ELECTIONS 38TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : GOP’s Boland Staves Off Vigorous Challenge From Allert to Capture Seat

Republican Paula Boland, bolstered by a richer campaign treasury and strong alliances with GOP power brokers, held off an unexpectedly vigorous challenge by Democrat Irene Allert to win election to the state Assembly in the Republican-dominated 38th District, final vote counts showed Wednesday.

Boland, a real estate broker who lives in Porter Ranch, won with 52.5% of the vote to 44% for Allert, an educational consultant from Kagel Canyon. Peace and Freedom candidate Charles Najbergier had 3.5%.

Boland, 50, will succeed Assemblywoman Marian La Follette (R-Northridge), who is retiring next month after a decade in the Assembly.

“I’m thrilled,” Boland said. “The phones haven’t stopped. Flowers are just pouring into the office. . . . It’s a wonderful feeling.”

A staunch conservative, Boland won with a cautious, low-key campaign that emphasized her tough-on-crime stance. In public comments, she repeatedly referred to anti-crime bills that she pledged to introduce as soon as she is sworn in.

Boland also capitalized on long involvement in grass-roots Republican circles in the San Fernando Valley, enlisting campaign help from local GOP luminaries such as Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson and former Rep. Bobbi Fiedler of Northridge.

She received endorsements from a string of conservative GOP assemblymen in Sacramento, which in turn helped her attract donations from special interest groups. Boland spent about $170,000 on the campaign, compared with $100,000 for Allert.

Although Boland’s campaign handlers expected her to win by up to 15 percentage points, she got a surprisingly strong battle from Allert, 46, whose campaign stressed abortion rights and scaling down the massive Porter Ranch development.

Allert’s percentage of the vote was the highest since 1982 for a Democrat in the district, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 84,000 to 73,000. Her total vote was about 2% higher than the percentage of registered Democrats, indicating that she won over more than 1,500 GOP voters.

Concerned that her opposition to legalized abortion might hurt her, Boland tried to appeal to GOP women by calling for crackdowns on rapists and those who commit crimes against schoolchildren.

With limited money, Allert ran a somewhat risky campaign that concentrated on persuading Republicans to cross party lines rather than maximizing Democratic turnout. For instance, the only precinct-walking that Allert conducted was in Burbank, a GOP stronghold, her campaign consultant, Parke Skelton, said.

Allert also aimed all of her campaign mailers at Republicans. Despite her smaller treasury, Allert sent out seven mailings, two more than Boland. But Allert was forced to cancel two other planned mailings because her campaign ran out of money.