Hayden Considering Running for Controller or Council

With six months left until term limits bounce him out of the state Senate, Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) says he sees “interesting possibilities for a watchdog” in the race next year for city controller.

If he decides to run, it would be less than welcome news to City Councilwoman Laura Chick of Reseda. She has already raised nearly $300,000 to run for controller, according to her campaign consultant, Steve Afriat.

Afriat downplayed the threat, saying voters citywide are not as liberal as the constituency of Hayden’s Senate district, which covers the Westside and the southern San Fernando Valley. In the 1997 mayoral race, Hayden was trounced by incumbent Richard Riordan, 61% to 34%.

“Being well-known does not a winning candidate make,” Afriat said.

Hayden also has his eyes on the City Council seat of Mike Feuer, who is vacating the office to run for city attorney.

The trouble is, Hayden doesn’t live in Feuer’s district, which stretches from Sherman Oaks to Century City. Hayden’s Brentwood home is in the district of Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who plans to seek reelection next year.

Hayden, who is better known than any of the eight candidates already vying for Feuer’s seat, wouldn’t say whether he plans to relocate and join the fray.

“That’s putting the house before the cart,” he said.

But his chief of staff, Rocky Rushing, expects his boss will opt for the council race.

“I think it’s going to be an affirmative decision that he’ll run,” Rushing said.

Hayden said he’ll try to make up his mind during the Senate’s July recess, but might wind up not running for anything.

“Don’t want to be a creature of habit,” he said. “Stop me before I run again!”

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MAKING HIS CASE: Mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa spent more than an hour Tuesday trying to win over members of the North Hills Community Coordinating Council.

Villaraigosa, a former state Assembly speaker, sympathized with the group’s concerns about schools, freeway traffic and the Valley’s proposed secession from the city, saying, “I understand the frustrations that the people of the Valley feel.

“People have to get their fair share or else, guess what, they will secede,” he said.

Leaders of the council were impressed.

“Antonio’s a dynamite guy,” said former Rep. Bobbi Fiedler, the council’s political advisor.

So would she and her husband, Harry Coleman, the president of the council, back Villaraigosa for mayor?

“We already made a commitment,” Coleman said.

To City Atty. James Hahn.

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PRESIDENTIAL HELP: Democrat Adam Schiff got a big boost Tuesday in Washington from President Clinton, the star attraction of a fund-raiser that yielded $250,000 for Schiff’s campaign to unseat Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale).

Clinton’s only acknowledgment of Rogan, a House prosecutor at his Senate impeachment trial, was a quick reference to the “incumbent congressman” that Schiff is challenging.

Clinton touted Schiff’s record on guns, schools and the environment, saying these days it’s not necessary to run a negative campaign.

“I’ve seen so many elections over the last 20 years that just made me sick, where both candidates looked like they were trying to convince people that their opponents were just one step above a car thief,” Clinton said. “And you don’t have to do that now. You can just run on the differences.”

Judging from the vitriol displayed so far in the Rogan-Schiff contest, neither candidate will be shy about pointing out differences.

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MONEY MACHINE: Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) faces no Republican opponent in his reelection race, so you might think he could skip the fund-raising circuit this summer and fall.

Think again. Cardenas is trying to collect a cool $500,000 before the Nov. 7 election. He says he’ll give most of it to Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), who will dole it out to Democrats fighting close Assembly races around the state.

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BACKLASH: Aides say Hal Bernson’s phones and e-mail were sizzling with angry messages from constituents who were enraged by the councilman’s vote to approve $4 million to resuscitate the Democratic National Convention.

Last Friday, the day of the City Council vote that pledged the money to the convention, Bernson staff members said they wrestled with more than 400 calls and computer messages. Not since the Sunshine Canyon Landfill debate has an issue brought such a response, said Greig Smith, Bernson’s chief of staff.

Just one person voiced support for Bernson’s vote, Smith said.

And many of the hundreds of other callers were “nasty and quite abusive,” Smith said, adding that staff members’ ears were frequently burned by foul language and shouting from callers.

Bernson, a Republican, received criticism from some Democrats who didn’t want the city ponying up big bucks for the convention, aides said.

Even inside Bernson’s office, aides felt jilted by the councilman’s vote.

“Every single member of our staff disagreed with the councilman,” one staff member said.

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COUNSELING: City employees got their checks Wednesday with an interoffice note at the top that read: “Sexual orientation counselor available to city employees,” accompanied by a city phone number.

One City Council staffer wondered exactly what such a counselor does. Was it an attempt to help workers define their orientation? Or an effort to change their gender preferences?

Neither, said the city employee who answered the phone at the new service. It’s a service for any city employee who feels they have been discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, she said.

And what about sexual harassment? “That’s separate; we also have sexual harassment counselors,” the employee said.