Democrats, Republicans View Outcome as Important : Both Sides Recruit Assault Troops for Senate Election

Democratic and Republican legislators are urging several hundred members of their staffs to hop on a plane and spend the weekend in a suburban Los Angeles Senate district, joining an already substantial army of campaign workers whose mission is to get people to the polls in Tuesday’s special election.

The effort underscores the significance that both sides attach to the election in the 33rd Senate District, which covers southeastern Los Angeles and northwestern Orange counties.

In addition to the weekend effort, legislative leaders are urging staff members to take off Tuesday from their state jobs and get aboard chartered jets headed for Southern California’s political battlefront.

Campaign ‘Labor-Intensive’

At a Capitol press conference Wednesday, Senate Republican Leader James W. Nielsen of Rohnert Park said the airlift shows that the election is “one of the more labor-intensive campaigns in a very long time, if not in history.”

In the election, Republican Wayne Grisham, 64, a Norwalk assemblyman, is facing Democrat Cecil N. Green, 63, a Norwalk city councilman, and two minor party candidates. In an eight-candidate primary on March 17, Green outpolled Grisham, prompting a runoff because no one received a majority of the votes.

The Senate has 23 Democrats, 15 Republicans and one independent, and winning the open seat figures prominently in the plans of both parties in their aim to control the Senate in the early 1990s, when the next reapportionment takes place.

The election was called after Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Cypress) was elected to the State Board of Equalization in November. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 54% to 38% in the district, but in recent years the voters have shown an increasing willingness to embrace GOP candidates.

Hope to Field 1,000 Volunteers

Officials in the Green campaign say they hope to field as many as 1,000 volunteers on Election Day, including several hundred Capitol staffers. Some are driving to Norwalk at their own expense, others are taking regular flights and still others are reserving seats on a chartered 90-passenger DC-9 costing the campaign $11,586, said Larry Sheingold, Green’s campaign consultant. Sheingold said he is seeking repayment from passengers unless they cannot afford the fare.