Senator Makes Political Life a Family Affair

When state Sen. John Seymour was wrestling with his views on abortion rights, he and his family hashed the question out for three months, most memorably during a heated Fourth of July debate.

When he has questions about drugs in schools, he often turns to his 16-year-old daughter, Serena, for her suggestions.

So, when he got the call from Gov.-elect Pete Wilson last week, the 53-year-old state senator again turned to his family: This time, all but one of them urged him to plunge ahead.

The holdout was 8-year-old Barrett Seymour, the youngest of Seymour’s six children, who wasn’t sure he wanted to see his father get back into the political mill so soon after last year’s failed bid for lieutenant governor.

“He said, ‘If you want to be a pro baseball player as much as I want to be a United States senator, then what do you think I should do?’ ” Barrett said Thursday afternoon, squirming uncomfortably on his father’s office couch and pulling at the edges of his tightly buttoned blue blazer. “I said, ‘Go for it.’ ”

Having cleared that final hurdle, Seymour went for it. And Thursday, he returned home triumphant, working a buoyant Anaheim Marriott Hotel crowd that included longtime friends and backers as well as several politicians who are eyeing Seymour’s soon-to-be-vacant post.

By day’s end, two state Assembly members had announced their intentions to run, and Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, thought by some observers to be a potential front-runner, was said to be leaning that way as well.

For Seymour, however, the day was one of homecoming, celebration and hard work. Through it all, his family rarely strayed far from his side.

That Seymour would seek his family’s advice in his moment of decision came as no surprise to those who know him well. For years, Seymour’s pragmatic--some say expedient--political philosophy has been tested in the crucible of his family’s penchant for debate.

“They are a very strong family,” said Hal Toler, who has known Seymour and his family for 30 years. “John is the kind of guy who likes to get a lot of input, a lot of data. And he turns to his family for a lot of that.”

Sometimes Seymour’s interest is gently probing, his relatives said: The senator will ask what “regular” people think of an issue.

“He asks us what the heartbeat is out there,” said Diane Huth, one of Seymour’s three sisters. “What’s the man on the street say?”

Other times, a discussion can get intense, as it did one recent winter evening when family members debated the merits of Lee A. Iacocca’s autobiography.

“We can get very vocal,” said Donna Hunt, Seymour’s younger sister. “That discussion got very hot and heavy.”

The prelude to the senator’s reversal on the abortion issue--he now favors abortion rights--also was marked by long debates, family members said. “I remember one Fourth of July, we had a three-hour discussion,” Huth said.

“More like a yelling match,” Serena Seymour said.

While Thursday’s return to Anaheim marked a warmly congratulatory moment for Seymour and his supporters, it also represented a breathtaking turnabout for his wife and children, who only months ago were in the throes of Seymour’s lieutenant governor’s race. He lost the GOP nomination to state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) in the June primary.

That was Seymour’s first bid for statewide office, and it provided a lesson in the rigors of big-time campaigning. But Judy Seymour, the senator’s wife, said she and her family weathered it well and are prepared for what promises to be another four years of near-constant electioneering.

“We did very well through the last campaign as a family,” Judy Seymour said. “We finished in good shape. We plan on doing this the same way. The reservations are only the fact that, obviously, there are times when we’re not going to be together as a family.”

Other Seymours agreed that there would be some drawbacks to their new life in Washington, but they said they looked forward to the move nonetheless.

Serena Seymour, a junior at Canyon High School, will leave behind a boyfriend here. But Serena said she hopes to go to college after graduating--Yale University, if all goes well, where she wants to major in political science before landing a career as a behind-the-scenes political operative.

“Always watching everybody in my dad’s staff . . . it just seems like it’s always moving all the time,” Serena said. “I always come in and volunteer.”

Barrett Seymour, although juggling his career options already, said he hopes to find room for a little politicking as well. “My dad has fun doing it,” he said.

Indeed, Barrett said he’s even ready to make the move to Washington. The East Coast, he said hopefully, will give him his first chance to live where it snows.

While the Seymours prepared for their move and juggled a day brimming with appearances, the race to succeed the senator in Sacramento also firmed up considerably: Assembly members Nolan Frizzelle (R-Fountain Valley) and Doris Allen (R-Cypress) threw their hats in the ring. Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange) was still mulling the prospect, as was Vasquez, who introduced Seymour at the Marriott gathering.

Associates of the supervisor, however, said he was strongly leaning toward running. And political pundits said Vasquez, who has a $200,000 war chest left over from his last supervisorial race, would be tough to beat.

“I see Gaddi as far and away the leading candidate,” said Harvey Englander, an Orange County political consultant.

Eileen Padberg, another local consultant, agreed. “I certainly think Gaddi would be the front-runner,” she said. “He’ll have the early edge.”