Portantino bows out

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) closed an uncomfortable chapter in his political career Wednesday night when he sent an email to supporters stating he will not run for office in 2012.

Portantino, for the last five years an Assemblyman representing La Cañada Flintridge, Pasadena and Arcadia, and for eight years before that a La Cañada city councilman, cited family reasons for his decision.

His mother is in failing health, and Portantino said he feels compelled to go back east and help her make the transition to assisted living. Those who know Portantino are not surprised to see him put family first.

But serious obstacles awaited Portantino on the political playing field. Legislative term limits will force him out of his Assembly seat at the end of 2012, and some time ago Portantino set his sights on the U.S. Congress. The idea was to challenge longtime incumbent Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), whose district includes La Cañada and parts of the San Gabriel Valley that Portantino also represents.

Then came the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, which drew new political maps. Those new maps derailed Portantino’s plan. The new district where Dreier is seeking re-election no longer includes La Cañada, where Portantino lives, but does include Inland Empire communities outside of Portantino’s political sphere.

Losing his current job to term limits and seeing his prospective race literally moved out from under his feet, Portantino began to think the unthinkable — ignoring party orthodoxy and running against incumbent, fellow Democrat and longtime ally Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) for her seat in the state Senate representing Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank.

This prospect drew frowns in Democratic circles, and taking on an incumbent likely would have hamstrung Portantino’s fundraising ability with unions and other traditional donors.

In his Wednesday message to constituents, Portantino wrote, “I hope you will understand that this decision in no way ends my political career.”

He offered no specifics. But one of his current campaign accounts is Portantino for Senate in 2016. While 2016 is a lifetime away on political calendars, it would also be the time Liu is forced out by term limits. Perhaps Portantino will return in another role before then, but it seems to be in his best political interests to stay on the sidelines in the 2012 campaign.