Hahn’s Last Hurrah : Tribute: Family and colleagues offer an emotional farewell to the supervisor at his final board meeting. The legendary master of local politics is retiring after a record 40 years in office.

Kenneth Hahn never set his sights on the White House, but when the legendary Los Angeles County supervisor entered his final board meeting Tuesday, the musical accompaniment was downright presidential: “Hail to the Chief.”

It was a fitting swan song for the master of local politics, who has served 40 years as a supervisor--longer than anyone in California history.

Hahn was moved to tears as his family, colleagues and friends paid him an emotional farewell under a banner reading “Thank You Supervisor Hahn” and referring to some of Hahn’s proudest accomplishments: “Call Boxes,” “Dodgers,” “Paramedics,” “MLK Hospital” and “Proposition A.”

“I used to think he was the most important person in the United States until people told me that the President was more important,” said Hahn’s son, James, the Los Angeles city attorney. His boyhood memories include tagging along with his father as he inspected road projects throughout his South Los Angeles district.

“Everybody I ever met said, ‘Be sure to say hello to your dad,’ ” James K. Hahn said. “I don’t know anybody on this planet who has more friends than my dad.”

The 72-year-old Hahn, who has used a wheelchair since a 1987 stroke, played a role in placing call boxes on freeways; bringing the Dodgers to Los Angeles; establishing the paramedic program; building dozens of public facilities, including Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Watts, and winning voter approval of Proposition A, a half-cent sales tax increase to fund transit projects. He even designed the county flag and seal.

Janice Hahn, the supervisor’s daughter, said her father’s life has always reminded her of the Christmas film classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

“I can’t ever watch that movie without thinking, ‘What if Kenny Hahn hadn’t been born?’ ” she said. “All the kids who would never have had a park . . . all the emergencies that would have happened along the freeway and no one would have been able to call for help, and all those people who are now alive who would not have made it, if not for the paramedic program.”

Hahn’s term officially ends Monday, when Yvonne Brathwaite Burke is to be sworn in as the first African-American elected to the Board of Supervisors. However, State Sen. Diane Watson, who lost the 2nd District seat to Burke, has requested a recount, which began Tuesday.

During the 90-minute tribute to Hahn, county officials unveiled a sign christening the main county building the “Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.”

“I have fought the good fight,” Hahn said, quoting the Bible. “I have kept the faith.”

Hahn, with his wife, Ramona, at his side, applied his usual humor to lighten the emotion-packed ceremony.

When Sheriff Sherman Block quipped that the whole county--rather than just the Hall of Administration--should be named after Hahn, the supervisor interrupted to suggest “Hahn state” instead.

Near the end of the ceremony, Hahn instructed the county’s chief administrative officer, Richard B. Dixon, to calculate how many votes he cast during his lengthy career. Dixon estimated a quarter of a million.

“Who in the United States has had to make over 200,000 votes and stay in office?” Hahn asked. “I am so lucky to do what I want to do in life--and getting paid for it.”