Bully for Minor Party Candidates

California voters would not know it from watching television, but there are five nominees of official political parties in the state running for lieutenant governor, and most other statewide offices, not just two. Most are familiar with Republican Mike Curb and Democratic Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, since they are spending several million dollars on television advertising to capture voter attention.

But there also is Jim Griffin of Mira Loma, the American Independent Party nominee and a truck driver who proudly talks of logging 2 million miles without an accident. There is Norma Jean Almodovar, the former Los Angeles prostitute running on the Libertarian Party ticket. And there is Clyde Kuhn, the part-time college teacher from Davis who is carrying the Peace and Freedom Party banner into the Nov. 4 election on a budget of roughly $3,000.

Oh, yeah--the fringe candidates, the kooks. Why pay any attention to them? After all, the three parties together can muster barely 240,000 registered voters out of more than 12 million. In fact, why have minor parties on the ballot at all? They never win, and they cost the state considerable election expense.

But the state is better off having five official candidates than just two, the Democrat and the Republican.

Jim Griffin, Norma Jean Almodovar and Clyde Kuhn all happened to visit us on the same day last week. All seemed to be honest, sincere people with something to say--something worth listening to. Each is running for more than just ego gratification, for this can be an ego-bruising enterprise. None has any illusion about winning. Yet each believes it is important to persist.

Griffin was attracted to the American Independent Party in its formative days by George Wallace’s presidential campaign. Among other things, Griffin is proposing that California have an elected public utilities commission. That is an old Populist notion that gets little serious attention these days, but perhaps it is worth discussing.

Almodovar has a decided attention-getting advantage over Griffin and Kuhn. What other candidate had just flown into Los Angeles after attending an international conference of prostitutes in Amsterdam? She admits using her status as a prostitute-on-leave, a condition of her probation on a pandering charge, as a political come-on. But once the media arrives “they see that I’m not a bimbo, an airhead. I talk about the issues.” She does.

Almodovar discussed her view of the erosion of personal liberties, the Gann pay-limit initiative, toxic waste, the use of National Guardsmen in Central America and privatization of federal lands. Her goal is to get at least 2% of the total vote for lieutenant governor in order to maintain the Libertarians’ official status as a California political party.

Kuhn, the Peace and Freedom candidate, has some of the most intriguing ideas of all, including his proposal that the lieutenant governor no longer serve as acting governor when the chief executive leaves the state. “Have the governor be the governor,” he said, just as the President always is the President. Why not?

Kuhn would enhance the lieutenant governor’s legislative role as Senate president with authority similar to that of Speaker of the Assembly. The office also could be the focus of a revived indirect initiative process, Kuhn said. Neither idea may be worth adopting in the end, but each is still worth some discussion and consideration by the voters.

The role of minor party challengers is vital, Kuhn said. The major candidates play it safe, he argued, with one eye always on the next election. “They don’t bring any new ideas with them. They have to appeal to a homogenous audience. We’re in a policy vacuum,” he said.

To call their role vital may be an exaggeration. The primary election campaigns do provide for a diversity of viewpoints and ideas within the major parties. So, not vital--but useful, certainly.

A common thread runs through the appeals of the minor party candidates in spite of their disparate views: Their parties provide a forum for frustrated people who want to participate in the political process, but feel totally shut out by a system where millions must be spent just to win a minor state office. Their sincerity of effort deserves a broader forum than they get.

“It is really frustrating,” said Kuhn, who got only 92,304 votes out of 7.5 million cast for lieutenant governor in 1982. “But I’ll be damned--I’ll be damned --if I’ll give up.”

Bully for you, Mr. Kuhn--and Mr. Griffin and Ms. Almodovar, too. Don’t give up.