Term Limits Pit Allies Against One Another

Most political observers thought Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez (D-San Fernando) and Los Angeles Councilman Alex Padilla would not risk a career setback by running against one another this year for the state Senate.

The observers were wrong.

In an era of term limits, the paths of these two young, ambitious politicians have crossed in what has emerged as one of this year’s costliest races for the Legislature. At stake is the heavily Democratic 20th Senate District seat covering the eastern and southwestern San Fernando Valley.

Montanez and Padilla are seeking the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s election, and the winner will almost certainly prevail in the November general election. No Republican bothered to file, and the only other contestant is Libertarian Pamela J. Brown.

Because of state and local term limit laws, Padilla and Montanez -- who have all the markings of career politicians -- have had to find their best routes to job security, even if it means running against someone who normally would be a political ally.

“If we weren’t in a term-limited environment, maybe our planning would be different,” Padilla said.

Padilla, if he wins, would forgo the final 2 1/2 years of his council term, but he gets to remain in office if he loses. Montanez, however, is forsaking a chance this year to run for a third term in the Valley’s 39th Assembly District.

Montanez refused to discuss her plans if she loses, but it is widely expected that she would move into Los Angeles and run for Padilla’s council seat next year against his chief of staff, Felipe Fuentes.

The similarities between the candidates are striking.

Both are from the northeast Valley -- Montanez is from San Fernando and Padilla is from Pacoima. Both are the children of Mexican immigrants.

Padilla is 33, Montanez 32. In 1999, at the age of 26, Padilla was elected to the Los Angeles City Council. That year, at 25, Montanez won a council seat in San Fernando and in 2001 she became mayor.

Both are also proteges of the man they are trying to replace: Richard Alarcon, who is forced to move on because he has served two full terms.

In an interview earlier this year, Alarcon said he was saddened that Montanez and Padilla were running against each other. He has chosen to endorse Montanez.

The race has also forced other prominent Democrats to choose sides. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has joined his close ally Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) in backing Montanez. If she wins, that means Padilla remains on the council, a perch from which he can challenge Villaraigosa’s legislative agenda.

Padilla, in the meantime, has picked up support from both of California’s Democratic U.S. senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and a rare endorsement from Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton.

Padilla has thus far raised $1,274,672 and Montanez has brought in $846,845, according to campaign finance reports.

Special interests are also pouring money into independent campaigns for both candidates. Among them: Car dealers have spent $122,789 supporting Padilla and the local hotel and restaurant employees union has spent $161,782 promoting Montanez.

Fundraising, in fact, has provided the source for most of the recent barbs in the race. Montanez wrote a car buyers bill of rights in the Legislature that passed in 2005 and gave purchasers the right to return a used car after two days.

Montanez said she wasn’t surprised that the dealers are aligned against her and has dispatched news releases with a striking image: a cutout of Padilla’s face situated over a lemon.

“The car dealers and big businesses have funded his campaign because they know they have somebody there who stands for what they stand for,” Montanez said.

For his part, Padilla has issued a news release chiding Montanez for not being able to raise more money. He also defends his campaign war chest: “I have a broad base of support -- and I think that shows the kind of person I am,” Padilla said. “I like to work with people.”

Padilla was raised in Pacoima, his father a short-order cook and his mother a maid. He received a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994, but shortly after returning to Los Angeles he became involved in politics and won election to the council in 1999.

His colleagues elected him council president three times before he was ousted by Eric Garcetti in November. Padilla counts among his achievements his help in securing a site for the Mission Hills police station, the creation of two parks and luring a children’s museum to the Hansen Dam recreation area.

After coming to the United States, Montanez’s father worked at a foundry and held several jobs, and the family sold fruit at intersections. She attended -- but came two classes shy of graduating from -- UCLA in the 1990s and captured attention for helping lead a 14-day hunger strike to protest the lack of a Chicano studies department.

Montanez was elected to the San Fernando Council in 1999. In 2002 she became the youngest woman ever elected to the Assembly, where she wrote several consumer-oriented bills. They include a ban on spraying certain pesticides at school sites and expanding a program for low-income residents that helps pay for repairing cars that fail Smog Checks.

If elected, Padilla said, he would pursue reducing tuition at Cal State campuses and community colleges. He also said that he planned to pursue funding for a north-south busway in the Valley to complement the Orange Line.

Montanez said she planned to push for greater oversight of the auto lending industry, more environmental protections for the working class and universal healthcare.