Monday, March 3, 1997
ELECTION:
Candidate continually absent from Senate, waffles on reformBy
Alex Cota
Many, many times, in running against Tom Hayden, I challenged
him to public debate. Hayden always ducked debate with me. Why?
I would have exposed his incompetence, ineptitude and mendacity.
To cite a few of many examples:
Hayden poses as a "reformer" fighting "special interests." He
feigns support for campaign financing reform. At a Pacific
Palisades Club meeting, with a few questions, I managed to prove he
did not tell the truth about his stand on Proposition 68, an
initiative designed to curb campaign spending. At first, Hayden
tried to say he supported Proposition 68, but questions directed at
him exposed the fact that he helped undermine its passage by saying
"hate groups" would take advantage of its provisions and, hence, he
could not support it. Hayden squandered millions of dollars (much
of it Jane Fonda’s money) to promote himself into public office, so
he really did not want campaign spending restrictions.
Presently, Hayden hypocritically campaigns on the crime issue.
The old 44th Assembly District, which was a victim of his perennial
absenteeism, encompassed the Venice-Oakwood area. In 1994, there
were 20 drive-by killings and over 50 people wounded in this
one-square-mile area, a culmination of decades of gang and drug
activity. Assemblyman Hayden never showed his face to address the
terror in Venice-Oakwood. Yet he has the grandiose audacity, as a
mayoral candidate, to speak about crime in South Central and East
Los Angeles.
Hayden’s dishonesty was further demonstrated by his stand on the
death penalty. At another meeting of the Pacific Palisades
Democratic Club, Hayden proclaimed his support of the death
penalty. However, when he was running for governor (another
absentee pursuit) at a meeting before a Santa Monica audience,
Hayden tried to pose as an opponent of capital punishment.
As a constituent of the Senate district Hayden is supposed to
represent, I resent the burden of absenteeism and incompetence he
has imposed on the citizenry. He is so busy promoting his own
special interest of personal political self-promotion that he, once
again, neglects his duties in Sacramento.
I once asked Hayden why he went off on a fishing vacation in the
midst of a state budget crisis. He answered there was nothing going
on and he had planned his vacation for a long time. Recently,
Hayden has stated that there is nothing going on at the beginning
of the session, so he is not missing anything important in the
state Senate. Therefore, he can run for mayor.
The voters and taxpayers just recently paid for an expensive
senatorial election. It is unconscionable for Hayden to immediately
subject the electorate to another costly mayoral campaign. This is
still further proof of Hayden’s disdain for campaign reform. He
should immediately resign from the state Senate. Let him revisit
his fishing vacation site in Alaska.