SPECIAL REPORT * They have opened up legislative seats, but also created some bitter political rivalries, making . . .

One of the most significant consequences of California’s 1990 term limits law has been the tripling of the number of Latino lawmakers in Sacramento. But one unexpected result has been the undermining of ethnic loyalties in the service of self-interest, turning political allies into rivals.

Just two years ago, Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park) was eager to help a Cal State L.A. professor named Gloria Romero win the San Gabriel Valley Assembly seat adjacent to his own. His support, he said, came largely because she was a Democrat and a Latina.

Now, in an example of how term limits are reshaping ethnic politics in California--particularly among Latinos--the former legislative colleagues will square off in a battle to succeed state Sen. Hilda Solis, who is on her way to Congress.

Romero’s bid challenges the unspoken party rule that would have put Gallegos first in line for Solis’ seat because of his seniority. It also is evidence of the fractures wrought by term limits among the new generation of Latino lawmakers.

“Term limits have created this restlessness and impetuousness among many legislators that is unhealthy,” said Gallegos, who is serving his final Assembly term.

He and others accuse Romero of seeking a four-year state Senate seat to escape the six-year limit on Assembly officeholders. Under term limit rules, state senators can serve eight years.

“As a community, we’ve worked hard to get to this level,” Gallegos said. “We shouldn’t dilute that” by taking each other out.

Romero said, however, that such competition is healthy for Latino politics. She denies that she is running because of term limits, saying the state Senate seat would give her greater authority over education issues. “This is about leadership,” she said.

Combined with the 1990 reapportionment and a backlash against Proposition 187, term limits have helped give Latinos a much greater say in local and state politics. However, some wonder whether the same law will now hurt California’s evolving ethnic agenda.

Many Latino, African American and Asian American legislators favored a recently defeated effort in Sacramento to reform term limits to allow lawmakers to hold office for 12 years.

Like others in the reform movement, they argue that term limits have drained experience from Sacramento and created fear among officeholders that they will be kicked out of office before having any real impact.

Though Latino leaders credit term limits for the rapid evolution of Latino politics during the 1990s--specifically by turning out longtime incumbents--several believe it’s time to slow the turnover rate. The new generation of leaders needs to gain experience as legislators, they say.

Inevitable matchups between former allies like Romero and Gallegos are bound to “damage the esprit de corps” in the state Latino Caucus, said former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, a candidate for Los Angeles mayor whose career benefited from the law that ended the reign of former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. “It has a corrosive effect.”

One Sacramento insider added that Latino caucus members are wary of choosing between Romero and Gallegos for fear of losing their support on upcoming issues.

While the influence of Latino politicians has accelerated under term limits, it was also inevitable, given the state’s growing Latino electorate. “We were already on our way to getting a more diverse legislature,” Villaraigosa said.

Still, “having the new talent isn’t enough,” he said. “Experience is good too.”

Moreover, the rapid growth of Latino politics during the 1990s will not continue over the next 10 years, predicted Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

Because of term limits, Guerra said, “all the easy Latino seats have been taken. Even the hard ones.”

But “the base will not broaden,” he said. “Term limits will not lead to a greater increase of Latino representation.”

Meanwhile, African American and Asian American observers see the rapid turnover rate caused by term limits as an impediment to keeping what little influence they have in Sacramento.

Since 1990, the number of black legislators in Sacramento has dropped from seven to four, mainly because incumbents were either termed out or had gone on to federal or local office. The number of Asian Americans has risen from zero to two during the last 10 years.

Leaders in both communities complain that term limits do not allow time to cultivate the talent needed to maintain a hold in districts.

“We have a big legacy problem,” said Bill Wong, a former consultant for Asian American candidates and now Solis’ chief of staff.

In the district represented by state Assemblyman George Nakano (D-Torrance), for example, there are no Asian American candidates in line to replace him, Wong said.

Some See Benefits in Competition

Others argue that term limits can strengthen ethnic politics through competition.

They point to Solis’ victory in the March primary over U.S. Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park). Solis, who would have seen her state Senate career end in 2002, challenged longtime incumbent Martinez, portrayed by many residents as having lost touch with his district.

Though Solis said term limits did not influence her decision to challenge Martinez, they have helped Latinas in their pursuit of higher office.

“When I came on in the Senate, I was the first Latina,” she said. “Now, there are five. Never in U.S. history has that happened in such a dramatic fashion and so fast.”

With a new reapportionment coming based on the 2000 census, and with the state’s diversity still not reflected in Sacramento, supporters of term limits say turnover among officeholders is the best way to level the political playing field.

Several see Senate Majority Leader Richard Polanco’s effort to expand the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to nine--with new term limits--as reflecting his desire to find another office. He must retire from his position in 2002.

Whether or not that is true, the result would benefit ethnic groups seeking political voices in Los Angeles County, said Ralph Rossum, director of Claremont McKenna’s Rose Institute.

As things stand, Rossum said, “the costs of mounting a campaign against an incumbent on the board are so great that serious candidates don’t come forth. I tend to be very much in favor of term limits, simply because it gives challengers a fighting chance.”

Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Director Miguel Contreras said working-class issues have also benefited under term limits by forcing candidates to declare their support for labor.

“Our biggest voice is with union members in safe Democratic seats,” he said. “In the past, there was little turnover in those seats. Now, with the higher turnover, it gives us an opportunity to recruit warriors for working families.”

Gregory Rodriguez, a Los Angeles-based fellow at the New America Foundation, believes the kind of political deference expected of Romero in her race against Gallegos is no longer necessary.

History will show that, while term limits have nurtured a stronger ethnic voice in California, they will eventually dilute the need for candidates to be ethnic-minded, he said.

In California’s shifting political terrain, Rodriguez said, “You can no longer play the ethnic nationalist politics in the way you once could.”

Thanks to the career planning required by term limits, he said, “Politicians today have to think of themselves as being marketable to other districts. Each seat higher on the ladder has a broader political base. In a sense, it makes ethnocentric politics less viable.”