Politicos Dancing Term-Limits Shuffle

The activists who fought to place term limits on California legislators hailed the caps as a way to junk career politicians, but judging from the extraordinary shuffle coming in 2001, recycle might have been a better description.

Literally fighting for their political lives, numerous state lawmakers will cast about for work in Washington and at the local level next year.

The musical chairs promise to be particularly intense in Los Angeles, where powerful posts on the City Council beckon “termed-out” state politicians.

There are not enough jobs for everyone, and many politicos will have to find something else to do come next fall. But in a never-ending cycle, enough of them should land new posts to cause another chain reaction--a series of costly special elections to fill open state offices that will create new opportunities.

Despite this increasing aftereffect, proponents of the 1990 term-limits law said it is working exactly as they expected.

Some politicians may be able to extend their careers ad infinitum by jumping from job to job, said term limits supporters, but at least they cannot stay in one place long enough to amass undue power and become a threat to the public.

“The key thing is not that people can move to another taxpayer-funded position, but it is keeping the chickens flying,” said Lewis K. Uhler of the National Tax Limitation Committee, one of the conservative activists who sponsored the term limits law.

“One of the worst problems before term limits is that someone could achieve a certain position, and he could take a liking or disliking to you, and the action of that government body is distorted,” Uhler said. “With the constant changing of the guard, the officeholder no longer holds your fate in his hands, at least not the way he once did.”

Many lawmakers take a different view. They said the limits have reduced what they can accomplish in their political careers, leading to a short-timer mentality in the state capital that results in a refusal to tackle the complex issues facing California.

“The stupidity of [term limits] is that no one considered the endgame,” said Assemblyman Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles). “I am chair of the Utilities and Commerce Committee. I went to many seminars, at my own expense, to make sure I knew what I was doing. There is no one in the Legislature with 10% of the knowledge I have on utilities.

“Who is going to fill my job in a few months that could handle these energy issues?” Wright said, referring to the current electricity crisis. “No one.”

Lawmakers said the caps have created distrust among legislators, who worry whether their friend today might be their political enemy tomorrow.

The election of former Democratic state Sen. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte) to Congress last month has set up such a showdown in the San Gabriel Valley.

Former Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park), who was forced out of the lower house by term limits this year, had made it known early on in Democratic circles that he wanted to replace Solis. Under the old system of political patronage, Gallegos, the Democrat below Solis on the seniority scale, would have been unanimously anointed her successor.

But when Solis beat incumbent Rep. Matthew Martinez in the primary this spring, capturing the heavily Democratic seat, Assemblywoman Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who will be termed out of the lower house in 2004, entered the race.

Gallegos had helped Romero win public office in the first place and many Democratic lawmakers privately expressed outrage at Romero’s actions. But many understood.

Filling Solis’ former Senate seat will require a special election. If Romero wins, Gov. Gray Davis will have to call another special election next year to fill her Assembly seat.

Similarly, the vacancy created by the recent death of veteran Democratic Rep. Julian Dixon could result in another matchup of established politicians in southwest Los Angeles.

Wright and state Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) are among those who have expressed interest in Dixon’s job. If one of them wins, that would result in a special state election.

“I am seriously weighing the options there,” Wright said, adding that he would run only if Dixon’s widow is not interested in the seat. “Seats like this don’t become open every day. You have to give it a look-see.”

But Wright, who was elected in 1996, said that unlike some, he would have no qualms about leaving public life.

“I have no fear of going back to that,” he said of his former career as a businessman. “Sometimes I wonder what I am doing here in the first place.”

Special elections come at a price to taxpayers. The average cost to run a special legislative election is $4 for each registered voter in the area--more than $1 million, for example, for Los Angeles County to administer the election to replace Solis.

The races next year for Los Angeles City Council, which figure to be littered with current and former state lawmakers, may have a ripple effect. It is there that the term limits machinations and job swapping get most confusing.

State Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), who is being bumped out of the upper house by term limits in 2002, is widely said to be eyeing the council seat being vacated by Mike Hernandez.

If Polanco, the presumed front-runner, wins, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) is in line to take his spot in the upper house after a special election.

Likewise, in the race to succeed Councilwoman Rita Walters, Assemblyman Carl Washington (D-Paramount) is a leading candidate. A special election would be required to fill his seat.

Then there is former Assemblyman Scott Wildman (D-Los Angeles), who lost a term limits-spurred primary for the state Senate this year against former Assemblyman and eventual winner Jack Scott (D-Altadena).

Wildman is running for the council seat vacated by Jackie Goldberg, who was just elected to the Assembly after bumping up against Los Angeles’ city term limits. Goldberg was elected to the Assembly seat vacated by termed-out former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, who is running for Los Angeles mayor.

Finally there is Tom Hayden, the 1960s radical and liberal activist, who was nudged from the state capital by term limits this fall. Hayden initially talked of moving from the upper house to the Assembly seat being vacated by Sheila Kuehl, who was elected to his seat. But he decided not to run.

But like countless Sacramento veterans, he is looking at a job in Los Angeles: the council seat being vacated by Mike Feuer.