The Hahn Way

Kenneth Hahn, who died Sunday at age 77, was a central figure in Los Angeles County’s growth and development. He wielded tremendous political power, but that’s not what he was best known for; people embraced him with a warmth they reserve for few politicians these days. What endeared Hahn to thousands of his constituents was his common touch.

He mingled with the powerful--was there a noted leader in the United States who did not have his picture taken with Hahn? But what Angelenos most remember about him are his personal, unpublicized courtesies paid to his constituents--largely working-class blacks, whites, Latinos and Asian Americans whose needs and worries had been largely ignored by the local government before Hahn joined the City Council in 1947 and then the Board of Supervisors in 1952.

Hahn was an extraordinarily smart and shrewd New Deal politician. He campaigned for common-sense and popular public projects: Martin Luther King Hospital, a 50-cent bus fare, emergency call boxes along the freeways long before the era of the car phone. He also made sure that his name was plastered all over his district, a constant reminder that Hahn was on the job.

But it was the small things that mattered most: Hahn intervening on behalf of a widow in a bureaucratic tangle over veteran’s benefits; it wasn’t a county responsibility but he didn’t pass the buck. It was Hahn taking the time to write a personal letter of condolence and offering aid to the family of a constituent--not a prominent or campaign-contributing constituent but a county elevator operator who spent 25 years taking him up to his office each day. These are the stories, spread and repeated and yes, sometimes hyperbolized, that kept Hahn in local office for more than four decades. And the stories are the reason why Kenneth Hahn is more than remembered today by his constituents--he is beloved.