Candidates Scramble to Run for Carpenter’s 33rd District Seat

With veteran state Sen. Paul B. Carpenter (D-Cypress) expected to easily win a seat on the state Board of Equalization in the November election, a flock of candidates are scrambling to raise money and organize support to run for his 33rd Senate District seat.

Should Carpenter win his November race against Republican H. Stanley Jones, a special election to fill the vacancy in his district in Orange and Los Angeles counties is expected to be held early next year.

At this early date, two assemblymen are voicing interest in Carpenter’s Senate seat, while several other current and former legislators--including Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove) and Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress)--are being mentioned as potential candidates.

Several city council members, both in Orange and Los Angeles counties, are also jockeying for position in what is expected to be a crowded campaign field.

“I would suspect that there might be so many candidates in that race that the first one who gets 17 votes will win,” Carpenter cracked.

The 33rd Senate District includes northwestern Orange County and southeastern Los Angeles County. After the last reapportionment, only a fourth of the district residents live in the Orange County portion, which includes all of Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma and Los Alamitos, plus parts of Anaheim, Garden Grove and several unincorporated pockets.

Los Angeles County communities in the district include Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, East Whittier, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs and South Whittier.

Democrats Hold Edge

As of May 5, the secretary of state’s office reported that Democrats held a registration edge with 55.2% of the registered voters compared to 36.5% for the Republicans.

However, Republicans strategists believe that the special election would give them an excellent opportunity to capture the district. Democratic leaders concede that their effort to retain the seat will be “a toughie.”

Carpenter, who was elected to the Senate in 1976 and turned back a strong Republican challenge in 1984, said he plans “to stay neutral” in the primary race to succeed him unless Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-Long Beach), who has expressed an interest, moves into the area to run.

Carpenter said he would oppose Elder because he would rather have someone who lives within the district, not an outsider, win the Senate seat he is abandoning.

Other Democrats who have expressed an interest include Cypress Mayor Otto J. Lacayo and Peter C. Ohanesian, a Downey public affairs consultant who unsuccessfully ran for the state Assembly in 1984.

Democratic campaign consultants and party activists say other potential Democratic candidates include former Assemblyman Bruce Young (D-Cerritos), who represented much of the Los Angeles County portion of the district until his retirement in 1984, and Robinson, should he lose his November race for Congress.

Still others on the Democratic list include Norwalk City Councilmen Rod Rodriguez and Cecil Green, and Kurt Haunfelner, an aide to Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy and member of the Anaheim Union High School District.

Among the Republicans who say they are interested are Assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk), who was elected in 1984 to replace Young in the Assembly, and Cerritos City Councilmen Don Knabe and Daniel K. Wong.

Allen, frequently mentioned as a potential candidate, said she would have to move into the district to run and noted, “I’m not really looking at that.” She said she would not rule out a run for Carpenter’s seat but added that she would be more interested in succeeding Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim) should his seat ever become vacant.

Other potential GOP candidates include Margaret Vineyard, a former Hawaiian Gardens councilwoman who ran a surprisingly close race against Carpenter in 1984, and Don Griffin, mayor pro tem of Buena Park.

Special Election

If Carpenter wins as expected in November, Gov. George Deukmejian must call a special election within 14 days of Carpenter’s leaving the Senate. The election would be held early next year. If no candidate won more than 50% of the votes cast, a runoff would be held between the top Republican and Democratic hopefuls.

Republicans believe that the district is a conservative area that they should represent and say that their chances are enhanced because GOP voters traditionally turn out to vote in much greater numbers than Democrats in special elections.

In fact, Senate Republican Caucus Chairman John Seymour of Anaheim, seeing Carpenter’s departure as an opportunity for a GOP gain in the Senate, has been cheering Carpenter in his race for the tax board.

Nearly 60% of the voters are Democratic in the Board of Equalization District in which Carpenter is running, and few give Republican candidate Jones much of a chance.

However, Hendricks, staff director of the Senate Democratic caucus, said a conservative or moderate Democrat in Carpenter’s mold could hold the 33rd District Senate seat for the Democrats.

Speculation among Democrats has turned to Young and Robinson because both would have the ability to raise a hefty campaign war chest. State party leaders, fearing they might otherwise have to bankroll an expensive campaign effort, are believed to be favoring Robinson or Young because of their proven fund-raising ability.

Orange County party activists say Robinson has mentioned the Senate seat as an option if he loses his November contest against 38th District Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove). Publicly, however, Robinson declines to acknowledge that he has given it any thought.

“I refuse to accept the potentiality that I would not be successful in my current endeavor,” Robinson declared this week.

“In November, I’m hoping for two things: I want Paul Carpenter to be successful, and I want to win my congressional race. Both of those determinations will be made by the voters. . . . “

Considering Race

Young, who retired from the Legislature in 1984 and has since been working as a Sacramento lobbyist, said he is considering the race because his friends in the district and in Sacramento have asked him to throw his hat into the ring.

“Right now I’m not a candidate,” he said. “ . . . I just don’t know if I want to go back to being a public official.”

Young added, however, that a political comeback is not out of the question.

“I feel I’ve stabilized my family life,” he said, explaining that his daughter will be graduating from high school around the time of the Senate election and his new marriage will be several years old.

Cypress Mayor Lacayo said he has begun making contacts with potential supporters, especially in Los Angeles County where he is not well known. He said he will seek an endorsement from Carpenter, an old foe, if he does run. But he said he will understand if Carpenter remains neutral in the primary.

Meanwhile, Elder said he has purchased a condominium in San Pedro, outside the 33rd District, and is checking to determine whether he would have to relinquish his Assembly seat before he could run for the Senate. Elder said that in the past his Assembly district covered part of Lakewood, which is in the 33rd Senate District.

“I’m trying to gather information about it to see if it’s feasible” to stay in the Assembly but also campaign for the Carpenter seat, Elder said. “It may not be feasible.”

In response, Carpenter said that if Elder jumps into the race, he would “endorse someone against him. The district deserves to have someone who comes from the district.”

Carpenter described Lacayo as “a rather strong candidate.” In 1974, Lacayo opposed Carpenter in a bitter Assembly race, but now the former rivals say they have made peace.

On the Republican side, Assemblyman Grisham, a former congressman who was elected to the Legislature in 1984, is facing a tough Democratic challenge for his own Assembly seat in November. Grisham said that if he wins reelection he would seriously look at the Senate race.

Cerritos City Councilman Don Knabe, who is chief of staff to Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana, said that after Carpenter won the Democratic nomination for Board of Equalization “the phone started ringing.”

Knabe said that Grisham’s entry into the race “would not have an impact on my decision.” Instead, he wants to make sure he has the ability to raise money and organize his supporters.

Wong, his Cerritos council colleague, said that he is waiting to make sure that Carpenter wins the Board of Equalization seat before making up his mind.