allowed two terms.

While vowing not to “personalize” the Senate race, Hayden said “the issue is how to make a difference. To make a difference you have to stand up and shake up the special-interest state. To make a difference, you have to put your neck on the line. You’ve got to be out there.”

Such talk brings a sharp retort from Rosenthal.

“I don’t care what kind of a campaign he runs,” the senator said, citing his own record. “I’ve had literally hundreds of bills passed and signed in all areas of endeavor.”

Rosenthal said he welcomes the challenge. “The system can stand competition. I’m not opposed to competition,” he said. “This is the American system.”

Senate District 23 Where: Most of the Westside north of the Santa Monica Freeway, both sides of the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica Mountains, much of western San Fernando Valley. Democrat Catherine O’Neill, businesswoman Herschel Rosenthal, state senator Tom Hayden, assemblyman Libertarian R. William Weilburg, businessman Peace and Freedom Shirley Rachel Isaacson, school psychologist/unionist Demographics

Anglo Latino Black Asian 80% 10% 3% 7%

Party Registration

Democrat Republican 53% 35%