TERM LIMITS: MORE HARM THAN GOOD.

Byline: Kimit A. Muston Local View

I told you that term limits were going to get us into trouble. But you voted for them when they were a ballot initiative, California. And now look at the mess we are in; Tom Hayden is running for Los Angeles City Council.

You remember Tom; co-founder of the Students for a Democratic Society back in 1960 and a member of the Chicago Seven in 1968. But he is probably best known as the second ex-Mr. Jane Fonda. Hubba, hubba.

For the last 17 years Tom has been in the California Legislature in Sacramento, 500 long, safe miles from Los Angeles. But now, thanks to term limits, he's out of a job and he has officially announced that come January he will be running for Mike Feuer's 5th District seat on the council.

That council seat will be open because Feuer can't run again because of term limits. So Feuer will be running for the job of city attorney,which will be open because the current holder of that office is running for mayor of Los Angeles, along with about 200 other politicians about to be unemployed by term limits.

It's the same situation all over the state. California politics has become a huge game of musical chairs. It's a rerun of ``Survivor'' where everybody gets voted off the island.

What fun is that? This was not the way term limits was sold to the voters.

The 5th Council District, which is the one Hayden is interested in,flops over the mountains like an empty wonder bra - half in Van Nuys and North Hollywood and the other half over the hill in the basin. It was drawn up by the best bureaucratic brains in City Hall, leaving boundaries so confusing even Hayden doesn't seem to know where they are. It turns out he lives a couple of blocks outside the district. Oops.

The real issue, insists Tom, is not where he lives, but rather his qualifications for the job. And I agree. I think this guy is way too qualified to sit on the City Council.

Hayden was acknowledged to be one of the smartest people in Sacramento. And he would surely be the smartest guy on the council, which isn't saying much, I guess. But do we really want somebody that smart in City Hall? Isn't there a certain degree of safety in the public being just a little quicker than the politicians who work for us?

And what about personal integrity? Hayden was known as the conscious of the state Assembly. Do you have any idea how much trouble somebody like that can cause a city like L.A.?

There was a bill introduced in the last session of the state Legislature which would have extended the time limit for victims of the Rampart police scandal to file civil lawsuits against the city. Mayor Richard Riordan worked very hard behind the scenes to kill that bill. Hayden denounced him for doing it.

If the statute of limitations was extended, the city was going to have to pay the victims a lot more money - money they deserved - but that money is also needed to keep emergency rooms open, to keep libraries running, to maintain fire and paramedic units, courts and jails. My heart was with Hayden on this bill, but my head was with Riordan.

Face it: Tom Hayden is too good for this town. We're a lady of loose morals and very low standards. Why the heck would a guy like him want to go home to a tramp like us every night? Besides, if honest, moral, smart politicians worked so well, how come we keep electing crooks, liars and thieves?

Remember President Carter? Habitat for Humanity, Jimmy Carter? He was probably the only president in the last 50 years who lived the moral standards his fellow politicians talked about. There must have been all of 50 people who voted for Carter's re-election in 1980. I didn't know any of them. But I digress . . .

Term limits is just the Peter Principle in practice. Hayden was doing a fine job up in Sacramento. Why the heck are we forcing him to run for a new job he's over qualified for? If he wins, he's just going to get into trouble. And if he loses, we lose his talent.

I am beginning to suspect the biggest political problem in California today isn't crooked politicians after all. It is voters who are looking for a quick fix.

We've got to fix that. I suggest a ballot initiative.

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Photo: State Sen. Tom Hayden, center, has officially announced that come January he will be running for the 5th District seat on the Los Angeles City Council.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer