Local Elections : Tucker Jr. Celebrates Fulfilling Dad’s Dream

The celebration at the Inglewood campaign headquarters of new 50th District Assemblyman Curtis R. Tucker Jr. (D-Inglewood) was a family affair.

Tucker had just fulfilled the dream of his father, the late Assemblyman Curtis Tucker, by succeeding him in Tuesday’s special election. He filled the seat left vacant by his father’s death in October.

Members of the Tucker family, which was long ago dubbed the “Tucker army” by its late patriarch, were on hand to cheer the 71% winning percentage that established a dynasty. It was the same margin voters gave the elder Tucker in November, when he became the first state legislator to be elected after his death.

The crowd at the cramped storefront headquarters represented a larger “political family,” made up of volunteers, union members, legislative workers and, perhaps most significantly, operatives from the staff of Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco.) They were the troops who turned out Tucker votes on a cold, rainy Election Day, helping Tucker steamroll Republican Mike Davis and Democrats Lois Hill-Hale and Carl McGill.

Legislative Priorities

Interviewed at the victory party at his downtown Inglewood headquarters, Tucker said his legislative priorities include a statewide ban on the assault rifles favored by street gangs, which have placed parts of his district “under siege.”

He also promised to join efforts to crack down on drug dealers and press for funds to ease the crisis in emergency health care in the district, which encompasses Inglewood, El Segundo, Westchester, Lennox and parts of south Los Angeles.

And he talked about the importance of Proposition 103, the auto insurance reform approved by voters in November but delayed by insurance company lawsuits.

“The voters are footing the bill for the insurance companies’ legal fight against 103,” Tucker said. “We’ve got to do something about that. I would love to see a freeze on people paying insurance premiums while that goes on.”

The husky, bearded 34-year-old is expected to be sworn in today in Sacramento, giving the district its first active representative since his father became ill last summer. He will earn $40,816 a year.

Tucker said he has been psychologically prepared to take on his new role since last year, when, on the day before Father’s Day, the senior Tucker sat down with his family and told them that he had cancer.

At that time, the younger Tucker was a legislative aide to Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles) and had never sought public office.

Name recognition was one factor in the younger Tucker’s rapid ascent from obscurity. Another was

money, thanks to contributions from the medical industry and Democratic Establishment. Tucker’s $150,000 war chest dwarfed the funds of all his opponents combined.

Tucker received 12,250 of the 17,918 votes cast, meaning that he spent at least $12 a vote in his successful bid to win more than 50% of the vote and avoid an April runoff.

On Tuesday night, a relaxed, jovial Tucker drank champagne and paid tribute to his campaign workers.

“People have been saying that Willie Brown won this race, they said the . . . ‘fat cats’ won this race,” Tucker said. “Well, the people in this room won it. And the 50th District realizes that.”

Campaign Strategy

The numbers showed that, despite a voter turnout of 12%, the Tucker campaign’s plan to concentrate on those loyal to the late 14-year assemblyman went without a hitch.

Davis, whose hopes for a disproportionate showing by Republicans in a 77% Democratic district did not materialize, got 18.8%. Hill-Hale, an Inglewood school board member who waged an aggressive campaign, won only 6.5%. McGill got 2.4%, and Roderick Wright, who dropped from the race too late to be removed from the ballot, won 1.1%.

According to Tucker campaign consultant Parke Skelton, the worst-case scenario would have been a strong GOP turnout for Davis in El Segundo and Westchester, combined with a solid showing by Hill-Hale, whose campaign was a sustained attack on Tucker’s credentials and on Brown’s influence in the race.

Asked Voters to Repudiate Tactics

Tucker’s other opponents also focused on those issues.

They asked voters in the predominantly black and Latino district to repudiate Brown for “big-boss” tactics, such as moving the election date from April to February, which kept several potential challengers out of the race.

If there was any voter resentment of Brown or Tucker, however, it was not evident at the polls. Republicans made no great showing for Davis, and Democrats all but ignored Tucker’s opposition.

For all the depiction of Brown’s support for Tucker as self-serving politics, Tucker said there was a clear element of friendship that could not be discounted in Brown’s endorsement.

“The Speaker has often said he considered my father to be like a father to him,” he said. “It was one friend to another.”

Hill-Hale blamed voter apathy for results that were weaker than she and her opponents expected.

“Eighty-eight percent of the people did not vote,” she said Wednesday. “It was pure and simple apathy. They didn’t think it was important enough to come out and vote.”

Hill-Hale said she was nonetheless pleased to have made a political statement. “Whether the voters wanted to buy into it or not, somebody had to speak out against Sacramento fat cats buying an election.”

Plans to Take Break

Meanwhile, Davis said he plans to take a break from electoral politics. He has been running for the seat since last June, when he won the Republican primary unopposed. As did Hill-Hale, Davis said the election was characterized by a lack of interest “across the board.” Because of the low turnout and short campaign, Davis said, Tucker must still prove himself to the voters.

“The real measure is going to be in constituent services,” which was a strength for the elder Tucker, Davis said.

The younger Tucker’s campaign resources matched those of his father in the past. Hundreds of volunteers staffed phone banks and sent out walking teams of volunteers to comb precincts and remind voters of the election, following up a steady stream of campaign mailers.

Mary L. Calvin, a longtime Tucker supporter who headed a phone bank operation, said at least 130 volunteers came from an array of labor unions that have traditionally supported Tucker. They included the Teamsters, the Coalition of Black Trade Assns., the County Federation of Labor and the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

Another 60 were volunteers from the staffs of Democratic legislators, including Moore, Assemblywoman Theresa Hughes (D-Los Angeles) and state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), she said.

Joining the usual group of 50th District volunteers were a larger number of young and Latino residents than in past years, Calvin said, reflecting the candidate’s youth and the changing ethnicity of the district.

Drive Active to Last Minute

The get-out-the-vote drive was active up to the last minute, according to Margaret Jamerson, who voted at Warren Lane Elementary School in the Morningside Heights neighborhood--the heart of the Tucker political base--half an hour before the polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday. She said she had just received a phone call from the Tucker campaign reminding her of the special election.

“A lot of people forgot,” Jamerson said, outside the polling place, where only five voters showed up between 6:45 and 7:30 p.m. Of the candidate, she said: “His father was good for the district. He set a pattern for him. He’ll be fine.”

That perspective appeared to bear out Tucker’s claim that voters knew who they were voting for and were comfortable with their decision.

“If there was any voter backlash, it was to the criticism,” he said.

The weight of the legacy adds to the pressure exerted by urgent issues such as crime and health care, he said.

“The community needs to be pulled together,” he said. “There are parts of the district where people are scared to come out at night. . . . There are high expectations. I can’t let down the people who supported me and supported my dad.”