Assemblyman wants to rename freeway for former lawmaker Kevin Murray

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Assemblyman Isadore Hall (D-Compton) wants to rename a section of the 405 Freeway after former legislator Kevin Murray, who served in the Assembly and state Senate from 1994 to 2006.

The proposal earned the ridicule of Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters, who wrote of Murray:

‘His legislative career was about average. He carried a few significant bills, including one aimed at encouraging installations of solar energy panels on roofs. He also carried some questionable measures, such as one, stemming from the messy divorce of Southern California supermarket tycoon Ron Burkle, to close public access to legal documents in divorce cases.

‘And then there are the aspects of Murray’s life that would make such an honor an act of official poor taste to anyone outside of politics.

‘Murray’s hopes of extending his career vanished on a December afternoon in 1998, just days after his being sworn in as a state senator, when a Los Angeles County park police officer found him with a prostitute in Murray’s state-leased black Corvette, parked outside John Anson Ford Theater.’

The measure passed the Assembly Transportation Committee on a 13-0 vote last month.

-- Anthony York in Sacramento