McKeon Finds He’s Not Alone After All in 25th District Race

After sailing through the early part of his reelection campaign without opposition from either Republicans or Democrats, it appears Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) will be challenged after all.

Supporters of Diane Trautman say the Santa Clarita Democrat will hold a news conference today in front of McKeon’s Valencia office to announce that she will once again face off against the three-term congressman in California’s 25th District.

Trautman, 43, was soundly defeated by McKeon in 1996. Friends said she did not initially plan to run this year but was persuaded by local Democrats who were scrambling to make sure that McKeon did not run unopposed.

Because her late start caused her to miss the filing deadline for party nominees, Trautman will run in the June primary as a write-in candidate. The homemaker, PTA president and community activist must receive at least 2,105 votes in the primary to qualify as the Democratic Party candidate in November.

“We have a two-party system in this country, and if you only have one candidate you are not representing the views of a large percentage of the population,” said Trautman supporter Lynn Plambeck. “We felt we needed to have a [Democratic] candidate in this race, and Diane is an excellent choice.”

Trautman’s candidacy will leave Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) as the only member of the Los Angeles County congressional delegation running without opposition from either party this year.

McKeon spokesman David Foy said the congressman was unfazed to learn that he will no longer be running solo.

“If Diane Trautman is able to get enough write-in votes to be the Democratic nominee, Congressman McKeon will welcome her to the race,” Foy said.

“The fact that there is such a scarcity of opponents is illustrative of the congressman’s popularity and the fact that he will be difficult to beat.”

Getting It Done

Freshman Los Angeles City Council member Cindy Miscikowski may not have been in office long, but she’s already shown a knack for getting herself in the middle of some of L.A.’s most divisive politics--and getting herself out again.

Miscikowski once worked as an aide to retired Councilman Marvin Braude, and has an insider’s edge at City Hall. She got her political inspiration from Berkeley’s leftist free speech movement, but now represents some of the city’s most well-heeled neighborhoods in the mountains-based 11th District.

Miscikowski got her way on her first big issue: pushing through the city’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, a debate that quickly took on hues of L.A.’s ugliest class battle in years.

Then, Miscikowski’s pressure helped tip an issue with symbolic import in the politics of secession--improvements at the Van Nuys Civic Center.

With heavy lobbying from Miscikowski, and some financial wizardry by the city engineer, $30 million in bond funds were identified this week for a new state-of-the-art city office building in Van Nuys, a sort of second City Hall.

At the same time, Miscikowski pressed for the release of up to $10 million from Proposition K through a controversial borrowing scheme.

Miscikowski wants the money for open-space purchases in the Santa Monica Mountains. But she worked to make sure inner-city projects could benefit as well, diffusing some Eastside opposition.

It remains to be seen, though, how long Miscikowski’s luck will hold.

Transit Bill at Crossroads

State Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) had counted the members of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. among the most critical supporters of his plan to create a new transit authority just for the Valley.

After all, VICA Vice Chairman Nate Brogin was among the few local political players to trek to Sacramento recently to beat back critics of Hayden’s bill, including the MTA and its mechanics union.

But now it appears VICA’s support may be waning. Members of VICA’s transportation committee this week established a task force to reconsider their position on Hayden’s bill, which was substantially amended before it passed the Senate Transportation Committee unanimously.

Hayden’s staff was surprised.

“VICA’s support is, I think, key,” said his spokesman, Rocky Rushing. “There’s nothing in [Hayden’s bill] that would lead them to turn their back.”

As amended, the bill would create a board to plan Valley bus and rail projects. MTA would retain control of its checkbook and would not necessarily have to fund the Valley board’s ideas. Still in question is how much of the MTA’s revenue comes from Valley taxpayers.

VICA members at Tuesday’s meeting were leaning toward another bill, in the state Assembly, that would force the MTA to create a separate agency to manage its Valley bus lines, most likely by contracting with private companies to drive and repair the buses.

But that bill has run into problems of its own. Already facing fierce opposition from transit unions, it’s been put on hold in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. MTA officials recently estimated that the state would have to reimburse the county transit agency $1 million for the cost of creating a so-called “transit zone” agency for the Valley.

Absence Noted

The debate at the Times Warner cable studios in Chatsworth was supposed to be between Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and two of his Republican challengers, Joe Gelman and William Westmiller.

But it was Republican challenger Randy Hoffman who got the brunt of the criticism because he did not appear.

Although Hoffman gave prior notice that he could not attend the debate, the host of the cable-access show, Debbie Greenfield, left an empty chair on stage for Hoffman with his named taped to it.

Gelman joked about putting a frozen chicken in the seat in place of Hoffman.

The debate itself was rather lively. Gelman called Sherman a “back-bencher in the minority party” and suggested he, as a Republican, would have better luck getting services to the district as a member of the majority party.

All three agreed that the Los Angeles Unified School District should be broken into smaller, more manageable districts. But they disagreed on Proposition 227, the initiative to end bilingual education.

Both Westmiller and Gelman said they support an end to bilingual education. But Sherman opposes the measure, saying teachers should have final say in how best to teach children.

At the end of the debate, the focus again turned to Hoffman when each candidate gave a closing remark.

Gelman, pointing at the empty chair, hurled one final insult, saying Hoffman “chickened out. He’s an empty suit.”

Hoffman’s staff said the candidate had a previous engagement at a Republican function and did not want to cancel.

This story was prepared by staff writers Jill Leovy, Jeff Leeds and Hugo Martin and correspondent Darrell Satzman.