Few Voters Turn Out for 33rd Senate District Race

Despite a lively campaign among eight candidates, a special election on Tuesday to fill a vacancy in the 33rd State Senate District in southeastern Los Angeles and northern Orange Ccounties was attracting a low voter turnout.

During the eight-week campaign, two frontrunners emerged--Assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk), 64, and Democrat Cecil N. Green, 63, a Norwalk city councilman. On Tuesday, both candidates enlisted hundreds of volunteers to ring doorbells to urge voters to go to the polls.

But by early afternoon, only 4.8% of the registered voters in the Orange County portion of the district had cast ballots. In Los Angeles County--where 75% of the district’s 285,000 voters are registered--the registrar-recorder’s office did not keep hour-by-hour turnout figures. However, both leaders’ campaigns projected the final turnout would range between 15% and 25%.

Runoff Possible If no candidate wins a majority of the votes cast, a runoff among the top finishers from each party will be held May 12.

In Sacramento, the election was viewed as a key round in the fight for control of the Senate in the early 1990s when legislative reapportionment takes place. The party in power controls the highly partisan redistricting process that occurs every 10 years.

In the Senate, Democrats now maintain a 23-15 lead over Republicans with one seat held by an independent and one seat vacant.

The vacancy was created when Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Norwalk), who was elected last Nov. 4 to the state Board of Equalization, resigned from his state Senate seat.

The district, previously considered a safe one for Democrats, has become less of a Democratic stronghold in recent years. Democrats still outnumber Republicans 53.8% to 38% in the district, but Republicans tend to vote in higher numbers, particularly in special elections.

Carpenter, who endorsed Green, spiced up the campaign last month when he accused Grisham of firing a secretary in Grisham’s Capitol office after she rejected the assemblyman’s sexual advances. Grisham denied the accusation and Green has distanced himself from the issue.

Republicans sought to turn the election into a referendum on the policies of Republican Gov. George Deukmejian. As a state senator, Deukmejian represented part of the district and remains popular there.

Deukmejian has stumped vigorously for Grisham. As the campaign opened, the governor took the unusual step for him of meeting with Grisham and his chief GOP rival, Cerritos Mayor Don Knabe, in an effort to unite party leaders behind a single candidate. Afterwards, Knabe bowed out of the contest. Deukmejian also has made two appearances for Grisham, mailed an endorsement letter on his behalf and helped raise a hefty portion of Grisham’s $400,000 campaign war chest.

Green, himself benefiting from the support of leading Democrats, labeled Deukmejian’s efforts as “a rescue mission.” Urged by Carpenter to enter the race, Green had endorsements and financial support from Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti (D-Los Angeles) and the Senate Democratic caucus.

Roberti, who last month put down what he regarded as a challenge to his leadership, has sought to bolster his position by mounting a vigorous campaign on behalf of Green. Green has raised at least $700,000 with help from Roberti.

Both Green and Grisham appealed to the district’s conservative instincts, publicizing their support of Proposition 13, the 1978 inititative which cut property taxes, and opposition to former California Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, who was voted out of office last November.

Of the district’s voters, 75% live in the suburban Los Angeles County communities of Downey, Norwalk, Lakewood, Cerritos, Bellflower, Santa Fe Springs, South Whittier, Hawaiian Gardens and Artesia. The rest live in the Orange County cities of Los Alamitos, Cypress, La Palma and Buena Park.

There were six other candidates who had limited funds and mounted modest campaigns. They were Democrats David Hayes, 37, a trustee of the South Whittier School District, and R.O. Davis, 50, of Buena Park, a building contractor; Republicans David Shapiro, 18, of Cypress, a political science student, and Verner S. Waite, 58, of Cypress, a surgeon; Peace and Freedom Party candidate Ed Evans, 39, a court service officer from Cypress; and Libertarian Lee Connelly, 34, of Buena Park, a photojournalist.