CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : Richardson’s Ideology Dominates as Two Battle for His State Senate Seat

State Sen. H. L. (Bill) Richardson (R-Glendora), an outspoken champion of right-wing causes, is retiring after 22 years in office, but his ideology and record remain the focus of the campaign to decide his successor.

Assemblyman Bill Leonard (R-Redlands), who has Richardson’s endorsement, is heavily favored to win the June 7 Republican primary in the 25th Senate District, but is getting a vigorous challenge from Gene Osko, a former Municipal Court judge who is campaigning as though both Richardson and Leonard were his opponents.

Osko, who lives in Glendora and practices law in West Covina, calls himself a moderate and derides Leonard as ultraconservative and “a clone of Richardson.”

He said Leonard has refused to debate and is trying to pretend that there is no contest. “He thinks that because Richardson anointed him, the rest of the Republicans must go along,” Osko said.

Runs Full Campaign

Leonard said he is not taking victory for granted and is running a full campaign, but sees no need to debate Osko.

Both candidates are plastering signs throughout the vast state Senate district, which stretches from Azusa in the San Gabriel Valley through fast-growing western San Bernardino County to Redlands, and across mountains and deserts to Needles on the east and Bishop in Inyo County on the north. Osko said he plans to spend $100,000 on the primary campaign. Leonard said he expects to spend $150,000 and has been assured by supporters that they can raise more money, if necessary.

Osko said a survey he commissioned shows that voters resent Richardson’s attempt to “handpick” a successor. In addition, Osko said, he expects to gain votes because of the “public insult” Richardson handed Assemblyman William H. Lancaster (R-Covina) to keep him out of the Senate race and clear a path for Leonard.

Richardson coupled his endorsement of Leonard last fall with a slap at Lancaster, labeling him “a nice guy for carrying a bill for a local sewage company,” but not for fighting Democrats on big issues.

Won’t Endorse Leonard

Lancaster shrugged off the attack, briefly considered running against Leonard, then decided to file for reelection. Lancaster is the only Republican state legislator in the area who has refused to endorse Leonard.

Part of Lancaster’s Assembly district and nearly all of Leonard’s lie within the 25th state Senate district. Two-thirds of the voters live in San Bernardino County. About 51% are Republicans, 39% are Democrats, with the remainder nonpartisan or affiliated with minor parties.

Leonard, 40, is a member of a family that has been prominent in business and Republican politics in San Bernardino County since the turn of the century. Leonard worked in the family real estate business and as a congressional aide before being elected to the Assembly in 1978.

He readily accepts the conservative label.

“Yes, I’m conservative,” Leonard said. “That’s reflected in my voting record, bills I’ve introduced and things I’ve said and done. I think that fits the district.”

Like Richardson, Leonard said, he is firmly against abortion and gun control. But, he said, he differs from Richardson in style and has broader legislative interests.

Richardson, 60, has said he is retiring from the Senate but not leaving politics. He runs a direct-mail firm that serves conservative candidates and causes, and in 1986 headed a campaign that raised and spent $1.6 million to recall Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and two associate justices from the state Supreme Court.

Richardson rails against abortion, pornography and other “evils” in a biweekly commentary he distributes to radio stations and newspapers.

Osko said Richardson neglected the needs of the Senate district and voted so seldom in Sacramento that he should return most of his state salary. Richardson declined to respond to Osko’s charges.

Osko said the district will suffer similar neglect if Leonard is elected because his principal residence is in Loomis, near Sacramento. Leonard said Osko’s charge is a fabrication. While he and his wife live in Loomis when the Legislature is in session, Leonard said he also has a home at Big Bear Lake and another residence in Highland, both in the Senate district.

Willie Brown an Issue

Another issue raised by Osko is Leonard’s failure to join with dissident Democrats, known as the “Gang of Five,” to oust Assemblyman Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) as Assembly Speaker.

“Leonard tries to hoodwink the public into thinking that he opposes Willie Brown, but he really doesn’t,” Osko said.

Leonard said he would like to replace Brown but sees no gain in substituting another Democrat for him.

“There is the argument that Willie Brown as a person is worse from a conservative perspective than any other Democrat in the chamber, and I don’t happen to share that,” Leonard said. “I’m no friend of Willie Brown, but the alternative (among other Assembly Democrats) is no better.”

Osko, 46, defeated an incumbent judge to win a seat at Citrus Municipal Court in West Covina in 1980. At one point, both the district attorney and the public defender’s offices boycotted his courtroom, claiming that he lacked impartiality and was not following the law. In 1983, Osko was indicted on a bribery charge in connection with his handling of a drunk driving case and took a leave of absence from the bench, but the charge was dismissed at a preliminary hearing by a judge who said there was no evidence that Osko had accepted, or even was offered, a bribe.

Back to Private Practice

Osko subsequently returned to the Citrus Municipal Court bench, repaired relations with the district attorney and public defender’s offices and was elected by his judicial colleagues as presiding judge. At the end of 1984, he resigned and returned to private law practice.

The winner of the Republican primary will face one of three Democrats in November. The contenders in the June 7 Democratic primary are Sandra K. (Sandy) Hester, 45, of Claremont, former associate director of the public policy analysis program at Pomona College; Cal McIlwain, 59, of Upland, former San Bernardino County supervisor, and James Cook, 35, of Azusa, a paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s aero squadron.