Senate Race May Tip More Power to Democrats

Three seats in the state Legislature are at stake in special elections Tuesday, one of which could give Senate Democrats--at least numerically--the advantage needed to overturn vetoes of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.

A light turnout is expected in Northern California districts for one seat in the Assembly and another in the Senate. In Orange County, a slightly heavier turnout is forecast for the Senate seat left vacant when John Seymour of Anaheim was appointed to the U.S. Senate.

Of the two Senate races, Democrats see the contest in the north as their best hope of increasing their numbers to 27 in the 40-member chamber, the number of votes needed for a veto override. The Democratic candidate is Patti Mattingly, a supervisor in Siskiyou County who is running in a district that sprawls from Sacramento to the Oregon line.

Mattingly, a conservative Democrat running in a Republican district, is opposed by GOP Assemblyman Tim Leslie, the handpicked choice of Wilson. Leslie moved his residence from Carmichael to Auburn so he could run for the Senate. The seat was vacated by the election of Republican John T. Doolittle to Congress.

“We’ve got a good shot in Mattingly,” said Senate Leader David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles). “We’re doing everything we can to elect her.” He refused to rate her odds.

Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno said he believed the odds are in favor of the better-financed Leslie, “but Sen. Roberti and the Democratic Party have pulled more than one surprise on us. I’m cautiously optimistic.”

In theory, 27 Senate Democrats would seem to constitute a serious challenge to Wilson’s veto power, especially on a political self-interest issue such as legislative reapportionment. But historically, the Senate has been less partisan than the Assembly and its members tend to make deals that cross party lines.

On controversial actions requiring 27 votes, Roberti cannot always count on all 26 Democrats to vote as a bloc and must turn to moderate Republicans and the independent, Sen. Quentin L. Kopp of San Francisco, to provide the votes.

Even though a Mattingly victory probably would not dramatically alter the political chemistry of the Senate, Roberti said it would “give Democrats some negotiating leverage” with the governor.

Even if the Senate voted to override a Wilson veto, it takes two houses to enact a law over the governor’s objection. Barring some unforeseen circumstance, there is no indication that the deeply divided Assembly would go along with a veto override.

Although Democrats have dominated in both houses for years, they have not overridden a veto since 1979, when Edmund G. Brown Jr. was governor. Today, Democrats occupy 46 seats in the Assembly, Republicans hold 32, and there are two vacancies. It takes 54 Assembly votes to override.

In the Orange County runoff election for the 35th state Senate District, Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange) is considered a shoo-in to replace Seymour, whom Wilson appointed to the U.S. Senate. In one of the heaviest GOP legislative districts in California, Lewis is opposed by Democrat Francis X. Hoffman and Libertarian Eric Sprik.

On the ballot with Lewis, Hoffman and Sprik will be a proposal to increase the sales tax in Orange County. The tax issue is expected to attract additional voters.

In the northern San Joaquin Valley, Democrat Patti Garamendi is seeking an Assembly seat opened up indirectly by the election in 1990 of her husband, John, to the post of state insurance commissioner.

John Garamendi’s state Senate seat was won this year by Patrick Johnston of Stockton, a Democratic assemblyman. Patti Garamendi also ran for her husband’s seat. Now, she is running for Johnston’s vacant Assembly seat.

In a race that is tightening in the final days of the campaign in the Democratic-leaning Stockton district, she is opposed by Republican Dean Andal, a former congressional assistant and now the owner of a marketing firm.

Johnston, who has endorsed Patti Garamendi, complained that the Andal campaign engaged in last-minute “dirty tricks” by calling voters and suggesting that an organization of Democratic supporters of Johnston actually backs Andal. Johnston said the callers were paid $6 an hour.

Steve Presson, Andal’s campaign consultant, defended the tactic. He said Andal found a “bunch of Pat Johnston supporters” who were “outraged” at Patti Garamendi and agreed to make calls from a Republican-affiliated telephone bank. He said the callers belonged to no “formal organization” and insisted that he knew nothing of them being paid.