THE LOW-DOWN ON THE TOWN Impudent, uncensored account By C. Castle

Elian, Al, Sprawl and Paul

Vice President Al Gore, the guy who'd like to move into the White House next January, probably thought he was singing a happy tune when he joined the Republican choir in their mighty refrain: "Elian Must Stay."

But Gore's tune hit a sour note with Councilman Paul Rosenstein, a long-time Democrat, who recently found himself in the City Clerk's office changing his party affiliation to Independent.

"Although there are plenty of good individual Democrats, the party nationally has become more like Republicans under Bill Clinton," said Rosenstein, adding that Gore's support for Elian's permanent residency was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"The more I'm around politics the more disgusted I am with the duplicity, the pandering for votes. That's what Gore's action seemed to me," said the one-time mayor, who was one of the founders of the Peace and Freedom Party in the late 1960s.

Rosentein isn't too thrilled with Democrats at the state level either. He accused Democratic Governor Gray Davis and other top state Democrats (with the exception of State Treasurer Philip Angelides, said Rosenstein) of ignoring the state's coming population boom.

"Look at the state level," said Rosenstein. "They're doing nothing to grapple with the 50 percent increase of population in the state in the next 20 years. Sprawl is going to strangle the state. Nobody at the state level seems to be talking about it."

With his new independent status, Rosenstein - who is expected to run for reelection in November -- said he will now be able to pick and choose progressives that suit his fancy. Under California's open primary law, Rosenstein can vote for whomever he wants, but his vote will not go toward selecting delegates for party conventions. It's a sacrifice he doesn't mind making.

"Every thing I've seen in the political arena has led me to disassociate myself from the opportunistic politics that are so pervasive," he said.