Traditional Themes Mark Waters’ Bid

Edward K. Waters is shooting for a political career in Sacramento that would match his success on the basketball court.

The lanky, 6-foot, 2-inch Waters played guard in the mid-1970s for Eastern Washington State University and set the school’s record for assists.

Waters has shelved his sneakers for black dress shoes to walk precincts in the 54th Assembly District. In the Nov. 4 general election, Waters, 31, who outscored eight other Democrats in the June primary, is matched against Republican nominee Paul E. Zeltner, 61, a Lakewood city councilman.

In their only joint appearance, Oct. 17 in Bellflower, the two candidates angrily traded charges. Zeltner assailed Waters as a carpetbagger. Waters labeled Zeltner’s council expenses as excessive.

Indeed, the campaign debate has revolved around the personalities and styles of the two candidates as Waters and Zeltner have taken parallel positions on such issues as the death penalty, which both support, and the reconfirmation of state Supreme Court Chief Justice Rose Bird, which each opposes.

Waters has sought to establish his own identity and emerge from the long political shadow cast by his mother, Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who is known for her feisty rhetoric on behalf of liberal causes.

Rookie candidate Waters has been coached by Richard Ross, who is on leave as chief of staff for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), and other Brown campaign aides. Further, the Waters campaign has been heavily financed by Brown and Assemblywoman Waters.

Nonetheless, Waters--who quit a government job earlier this year to campaign full time--said, “I’ll be my own man.”

Family Affair

If elected, not only would Waters be one of the Assembly’s youngest members, but the Waters family would make history as the Legislature’s first mother-son combination, a prospect that does not appeal to all of the district’s Democrats.

“Although Ed Waters may have learned a lot at his mother’s knee, there is no substitute for experience,” said Jacqueline Rynerson, a Lakewood councilwoman and Democrat who supports Zeltner.

With a broad smile and the persistence of a door-to-door salesman, Waters has sought out voters to talk about the campaign, which he regards almost as a crusade to bring together the diverse sections of the district.

The 54th District stretches from urbanized and heavily black Compton and Willowbrook through the growing Latino community of Paramount to the suburban and primarily white tracts of Bellflower, Lakewood and East Long Beach.

Campaign consultants estimate that about 30% of the district’s voters are blacks; they are overwhelmingly registered as Democrats. Waters, who is black, focused the early part of his campaign on courting the black community and is now plugging away in the predominantly white suburbs.

Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2 to 1 in the district, which has been represented for the past 14 years by Assemblyman Frank Vicencia (D-Bellflower). Vicencia, who has endorsed Waters, is retiring to devote time to his insurance business and his family.

Besides Zeltner, Waters is opposed by Peace and Freedom Party candidate Vikki Murdock, 38, an anthropology major at California State University, Long Beach.

Seems at Ease With Press

In a unique twist for a candidate, Waters initially shied away from interviews. He now seems at ease handling questions from the press.

“After you campaign for nine months, you begin to stand on your feet,” he said. “I’ve always liked talking to people and this gives me the opportunity.”

In stumping the district, Waters sounds traditional themes of cracking down on crime, improving the education system by requiring computer classes and attracting jobs by pumping money into economic development programs.

Waters’ conservative views prompted Allan Hoffenblum, Zeltner’s campaign coordinator, to crack, “Waters is to the right of Barry Goldwater.”

Assemblywoman Waters acknowledged that her son is more conservative in his views and that they disagree about Bird, whom she supports, and the death penalty, which she opposes. Still, she said: “I support people who sometimes differ from me on the big issues. I think he’s a good human being.”

The Waters family agrees on some issues. For instance, Assemblywoman Waters authored legislation signed in September by Gov. George Deukmejian to require the withdrawal of up to $12 billion worth of public investments in companies that do business in South Africa. Ed Waters served last year as the Los Angeles coordinator for the Free South Africa Movement, which has protested the presence of the South African Consulate in Beverly Hills. He said the protests inspired him to run for office because of the way people rallied to oppose apartheid.

In the primary, several of Waters’ Democratic opponents asserted that the assemblywoman urged him to run. But she denied asking him to enter the race, and Waters said his mother “never tried to plot a political course for me” or prod him to seek office.

Waters began his political apprenticeship inauspiciously--stapling posters and making telephone calls for his mother. But until his job with the Free South Africa Movement, Waters said, he had no desire to run for office.

‘Catalyst’ in Games

A St. Louis native, Waters began to make a name for himself as an athlete. In 1973, Waters was a member of the All-City Crenshaw High School Cougars basketball team. He played alongside Marques Johnson, now a Los Angeles Clippers forward. In June, Johnson joined other supporters to celebrate Waters’ primary victory. Johnson said that as a ballplayer, Waters would call himself “the catalyst” because “he’d come in (to games) and make things happen.”

Coach Jerry Krause, who recruited Waters to Eastern Washington, recalled that Waters managed to cope with “the real culture shock” of moving from the inner city to rural Washington state, where there were few other blacks. Nevertheless, Krause said, Waters became a team leader.

Waters, who did not graduate from college, said that basketball taught him to work with different people. “In a team situation, one has to decide what is best for the team as opposed to what is best for the individual,” he said.

After leaving school, Waters held several jobs with public agencies. In 1979, he was a field representative for the state Census Project, which was aimed at educating people about the census. Between 1980 and 1983 he was an analyst with the state Office of Economic Opportunity home insulation program.

In 1983, Waters briefly tried his hand in private business, launching a booking agency for public officials and entertainers. But by 1984 he took a job as an investigator with a federally funded agency to help relocate people displaced by the Century Freeway.

Waters, who is single, has an 8-year-old son who lives with his mother in Washington state.

In addition to politics, Waters conducts a Bible study class and is a member of the West Angeles Church of God and Christ in Los Angeles. He sprinkles his conversation with religious references. On election night in June, for example, Waters declared that it is his “relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that keeps me in everything. Christ is glorified today, not Ed Waters.”

But on election night, Waters also acknowledged that it was more than his faith in God that sparked his victory in the Democratic primary. In fact, by mid-October the Waters campaign had received more than $560,000.

At the Oct. 17 Bellflower forum, Waters said the prime source of his campaign receipts have been political action committee contributions of between $5,000 and $10,000.

But a review of his campaign statements filed with the secretary of state shows that among his major contributors are his mother’s campaign committee, which has donated $232,000; the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee, which has given nearly $93,000, and Speaker Brown’s campaign committee, which has loaned the Waters campaign $10,000.

Waters said the support he has received from the Democratic leadership is similar to what Democrats elsewhere in the state have obtained. Yet in the primary, Waters ranked seventh among all Assembly candidates with $423,000 in receipts, according to the state Fair Political Practices Commission. It was the second largest amount raised by a non-incumbent.

Among his other contributors are labor groups and political action committees, including the Committee on Political Education of the state Labor Federation, $6,000; California Medical Political Action Committee, $5,000, and the California Real Estate Political Action Committee, $2,000.

In responding to questions about his fund raising, Waters said he would support campaign finance reforms, including limits on expenditures, proposed by Brown but which stalled in the 1986 legislative session.

Waters and Zeltner differ on two major propositions on the November ballot. Waters favors the anti-toxics Proposition 65 and is against Proposition 63 to make English the official language of California. Zeltner is against Proposition 65 and in favor of Proposition 63.

While Waters has opposed the reconfirmation of Bird, he has not taken a position on her liberal colleagues--Justices Cruz Reynoso and Joseph R. Grodin. Zeltner opposes reconfirmation of all three.

Waters also has raised two purely local issues.

First, in August, he appealed to voters in Bellflower--a key battleground in the election-- about the need to upgrade their schools. In a letter to voters, he contended that such teaching aids as globes and encyclopedias are outdated and that the district needs to do more “so that our students are competitive.”

In response, Bellflower Unified School District Supt. Kenneth L. Davis sent a letter to the district’s staff and PTA units, which said that the Waters letter seemed “to distort reality and create inaccurate impressions.”

Davis agreed that the schools could always use more money. But he said supplies are constantly being updated, although older reference materials are sometimes retained to teach students reference skills. Furthermore, Davis said in an interview, “we don’t desire to get into a spitting match. I don’t think the district should be in the political race.”

Another local issue illustrated how Waters has managed to place Zeltner on the defensive.

In a series of mailers, Waters has alleged that Zeltner’s use of his City of Lakewood American Express Card has been excessive and that Zeltner stays at the “fanciest” hotels and eats at the “fanciest” restaurants when on city business in places like Washington D.C.

Won’t ‘Stay in a Fleabag’

At the Oct. 17 Bellflower forum, Zeltner spent much of his time explaining his expense account. At one point, his voice rising, Zeltner said: “I don’t intend to go anyplace and stay in a fleabag that’s less than I’m used to at home, and in Washington, hotels are very expensive.”

In turn, Zeltner has revived an issue raised by Waters’ unsuccessful Democratic primary opponents. In his mailings, Zeltner termed Waters a “carpetbagger” because early this year he moved to Compton and in February registered to vote in the district.

“Ed Waters doesn’t know our community,” Zeltner said.

Waters minimized the issue, saying that district lines are redrawn every decade and that residents of the district may find themselves in a different district after the next reapportionment.

Of his move, Waters said: “It’s nothing I’ve tried to hide. It’s nothing I’m ashamed of.”