Posted on 02/04/2005 7:39:18 AM PST by SmithL
OAKLAND - Assemblywoman Wilma Chan wants her old job back.
Trouble is, her protégé, Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker, doesn't want to give it up.
With the election still 16 months away, Chan's intention to return to the county seat she held from 1994 to 2000 has sparked an unusually sharp level of speculation and political posturing. It also is a tangible example of the fallout from Legislative term limits as politicians look around for new -- or old -- jobs.
For her part, Chan sees returning to her East Bay constituency as a political homecoming that would allow Alameda County to reap the benefits of her six years in the Capitol. State finances, health care for uninsured children and state-funded preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds are on her agenda.
"It's nothing personal against Alice, but I believe my knowledge of things in Sacramento would benefit the residents of District 3 and the county as a whole," said Chan, 55.
For Lai-Bitker, 46, the prospect of facing off against the woman who groomed her for the job of representing Alameda, San Leandro, San Lorenzo and parts of Oakland is dismaying.
"It's very difficult," said Lai-Bitker, who has served as a supervisor for four years. "I have a great deal of respect for Wilma and admire what she has done. She is my mentor."
Protégé or rival, Lai-Bitker seems determined to fight for re-election in 2006.
"I have learned some very hard lessons, but I think I'm making a difference, doing good things for the county and the district. My intent is to try to stay."
In addition to an awkward political showdown, Chan's entry into the race has opened the door to nagging questions about her long-term commitment to the county post. Critics say she's looking for an elective office to hold while she pursues her true ambition: a run for state Sen. Don Perata's seat in 2008.
The prospect of a head-to-head fight involving two Asian women from Alameda -- the seat has been occupied by a resident of the city of Alameda since 1917 -- also has created an opportunity for a third candidate: San Leandro Mayor Shelia Young.
"I called Alice three or four months ago and told her that if it's just her and some doofus in the race, I wouldn't run," Young said. "But if Wilma is in the race, all bets are off."
Young, 60, will be termed-out as mayor of San Leandro and this week notified all five sitting supervisors that she intends to run.
Now that Chan has made clear her intentions to run against Lai-Bitker, Young said she sees a green light to try to take the seat away from both the incumbent and the incumbent's seasoned mentor. She also believes it's time for San Leandro to get a more direct voice on the Board of Supervisors after more than a century on the sidelines.
"San Leandro is the largest city in District 3," Young said. "If (Chan) really had a sincere interest in representing San Leandro, she would have called the mayor of this city to talk about her plans. On behalf of my residents, that really grated on my nerves."
Others also are raising questions about Chan's quest to return to the Board of Supervisors. Chan supported a 2003 lawsuit challenging whether Perata could run for his seat a third time under term limits enacted in 1990, and in doing so made clear her ambition to fill the post. When Perata prevailed, Chan was forced to back off, but many believe she has her eyes on the seat when it becomes open in 2008.
That would mean Chan would leave her supervisor's post midterm, just as she did in 2000.
"The key question to me is whether she is going to stay and be a long-term member of the board or if she sees this as a holding seat," said Supervisor Gail Steele, who represents Hayward. "She needs to answer that."
Chan refuses to commit beyond next year's election.
"I'm not really planning that far ahead," she said. "Anything can happen because politics is so volatile right now. For that we have term limits to thank."
That's a fair point, said Bruce Cain, a political science professor at UC Berkeley. He said Chan will fall into a category of state politicians who, in the era of term limits, return to their home communities as a way to stay in elective office.
"There's no question that term limits have created a kind of circular career path in politics," he said. "Whereas, before it was pretty much linear -- you went up the ladder to the highest office you could reach -- it is now becoming more common for people to run for lower offices just to stay in politics."
Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown's run for San Francisco mayor and former Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa's successful run for Los Angeles City Council are two other examples.
"When you're out of office, you're out of the public eye and it's harder to raise money," Cain said. "But if she's pushing out one of her allies, and the other supervisors and the voters think she's doing it because she needs to stay visible and raise money, there could be a backlash.
"If she's going to run for supervisor, she may have to make a pledge to stay there and forget that senate seat."
Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News."
They can't get a real job that pays as much as a legislative job.
The California legislature should be part time with a 50% cut in pay.
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