Candidates & Issues

Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman, 39, was first elected in 1986. A longtime party activist, he has one of the most liberal voting records in the Assembly. An attorney, he was executive director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, which provides legal aid for low-income elderly, prior to his election. He is a graduate of UCLA and the UC Berkeley Law School. He is married to Elise Karl.

Tom Franklin, 30, a Beverly Hills Republican, is making his first bid for public office. A conservative, he was president of the Beverly Hills Republican Assembly for 2 years and has been active in GOP politics for 8 years. He is an attorney who has a general business practice. He is a graduate of USC and the University of San Diego Law School. He is single.

Robert Townsend Leet, a Tarzana Libertarian, and Margery Hinds, a Los Angeles Peace and Freedom candidate, are also in the race.

SUMMARY: Friedman is emphasizing his efforts to preserve the Santa Monica Mountains. Franklin maintains that the incumbent is too liberal for the district, particularly on crime issues.

THEIR VIEWS

Questionnaires were distributed to candidates in September and were returned in October. Answers have been edited to fit the available space.

Q. Do you favor additional limits on campaign contributions to make officeholders less beholden to special-interest groups? Friedman: Yes.

Franklin: No.

Leet: No.

Hinds: Yes.

Q. Would you support a ban on speaking fees for legislators from special-interest groups? Friedman: Yes. I support a comprehensive reform package to eliminate conflicts of interest produced by outside income.

Franklin: No.

Leet: No.

Hinds: Yes.

Q. Who is your first choice for Assembly Speaker? Friedman: Willie Brown.

Franklin: Any Republican not closely allied with Assembly Minority Leader Pat Nolan.

Leet: No answer.

Hinds: Evelina Alarcon.

Q. Briefly, what, if anything, should the state do to ease traffic congestion? Friedman: Support mass transit in Los Angeles, and discourage growth and overdevelopment.

Franklin: Provide funds for highways and rapid transit. Encourage trucks and other large vehicles to stagger their highway use. Provide incentives for car-pooling.

Leet: Set higher prices on toll roads for peak use and lower prices for off-peak hours and encourage deregulation.

Hinds: Trolleys on existing rail tracks, subways, more buses, flexible work hours.

Q. Do you favor an increase in the gasoline tax to pay for road improvements and construction? Friedman: Yes, but only if part of an overall plan to address needs under-funded by the state, including education and health care.

Franklin: Only if it was a small increase and was temporary.

Leet: No.

Hinds: No.

Q. Should the state offer tax incentives to encourage private industry to institute staggered hours, car-pooling and other measures to reduce traffic? Friedman: Yes.

Franklin: Yes.

Leet: No.

Hinds: No.

Q. Do you believe that the state should try to contain the cost of automobile insurance? If so, how? Friedman: Yes, by regulating the insurance industry, electing a state insurance commissioner, reducing premiums for good drivers, ending territorial rating and abolishing antitrust exemption for insurers.

Franklin: Apply antitrust laws to encourage competition. Confiscate cars of uninsured motorists who have accidents. Toughen registration requirements.

Leet: Not directly. Abolish regulations, including mandatory insurance, to allow more types of providers to sell insurance.

Hinds: Yes, through an insurance commission and an elected insurance commissioner.

Q. Do you support a “no-fault” automobile insurance system, under which a driver would be compensated for damages by his or her own insurance company regardless of who caused an accident?

Friedman: No.

Franklin: No.

Leet: No.

Hinds: No.

Q. Do you favor a mandatory reduction of insurance rates for all drivers and homeowners unless an insurance company can show that this would threaten its solvency? Friedman: Yes.

Franklin: No.

Leet: No.

Hinds: Yes.

Q. Do you support imposing a limit on the percentage of an insurance settlement that a lawyer may accept as a fee? Friedman: No further limits should be imposed without full protection for consumers and victims.

Franklin: No.

Leet: No.

Hinds: No.

Q. Should the state raise the spending limits imposed by the Gann Initiative on state and local governments to make more money available for health, education, transportation and other programs? Friedman: Yes.

Franklin: No.

Leet: No.

Hinds: Yes.

Q. Do you believe that the Legislature should take urgent action to improve the performance of public schools? If so, what? (Money for lower class size? Higher pay for teachers? Testing to ensure teachers’ competency? More demanding graduation requirements?) Friedman: Yes, especially funds to lower class size and pay teachers appropriately to attract and retain good teachers. Also, ensure demanding graduation requirements and teacher competency.

Franklin: Increase teachers’ salaries. Provide money primarily for basics. Test teacher competency. Remove students who disrupt the learning environment.

Leet: Yes, through tax credits and, eventually, a private sector system.

Hinds: Yes. Additional spending to lower class sizes and higher pay for teachers.

Q. If it can be done legally, should the state help parents pay to send their children to private schools? Friedman: No.

Franklin: Yes, through tuition tax credits or vouchers.

Leet: No.

Hinds: No.

Q. Do you support significantly greater state funding for AIDS research, counseling, testing and treatment? Friedman: Yes.

Franklin: Yes.

Leet: No. Favors private sector alternatives and removal of regulations that reduce availability of new drug treatments.

Hinds: Yes.

Q. Should public health officials trace the sexual contacts of anyone with AIDS or the AIDS virus? Friedman: No.

Franklin: No, unless done with the consent of the patient.

Leet: Only if it can be done without invasion of privacy.

Hinds: Yes, as long as that information is kept confidential.

Q. Do you support more state funding to aid the homeless?

Friedman: Yes.

Franklin: Yes.

Leet: No. Favors delivery of social services through private charities.

Hinds: Yes.

Q. Do you support the death penalty for any crimes? If so, which? Friedman: No. I support life without parole instead.

Franklin: Yes. First-degree murder; repeat violent felonies, including rape and large-scale dealing of certain drugs, such as PCP.

Leet: I support restitution by criminals to all victims.

Hinds: No.

Q. With the state’s prisons at capacity, should the state build more prisons, shorten sentences or punish nonviolent criminals in other ways? Friedman: Build more prisons and restructure sentencing to give violent criminals long prison terms and severely punish certain nonviolent criminals in other ways.

Franklin: Build more prisons and increase capacity of existing prisons.

Leet: Restitution, private prisons.

Hinds: Shorten sentences and punish nonviolent criminals in other ways.

Q. Do you think that a woman should have the unrestricted right to an abortion during the first 3 months of pregnancy? Friedman: Yes.

Franklin: Yes.

Leet: Yes.

Hinds: Yes.

Q. Do you believe that the state should impose additional restrictions on the right to own a handgun? If so, what? Friedman: Yes. Full registration, lengthy waiting periods and background checks.

Franklin: No.

Leet: No.

Hinds: No.

Q. Should motorcyclists be required to wear helmets? Friedman: Yes.

Franklin: No.

Leet: No.

Hinds: Yes.

Q. Should the state re-establish Cal/OSHA, the state’s worker safety agency that Gov. George Deukmejian eliminated? Friedman: Yes.

Franklin: No.

Leet: No.

Hinds: Yes.

Q. Would you support a bill to automatically extend developers’ building permits for 6 months when cities pass slow-growth measures? Friedman: No.

Franklin: Depends on the exact provisions of the legislation.

Leet: I would seek to prevent slow-growth measures.

Hinds: No.