Hayden and Kuehl Hope to Trade Seats in Legislature

State Sen. Tom Hayden and Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl plan to trade seats--a chess move that would exploit but not break the state law on term limits.

The two Democratic lawmakers, whose overlapping districts span both sides of the Santa Monica Mountains, must give up their current seats next year because of term limits.

But they are free to run for additional terms if they move from one house of the Legislature to the other.

The only discordant note in the unfolding game of musical chairs comes from Democratic Assemblyman Wally Knox, who represents Beverly Hills and West Hollywood as well as Sherman Oaks, Studio City and other parts of the San Fernando Valley.

Like Kuehl, Knox will lose his Assembly seat next year because of term limits, and he’s already lining up support to challenge Kuehl for the Senate seat in what could be one of the most expensive legislative races of the year.

Hayden’s 23rd Senate District is the wealthiest in the state, running from Santa Monica and West Los Angeles to the Valley’s pricey hillside neighborhoods in Studio City, Sherman Oaks and Encino. Hayden has already sent letters to fellow members of the Legislature “stating his intention to run” for the smaller, less prestigious Assembly district. Rocky Rushing, an aide to Hayden, described the developments as a “musical dance” caused by term limits.

First elected to the state Assembly in 1982, taking the seat once held by Gov. Gray Davis, Hayden was elected to the Senate in 1992 and has served two four-year terms.

When state voters imposed term limits on legislators in 1990 with Proposition 140, it was clear that the measure was intended to end political careers and infuse new blood into the political process, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst and teacher at Claremont Graduate University.

“The public wanted to make a statement. . . . There was anger there,” Jeffe said in an interview Friday, recalling the 1990 election.

But Jeffe and other analysts believe it is entirely appropriate for legislators to run for other offices, particularly in cases like that of Kuehl and Knox.

Both were elected the same year, 1994, and knew if they wanted to continue their political careers they might have to run against each other, since their two Assembly districts are “nested” within Hayden’s Senate district.

“Clearly the law contemplated that they go from the Assembly to the Senate,” said Bob Stern, co-director for the Center for Governmental Studies in West Los Angeles, adding that he is not surprised.

Although he said he supports term limits, Stern said he and others believe that six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate may cut careers short.

“It’s easy to understand why legislators who have been smitten by the Sacramento bug want to stick around,” he said.

Term limits figured in one of last year’s most hotly contested elections, when former Assemblyman Richard Katz, who hit term limits, ran and lost a close race to then-City Councilman Richard Alarcon.

But moving from the Senate to the Assembly, as Hayden is doing, is rarer because the Senate is generally considered more prestigious than the Assembly.

Rushing, speaking for Hayden, said the senator wants to continue environmental and other programs he started in the Senate.

Since Hayden and Kuehl are close political allies, there is speculation that they will support each other, exchanging endorsements in the state primary, which will be held in March 2000.

Hayden did not return phone calls Friday seeking comment.

Kuehl said she has not spoken with Hayden about mutual support. She said she promised candidates running for her Assembly seat that she wouldn’t announce her plans until she talked with them.

The assemblywoman said that after five years she is just beginning to understand the state budget process. She also said she had been appointed chairwoman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, a post that will allow her to explore issues she has long been involved in, like family law and violence in the family.

Kuehl said she hears people saying that officeholders who buck term limits by seeking other offices are “desperate to hang on.”

“It doesn’t seem like hanging on to me,” she said. “It seems like a correct use of your expertise.”

Sensitivities are particularly acute in the 23rd Senate District, since Hayden, Kuehl and Knox all know and work with one another.

Hayden and Knox appeared with one another at a news conference Friday morning to announce legislation that would allow Holocaust survivors to file civil suits against companies responsible for exploiting workers. There were no signs of discord.

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Switching Seats

Term limits are forcing state Sen. Tom Hayden to give up his Senate district--but not necessarily a seat in the Legislature. Hayden can run for the Assembly, which he intends to do. Two veteran Assembly members, also forced by term limits to give up their seats, are planning to run for Hayden’s 23rd Senate District seat.