Katz’s Motivation Remains Unclear

* Last spring the citizens of this city voted for term limits. Previously, many of those same citizens, and others outside Los Angeles, voted for statewide term limits as well.

Now you report that Richard Katz intends to run once again for the state Assembly, representing the 39th District. After speaking to several persons who live in the district, I learned that many are delighted with Mr. Katz’s decision.

What was disturbing, however, was the implication in your story that Mr. Katz is only re-running for his current job, to better position himself for another elected seat elsewhere, shortly down the line. I do not mean to question whether Mr. Katz would be suitable for another elected position. What I do question is the motivation of any public servant who might run for one position as a springboard for another.

More importantly, the article reported that Mr. Katz’s political motivations were based on his long-term strategy to manage his career within the new limitations of term limits.

The voters of this city and state elected to implement term limits to provide more access to more citizens who wished to serve, to participate in he political process. Term limits were not designed as creative ways to redirect career politicians from one elected body to another. Term limits were designed and voted in to limit the number of career politicians, period.

Let’s hope that Mr. Katz’s motivation in selecting as high-powered a political consultant as Harvey Englander was in fact to get his message out to voters in the 39th District, to get reelected into his current Assembly seat, and not to challenge the very principles of more citizen access/less career politicking, for which term limits were voted for in the first place.

SARI D. WEINER

Tarzana