Peak Campaigning in State Senate Race Won’t Be in Valley

A campaign aide for Republican state Senate hopeful DeWayne Holmdahl asked a GOP political consultant in the San Fernando Valley for help last month after failing to reach a district voter in Woodland Hills by phone.

The consultant solved the problem, relating later that the aide “quite frankly . . . didn’t know the correct area code.”

Of course, Holmdahl, not his aides, is running against Sen. Gary K. Hart of Santa Barbara, the 43-year-old Democratic incumbent, in what is turning out to be a low-key race.

But during the campaign, Hart has questioned whether Holmdahl, a Santa Barbara County supervisor whose political base is in Lompoc--about 50 miles northwest of Santa Barbara--can knowledgeably represent the southern end of the far-flung 18th Senate District.

District Geography

The district stretches from Canoga Park to Malibu and then snakes up the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties to Vandenberg Air Force Base and beyond to Guadalupe, a farming town where movie maker Cecil B. DeMille filmed his first version of “The Ten Commandments” six decades ago.

“We have not been aware of one public or private appearance he has made in the Los Angeles County portion of the district,” said Hart, who maintains one of his three district offices in Woodland Hills. “That’s 20% of the electorate. No one has ever seen him.”

Holmdahl admitted that his campaign staff at first had some difficulties with geography.

“Early on, there is no doubt, we were lost down there trying to find out exactly where the boundaries are,” Holmdahl said. “It’s a complete farce to have a district that stretches from Guadalupe to Malibu. It’s not fair to the constituents.”

Holmdahl, 48, whose name is a household word in Lompoc, concedes that he has not visited the Valley as much as he’d like. He has attended five political functions in the Los Angeles area and plans to attend more of them, he said.

But, Holmdahl maintained, “I can represent the district, even though it’s as big as it is, because of my background.”

Little Local Campaigning

But no matter how many times Hart and Holmdahl say they want to appeal to Valley voters, the fact remains that the main campaigning will not take place here.

The candidates plan to spend a lot of money airing television spots in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, to reach most of the electorate. But buying TV commercials in Los Angeles to woo a minority of voters would be too expensive and impractical.

Honoring what has become a tradition in the Hart house, the senator will appear in commercials with his three young daughters and his wife, Cary, a pediatrician, who was attending medical school when Hart was first trying to carve out a niche for himself in the Legislature.

Hart, who says that when he is in the district, he spends 20% of his time in the Los Angeles area, acknowledges the difficulties in reaching out to constituents in Los Angeles, where reporters do not follow his every step as they do in Santa Barbara and Lompoc.

“In a sense, it’s more difficult to represent an area like this,” Hart said of the Valley. “You’re not as visible. You’re not as well known, and the issues are not as distinct.”

Earlier this year, this race was touted by Republican Senate leaders as one of five in the state where they had a real chance to knock off a Democratic incumbent. Registration figures indicate that it is a friendly GOP district.

Although Democrats outnumber Republicans 47% to 40%, Republicans figure that any district in which their numbers top 35% is winnable because GOP voters are more loyal than Democratic ones and turn out at elections in greater numbers.

But Hart, who fought a hard campaign to win a Senate seat four years ago, says he has not felt threatened by Holmdahl, who has gotten a slow start raising money.

In the campaign finance report released in June, Hart had $239,676 in the bank. That sum should grow after two fund-raisers this weekend featuring his friend, U. S. Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado, whom he met in 1971 when the Coloradan was an aide to former Sen. George S. McGovern (D-S.D.).

In contrast, Holmdahl had less than $800 on hand in June, having spent about $200,000 on the primary. But Holmdahl said he has raised $80,000 since then. U. S. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) played host at a fund-raiser for him, and Gov. George Deukmejian has offered to appear at one.

Issue of Drug Tests

In one of the odder twists of the campaign, Holmdahl appears to be the first candidate in a state race to challenge his opponent to submit to a drug urinalysis to show that he is committed to solving the nation’s drug problem. Hart has agreed, even though he calls it “silliness.”

“If we test legislators, a more appropriate test would be an IQ test and a lie-detector test,” Hart said.

In many ways, including their backgrounds and political philosophies, Hart and Holmdahl present voters with distinct choices.

Hart, who is chairman of the Senate Education Committee, considers himself an environmentalist and is generally perceived as a liberal. In contrast, Holmdahl often votes as a conservative on the Board of Supervisors, and usually has sided with oil companies and contractors who want to develop the coastline, a plan opposed by environmentalists.

But the candidates are not polar opposites. Political observers from both parties say the two share similar views on government’s responsibilities to care for the poor, the elderly and others who need help.

Hart, a Santa Barbara assemblyman for eight years before becoming a state senator, is campaigning on his record.

In a debate earlier this month, the senator made his pitch to about 150 people who crammed into the community room at Lompoc Library to hear him square off with the hometown boy. In Lompoc, where political events are also social ones, latecomers had to stand in the aisles, sit on the floor and lean on tables spread with coffee and homemade cookies.

Hart received rousing applause. So did Holmdahl.

“I believe the issue in the campaign is whether or not I have been an effective representative for the people in the 18th Senate District,” the lanky, athletic senator told the crowd. “I believe that I have.”

Holmdahl, a proponent of the tax-cutting Proposition 13 in 1978, said he would be vigilant in keeping taxes down.

Speaking of government, he said: “Everyone is looking for more taxes instead of living within their means.”

Sees Education as Priority

Hart, who says the Legislature’s No. 1 priority next year should be education, is responsible for several landmark education bills. Through his efforts, high school seniors must pass proficiency exams before graduating, and new teachers must pass tests to prove they are qualified.

In 1983, Hart co-authored what is considered to be the most comprehensive education-finance reform act of the decade. But recently, for the third year in a row, Hart’s attempt to reduce the number of students per class in California, the worst in the nation, was vetoed by Deukmejian.

A graduate of Stanford University, Hart received his master’s degree in education from Harvard University and became involved in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements. He turned in his draft card, taught at an all-black college in Mississippi and worked in Eugene McCarthy’s “Dump Lyndon Johnson” presidential campaign.

Impressed with McCarthy’s success in helping prompt Johnson to retire after one term, Hart was convinced by the time he returned home to teach in Santa Barbara that he could accomplish more as a politician than as a protester.

“Elected politics seemed to be a way ordinary Americans would pay attention to what you say,” said Hart, who recalled that his political avocation was not warmly greeted at first by his father, a retired General Telephone employee who remains a “very, very conservative Republican.”

Those who appreciate Hart’s work in education include sometime critics like the California Teachers Assn., which has locked horns with him over such issues as mandatory teacher testing. In the last election, the CTA endorsed Hart’s opponent. This year, the group endorsed Hart.

“Gary Hart has been by far the innovator in public education in the last 10 years,” said Ed Foglia, CTA president. “In his eagerness, sometimes he’s overreacted, but he’s tried to be a beacon in trying to change education in California.”

As a freshman senator, Hart has attempted to address the child-care shortage and the plight of divorced homemakers.

Listening to the radio as he drove through Hollywood one night several months ago, Hart heard Stanford professor Lenore J. Weitzman, author of “The Divorce Revolution,” speaking about divorced homemakers who are living in or near poverty. He bought her book and said he could not put it down during a vacation in Hawaii.

Recently, the governor signed one of the bills Hart introduced after conferring with Weitzman. The law will permit imposition of payroll deductions for child-support awards.

Holmdahl’s Image

Holmdahl is trying to appeal to voters as a smart, veteran local official who is interested in stopping state government from imposing costly programs and regulations on local bodies, which ultimately can necessitate increased taxes.

“One of the concerns I’ve had as a local government official is, when I do go to Sacramento, very few legislators have the background in local government to know what our needs are and what our problems are,” Holmdahl said.

In 1981, Holmdahl became the county supervisor in Lompoc, a conservative town largely dependent on agriculture and Vandenberg Air Force base for its economic livelihood.

Before that, he was a Lompoc school board member, and he has remained active in many civic and agricultural organizations. Deukmejian appointed Holmdahl to state boards dealing with mining, the Outer Continental Shelf and child support.

Born in western Kansas, Holmdahl is a member of a prominent Lompoc farm family. He and his father still raise cattle, although Holmdahl’s time on the ranch has dwindled over the years as his political commitments have grown.

During the campaign, Holmdahl has emphasized his involvement as a supervisor in creating nutrition centers for senior citizens and establishing programs for abused women and children. In 1984, Holmdahl was chairman of a 12-member state commission established to improve the collection of child-support payments.

Bill Wallace, a liberal supervisor who often disagrees with Holmdahl, acknowledged that he sees his colleague as a “pretty progressive vote on human-service issues.”

Holmdahl says Hart’s focus as a legislator and his professional experience have been too narrowly focused on education.

“If you’re talking about education, he’s done a good job,” Holmdahl said. “But he doesn’t support agriculture, he doesn’t support small business, he doesn’t support the people working in the oil industry.”

Point of Difference

A major difference between the candidates is what to do about environmental issues.

Hart supports Proposition 65, the toxics initiative on the November ballot that is aimed at toughening laws limiting discharge of chemicals into the water.

Holmdahl opposes the proposition and, as a county supervisor, has generally sided with oil companies and developers on land-use proposals. Now he is supporting relaxing county air-pollution standards, which would allow Exxon Corp. to drill for oil onshore.

The supervisor said he favors Exxon’s proposal because it would create jobs and permit the county, rather than the federal government, to have jurisdiction over the drilling.

The supervisor created a stir last year when he told a reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press that, if forced to choose oil revenue at the cost of good air quality in the county, he would choose the money.

Both candidates agree that Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird should not be confirmed. Hart had supported Bird until March, which prompted Holmdahl to accuse the senator of dancing the “Waffler’s Waltz.”

Hart said he “came to believe she had lost her effectiveness” after seeing how the chief justice had antagonized many Californians.

Hart, who last year briefly explored running for governor, has secured the endorsements of more than 150 local officials in the district. Holmdahl has received a few, but it looks like a tough battle for him.

“Anytime you try to unseat an incumbent Democrat, it’s difficult. We never delude ourselves,” said Marty Wilson, director of the Senate Republican Caucus. “But we think DeWayne is a very credible candidate with a good record on the Board of Supervisors, one he can point to with pride. He makes a very nice contrast to Gary Hart.”

The Libertarian candidate is Jay C. Wood, 53, a retired Navy electrician. Wood, a seven-year resident of Oxnard, teaches electronic and computer classes at Oxnard, Moorpark and Waterson colleges.

“After working for the world’s largest bureaucracy, namely, the federal government, I feel I have to do something to reduce the size of government,” Wood said. “If I get into office, maybe I can work in the system. I’m tired of the state getting bigger and bigger.”

Wood favors Proposition 64, initiated by tax crusader Paul Gann, which would limit the salaries of government employees. He opposes Proposition 63, which would make English the official language, calling it “elitist.”

18th Senate District at a Glance

Party Registration:

Total 323,734

Democrats: 153,475

(47.4%)

Republicans: 129,604

(40%)

Other: 8,063 (2%)

Decline to State:

32,592 (10%)

Communities: Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, Winnetka, Agoura, Topanga, Malibu, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Carpenteria, Summerland, Lompoc, Casmalia, Guadalupe, Vandenberg Air Force Base and Ventura; parts of Fillmore, Montalvo, Moorpark, Oakview, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula, Somis and Piru.

Incumbent: Gary K. Hart, Democrat, 43, four years as state senator and eight years as assemblyman.

Challengers: DeWayne Holmdahl, 48, Republican, Santa Barbara County supervisor. Jay C. Wood, 53, Libertarian, junior college instructor, Oxnard.

Outlook: This is one of five races in the state targeted by Senate Republicans, who say the incumbent is vulnerable because GOP registration is above the 35% level they believe gives them a good chance to win. The latest campaign-finance report shows Hart far outdistancing his Republican opponent in fund raising.