ELECTION COULD BE MAJOR RERUN.

Byline: MARIEL GARZA

CINDY Montanez must be steamed, though she's too diplomatic to say it.

The young and currently termed-out state assemblywoman had a nice political trajectory ahead of her. But what should have been an easy transition to the state Senate next month was thwarted in the June primaries by Los Angeles City Councilman Alex Padilla.

Now it seems her new plan -- to run for Padilla's open City Council seat in the northeast San Fernando Valley -- might be thwarted by the man who just won her soon-to-be-vacant Assembly seat, Richard Alarcon. He's a former Los Angeles city councilman who ran for mayor last year and is now termed out of the Senate.

Confused yet?

It is a chore keeping it all straight without a chart. The frequent term limit-inspired seat-swapping among California's politicians gets fairly convoluted. And it forces politicians to make complicated guesstimates about who might run for what after they are termed out of whatever seat they hold or might possibly hold at some point in the future.

Which leads us back to the race for the 7th District for the Los Angeles City Council, a race that is likely to be the most interesting part of L.A.'s March election. And it surely will be if it turns out to be the first rerun election that comes as a result of the just-passed Measure R.

Alarcon confirmed last week that he is thinking about giving up two perfectly good and safe terms in the Assembly to run for City Council again, a post he left in the last century. He has set up an exploratory committee to explore the possibility.

It was shocking news to almost everyone following politics in this corner of the city.

``I don't think there's a single person that isn't surprised that Richard would consider running for city when he just won an Assembly seat,'' said Montanez on Thursday.

Montanez said she's running for the spot (so is Padilla's chief of staff, Felipe Fuentes) regardless. And if she wants someone to blame for this new wrinkle, she could start with the L.A. voters who endorsed Measure R earlier this month.

Measure R gives council members a chance at an extra term in office and untightened rules for lobbyists. It also had a nifty deja vu loophole that allows termed-out council members like Alarcon to return to the council again. That part was somehow left out of the ad campaign. Hmmm.

The result is that Angelenos could find a whole bunch of political retreads back on their March ballots.

Thought you saw the last of Nate Holden, the long-, longtime councilman from South Los Angeles? Maybe not.

The fact is that the Los Angeles City Council is one of the best political gigs in the state. It would be no surprise if those dumped out of office before they were ready think about returning.

All they need to consider is this: Los Angeles City Council members get paid $150,000 a year (a salary that will increase to $171,000 next year), a car and big staffs. They get sweet pensions (as opposed to state politicians). They have lots of clout and get tons of attention from the press. On Tony Cardenas' first day on the council in 2003, he was amazed how much more media coverage the council receives than the Assembly, where he served previously.

It's easy to see why Alarcon might prefer to return to the council over a few more anonymous terms in Sacramento.

Still, while the legacy of Measure R might make for a few weird, rerun-like races, it could result in some actually competitive council races.

Here's why: Traditionally it's tough for a nonofficeholder to challenge an incumbent, even if said incumbent is doing a crappy job. But now that, say, Westside Councilman Bill Rosendahl knows that Cindy Miscikowski -- an extremely popular politician and his immediate predecessor -- could return and toss him out of office, he might pay more attention to constituent outreach.

Greig Smith is running unopposed for re-election in March. But, theoretically, his former boss for two decades -- former Councilman Hal Bernson -- could emerge from retirement and give him a run for his money.

And let's not forget former West Valley Councilwoman Laura Chick, (although she lives in Silver Lake now,) the crusading controller who has rooted out corruption in the city. Her elected position did not get a third term under Measure R. Councilman Dennis Zine might be prompted to work extra hard to keep her away from his re-election race.

Ruth Galanter, the Westside councilwoman who was re-districted into the San Fernando Valley during her last term, has already hinted that she might be inclined to run for another term. Former Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg has talked about going back to education. But what teaching job can compete with $171,00 a year?

CAPTION(S):

7 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) MONTANEZ

(2 -- color) ALARCON

Former L.A. City Council members who may be returning to office under Measure R

(3 -- color) GALANTER

(4 -- color) HOLDEN

(5 -- color) MISCIKOWSKI

(6 -- color) GOLDBERG

(7 -- color) BERNSON