ELECTIONS 43RD ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Low-Key Liberal Friedman Campaigns for 3rd Term

Democratic Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman of Tarzana is running for a third term in a district that straddles the Santa Monica Mountains from the San Fernando Valley to the Westside.

He faces Republican Gary Passi of Sherman Oaks, a previously unsuccessful candidate for the Assembly and other local offices in Los Angeles.

Friedman, a low-key liberal closely allied with the powerful Westside-Valley Waxman-Berman Democratic organization, was a legal services attorney before he was first elected in 1986. He won reelection in 1988 with 61.6% of the vote.

In Sacramento, Friedman is known as an uncompromising advocate of civil liberties and abortion rights. He also has been active in efforts to preserve open space in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Despite long odds, Passi, owner of health clubs in Burbank and Sherman Oaks, said he is running against Friedman because there needs to be a change in the Legislature. “People are fed up with old faces,” he said. Passi said he favors limitations on the number of legislative terms.

Passi also contends that Friedman has not been effective in dealing with the serious traffic problems in the district. He wants to see more freeways and light-rail lines built.

Like Friedman, he defends a woman’s right to obtain an abortion.

Passi is adamantly opposed to more gun control. He believes in the right to bear arms and says, “Every property owner has the right to protect his property and family.”

The Republican candidate, who has received contributions from gun clubs, said he objects to legislation that imposed new restrictions on the sale of assault weapons.

Like most legislators, Friedman has received much of his campaign funding from special interest political action committees, including those representing labor unions, trial lawyers, banks, doctors, hospitals, dentists and teachers.

Libertarian Andrew S. Rotter, an attorney from Los Angeles, and Peace and Freedom candidate John Paul Lindblad of Sherman Oaks, a health environment architect, also will be on the ballot.

The 43rd Assembly District includes all or part of the Valley communities of Studio City, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Reseda, Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, Calabasas and Topanga. Of the district’s 175,635 voters, 54.6% are Democrats; 35% are Republicans, and 10.4% are independents or belong to minor parties.