‘Greens’ Member to Challenge La Follette as Democrat

Gary Crandall, a member of the pro-environment “Greens” making his first bid for public office, said Tuesday he is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) in the November election.

Crandall, a 51-year-old Northridge computer manual writer, is the sole Democrat to date to announce he will oppose La Follette in the 38th Assembly District. In 1988, La Follette trounced her Democratic opponent 65% to 35%.

Crandall, an environmental activist, said he will make environmental improvement one of his prime campaign issues. He said he is a member of the Greens, a political group that favors the environment and opposes nuclear weapons.

“I’ve always had strong feelings about the environment,” he said. “She really hasn’t taken responsibility for the environment. She’s offered sort of a Band-Aid approach. But we really need to go to the roots of these problems.

“To me, global warming is one of the big problems, and she really hasn’t addressed that at all,” he said.

Crandall added that he opposes further restrictions on abortions in California and favors animal rights.

He said he hopes to help remake Los Angeles by encouraging more efficient and less polluting transportation systems.

“Seventy to eighty percent of our pollution comes from transportation,” he said. “So consequently I’ve been talking to a couple of solar-car companies and seeing if I can get a prototype introduced in California.”

Despite La Follette’s advantages of incumbency and a large campaign fund, Crandall said, he is confident about his prospects for unseating her.

“She’s been in office nine years now and she’s gotten really complacent,” he said. “I am going to present some issues that will shake her out of her complacency.”