EDITORIAL BREWING DISCONTENT OBSESSING OVER SECESSION HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL ON HAHN.

THE stress of obsessing over the San Fernando Valley - all those fund-raisers, rallies, fund-raisers, photo ops and fund-raisers - appears to have taken its toll on James Hahn.

That must be why he's speaking such incomprehensible, illogical gibberish these days.

How else can one explain Hahn's baffling justification of his plan to seek a new state law against San Fernando Valley secession should the current effort fail - just to make sure that independent-minded Vals won't dare flex their muscles again for a long, long time?

Ostensibly, Hahn's concern is about saving money. Secession votes ``shouldn't have to come up every year and eat up taxpayer dollars,'' he says.

But pinching pennies has never mattered much to Hahn before. He gave away taxpayer dollars by the millions when, as city attorney, he entered into pricey legal settlements with anyone with a lawyer. He never complained when city officials awarded contracts to city workers far in excess of inflation. And he has done nothing to rid L.A. residents of the city's bloated bureaucracy or its money-bleeding Convention Center.

It's not secession that's bankrupting Los Angeles.

And it's not secessionists who, to quote Hahn, keep ``changing the rules all the time'' about the secession process. That would be Hahn, who, by trying to get the state to bar future secession efforts for years to come, would seemingly rather do away with democratic movements than deal with them head-on.

``I'm not going to spend my whole term in office fighting every six months secession efforts,'' he vows.

Who can blame him? Dealing with this one has obviously pushed him to the brink.

Hahn's strategy has been to foment fear in the populace rather than engage in an honest discussion of how to empower neighborhoods and make L.A. the great city it could be.

The deck has always been stacked against secession, since it needs a majority in the Valley and citywide. But even if Hahn prevails with his millions from City Hall insiders, the widely shared sentiments that drive secession will still be there.

Keeping the Valley as a colony of L.A. is a recipe for brewing more discontent - and more secession movements - for many years to come.

Perhaps if Hahn were a little more clear-headed, he would realize that there's only one answer to secession: Give neighborhoods a real seat at the table of power to balance out the special interests that for so long have feasted on the city treasury and left only pennies for public services.

But Hahn can't be bothered with talking these days. He's not even willing to give the annual ``State of the Valley'' address to the Valley Industry and Commerce Association before the Nov. 5 election. That would require articulating a clear vision for how the Valley can prosper by remaining part of L.A. - apparently a task too daunting for the mayor.

Hahn's agenda is limited to preserving the status quo of L.A. government, a richly generous system for the well-connected few. It's the specter of that status quo crumbling that makes him so anxious, thus prompting his spasms of incomprehensibility.

We can understand Hahn's yearning never to have to face the secession issue again, for it has exposed his inability to inspire the city and bring its people together around a common vision and shared values.

But whether secession passes or fails, whether Los Angeles is one city or two, the 3.6 million residents will still be crying out for strong leadership, better services, the power to make decisions for their neighborhoods and a vision of a greater Los Angeles that encompasses everyone.