South Bay’s Janice Hahn aiming for Fourth District seat

Fourth District Supervisorial candidate Janice Hahn with 66th Assembly District Candidate Al Muratsuchi and 33rd Congressional District Representative Ted Liu at the Democratic party headquarters in Torrance in 2014. Photo

Fourth District Supervisorial candidate Janice Hahn with 66th Assembly District Candidate Al Muratsuchi and 33rd Congressional District Representative Ted Liu at the Democratic party headquarters in Torrance in 2014. Photo

In talking about her style of governance, U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn can sound as though she is planning an ambitious dinner party. Hahn is running to fill a rare vacancy on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and says she is leaving Congress in part because of its partisan gridlock. A return to local government would allow her to return to the more intimate form of politics as she practices it: gather a bunch of people, some of whom may hold highly antagonistic views, and sit down with them in the belief that a peaceable balance will emerge.

In describing her position on a proposal to break up the Los Angeles County Probation Department into two bodies, one for children and one for adults, Hahn said if elected she would make a decision on the proposal by “bringing everybody to the table.” The probation department, the nation’s largest, has been plagued in recent years by scandals and claims of mismanagement.

“I want to talk to the probation officers, I want to talk with the families,” Hahn said. “I want to talk to people who have been on probation, and kids in camps, and nonprofits who work with them, and see if that makes sense.”

Hahn is running to replace Don Knabe, who has represented Los Angeles County’s Fourth Supervisorial District for 20 years and is being forced out by term limits. The Fourth District contains roughly two million residents and includes all of the South Bay, wrapping along the Southern portion of the county to form a kind of wide “V” with points in Marina del Rey, Long Beach and Diamond Bar. She came in first in the June primary, capturing 47 percent of the vote but is facing an unexpectedly strong challenge in the November general election from former Manhattan Beach Mayor Steve Napolitano.

In an interview last week, Hahn returned to the idea of government-at-a-table multiple times, on issues as diverse as transportation and retirement benefits for county employees. Such a belief may seem optimistic, but it is not uninformed. Hahn comes steeped in Southern California politics. She has served in Congress since 2011, representing California’s 44th Congressional District, which includes parts of South Los Angeles and harbor communities like San Pedro. (Former Hermosa Beach Mayor Nanette Barragan is battling state senator Isadore Hall, of Compton, to replace her.) Prior to that, she spent 10 years on the Los Angeles City Council.

In her time in politics, Hahn has built up steady support from labor unions, who cite not just her favorable positions, but her personal engagement. At a recent rally held by the Service Employees International Union, Robin Wilson, a security guard at LAX, recalled Hahn as an early and earnest supporter of the airport workers’ efforts to unionize.

“It was a shock to me that someone of her stature would listen to what we had to say,” Wilson said.

Hahn speaks at a Service Employees International Union rally in downtown Los Angeles last week. Photo

Hahn speaks at a Service Employees International Union rally in downtown Los Angeles last week. Photo

Hahn also comes from a legendary family in Southern California politics. Her brother James Hahn is a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge and a former mayor of Los Angeles. Her father Kenneth Hahn was a longtime member of the Board of Supervisors. He was among the first elected officials to embrace Martin Luther King, Jr., and has his name plastered over a host of county facilities, including the building in which the board of supervisors hold their meetings.

Political handicappers say Napolitano has kept things surprisingly close, but that Hahn’s name recognition gives her the edge in the race.

“Napolitano was more credible than most people thought. He made a good showing, and he’s trying his best to shore up and keep what had been the Knabe coalition. But anytime you have a name like Hahn, it’s hers to lose,” said Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State L.A.

If elected, Hahn has pledged to make three issues her focus: homelessness, traffic and public safety. While these issues resonate for people all over the Southern California, she said, the Fourth District and the South Bay present special challenges.

Discussing traffic, Hahn turned to Measure M, a county sales tax measure that would dedicate funds to road and public transportation improvements. Earlier this year, the South Bay Cities Council of Governments voted to oppose the measure, citing an inequitable distribution of funds for projects in the South Bay. Hahn has been a supporter of public transit to relieve congestion, but echoed this criticism. She pointed to the need to connect Metro’s Green Line light rail line to LAX and to Torrance’s regional transit center more quickly than the plan provides for.

“I’ll make sure that those transportation projects are fast-tracked,” Hahn said. “We can’t ask people to vote for a project, then tell them they won’t be ready until 2045 or 2055.”

On homelessness, Hahn said serving as the social safety net is “what the county at its core is supposed to do.” She has staked out a housing-first policy, arguing that it is more effective to provide shelter before dealing with issues like drug addiction, rather than the other way around.

The current board voted last month to hold a countywide election in March, adding to ongoing speculation that they would propose a tax increase to fund homeless services. Hahn would not confirm that she would vote to place a tax increase on the March ballot, but she supported finding “every possible revenue stream we can put toward this emergency.”

The supervisorial position has arguably more impact than any other political position on the daily lives of Southern California residents. The “five little kings,” as they are known, control a budget of nearly $30 billion, and the board reigns supreme in public health, elections, tax collection and criminal justice. Although most South Bay cities are independent and do not rely on the board for basic governmental functions, the county’s enormous budget frequently allows it to make its mark at the local level. In recent years, Hermosa’s revitalized South Park and the forthcoming Manhattan skate park both owe their existence to open-space grants from the county.

But despite the position’s enormous power, it hums on a lower register of political visibility, and has been overshadowed by the colorful presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Of 42 people sampled heading into the Hermosa Beach Trader Joe’s last Monday night, only five could identify Hahn and Napolitano as the candidates in the supervisor’s race.

Of these, three preferred Napolitano and two Hahn. Napolitano’s stint as mayor of nearby Manhattan gave him greater visibility, but both Hahn supporters were more politically engaged and knowledgeable about the race.

“I’m a Democrat, and I like her. I think she’s done a good job in Congress,” said Redondo Beach resident Miriam Cardenas as she grabbed a shopping cart.

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