In Era of Term Limits, Only the Pros Survive

OK, maybe James Rogan, the rising young star of local Republican Party politics, didn’t always have his eyes set on Washington. He says he didn’t. It was his understanding that L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich would someday succeed Rep. Carlos Moorhead of Glendale. But when Moorhead decided to retire and Antonovich chose not to run, Rogan says, the veteran pols encouraged him to make the run.

If all goes according to plan, Rogan will win the March 26 primary, take the general election and become another GOP freshman in the House of Representatives--a little fish in Newt’s big pond. And that might be too bad, because Jim Rogan seemed to have such a bright future in Sacramento.

Whatever you think of Rogan’s conservative politics, it’s hard not to be impressed by a recent survey in the California Journal. When the political magazine asked elected officials, staffers, lobbyists and journalists to grade our legislators, no Assembly member did better than Rogan. The former Municipal Court judge was ranked first in integrity, second in effectiveness, second in problem solving, third in intelligence and fourth in energy. Little wonder, then, that Rogan was for a time touted as a future Speaker of the Assembly.

But if Rogan had decided to stay in Sacramento, term limits would have forced him out in just four more years. One of the nice things about Capitol Hill is job security. There are no term limits.

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Actually, that’s not true. Voters have the power to terminate an incumbent’s incumbency. We could always throw the bum out. That is why I’ve never been sold on term limits mandated by law.

Term limits are undemocratic and un-American. Proponents, of course, say this is nonsense, that the law was Jeffersonian in spirit, designed to foster “citizen politicians” instead of “professional politicians.” But it wasn’t lofty ideals that gave us term limits. It was cynicism.

Two cynical notions are at work. The first is the popular belief that politicians are, by nature, corruptible and become more so as time goes on. The second is the notion that We, the People, are too stupid or too lazy to make elective government work.

Someday we may get cynical about term limits. And why not? Those career politicians have adapted to the new reality. It has encouraged them to run surrogate candidates or to change districts (also known as carpetbagging).

Two years ago, term limits made its first major impact. Oddly, the law actually extended the career of state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal.

Rosenthal was 77 then and seemed to be headed for retirement, thanks to the voters. He was a Westside Democrat whose district encompassed a small part of the Valley. Redistricting forced him into internecine battle with Tom Hayden, and Hayden won. Meanwhile, term limits were forcing state Sen. David Roberti out of office. People thought that either Assemblyman Richard Katz or Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman--Democrats, like Roberti--would be the party’s candidate.

But when both balked, party leaders encouraged Rosenthal to move to the Valley and run. Never mind the carpetbagging charges, Rosenthal won easily in the safely Democratic district.

Term limits are now forcing Assemblywoman Paula Boland to make a career move--a literal one. Unable to run for reelection, the Granada Hills Republican is relocating a few miles southeast and facing stiff intraparty competition for the state Senate seat now held by Newton Russell, another victim of term limits.

Meanwhile, south of the Santa Monica Mountains, several African American representatives are facing term limits. But, as my colleague Ed Boyer reported in The Times Monday, the appearance of change “may be illusory.”

Consider veteran Assemblyman Willard H. Murray Jr. (D-Paramount). Term limits helped encourage him to succeed disgraced and defiant U.S. Rep. Walter Tucker III (D-Compton), who in December was convicted of extorting bribes.

Meanwhile, Murray is hoping to pass his Assembly seat on to daughter Melinda. And consider Assemblywoman Juanita M. McDonald (D-Carson). With term limits looming in 1998, she’s also running for Tucker’s seat and backing her son, Keith, in the race to succeed her.

Tucker, by the way, has endorsed neither Murray nor McDonald. He’s backing his wife, Robin.

None of this is very surprising. All along, opponents of term limits said they would create a game of musical chairs.

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“Term limits?” Assemblyman James Rogan asked over the phone. “Before I came to the Assembly, I was not a supporter. By the time I got here, I became a reluctant supporter.”

And now that he’s planning to leave, Rogan calls himself an “ardent supporter.”

That’s pretty much the party line. Rogan speaks with the Republican perspective of someone who saw the last days of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and then the farce that made Doris Allen, temporarily, Brown’s successor.

Is Rogan as swell as the California Journal made it seem? Not surprisingly, some Democrats say his reputation far exceeds his legislative record. Rogan, one lawmaker said, “is a good parliamentarian, treats people respectfully, and is intellectually smart.” His legislative portfolio, this pol suggested, is thin.

Then again, he’s only been there two years. Who knows what he could have done if the law had let him stay there as long as Willie Brown? In those California Journal rankings, Brown ranked 76th out of 79 in integrity, but first in intelligence, effectiveness, problem solving and energy. Could Rogan, as Speaker of the Assembly, have held on to his reputation for integrity?

We’ll never know. When Rogan decided to run for Congress, Curt Pringle of Garden Grove became the GOP choice for the speakership. In fact, Rogan had to interrupt our phone conversation when Speaker Pringle dropped by for lunch.

Pringle, by the way, also did well in the California Journal survey--in every category but one.

In integrity, he ranked 53rd.

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to Harris at the Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Please include a phone number.

If Rogan had decided to stay in Sacramento, term limits would have forced him out in four years. One of the nice things about Capitol Hill is job security.