ELECTIONS / 46TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Underdog GOP Candidate Hopes for Low Voter Turnout

Geoffrey Church is just the sort of fellow that conservative California Republicans would like to clone if they could: He’s bright, young, energetic, witty, self-assured--a man on the go.

Wearing a continental suit coat and a cocky grin, Church, looking very much the stockbroker that he is, could be a poster model for the Ronald Reagan era. But in Tuesday’s special election for the 46th Assembly District in the heart of urban, Democratic Los Angeles, Geoff Church knows the race is uphill--steeply uphill.

Still, he insists there is a chance to defeat Democratic nominee Barbara Friedman--if apathy keeps enough Democrats at home on Election Day. As he relished that prospect during an interview, Church, 28, smiled wryly and said: “I think that if a Republican was elected that would send shock waves to Sacramento.”

Indeed, Church’s Democratic opponent, Friedman, on leave from her job as deputy city controller, seems to be close to a shoo-in.

Friedman, 41, won a tough 12-candidate Democratic primary on June 4. She has the potent backing of organized labor and the Westside-based political alliance created by Reps. Howard Berman and Henry Waxman, whose congressional district overlaps much of the 46th District.

She also is running in a district where two-thirds of the registered voters are Democrats--an inner-city region of ethnic, racial, cultural and social diversity and all the attendant problems. The 46th--just west and north of downtown--has sent liberal Democrats to Sacramento for as long as anyone can remember.

Friedman and Church are about as different in personality and demeanor as they are on the issues.

Church is quick with a smile or a quip and careful not to take himself too seriously. In contrast, Friedman appears intense, is painstaking in picking her words and seems ill at ease speaking to groups.

In campaigning, Church has pledged to oppose any state tax increase while working to reduce existing tax rates, and he has voiced support for Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates. He said he is unhappy with Gov. Pete Wilson’s moderate Republican policies. If elected, he would ally himself with those conservative GOP legislators who unsuccessfully held out against Wilson’s tax-boosting budget agreement with Democratic leaders.

Friedman follows a traditional liberal Democratic agenda. She has voiced alarm at the large number of people who lack health insurance in the 46th Assembly District and pledged to work in Sacramento to correct that. She wants to strengthen the public education system and has opposed cuts in state aid to schools.

The special election was prompted by the resignation in March of Democrat Mike Roos, who had held the seat since 1977. Roos, who was a top lieutenant to Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), quit to become chief executive of a new nonprofit organization working to reform the Los Angeles school system.

The open primary June 4 drew a field of a dozen Democratic candidates. Boosted by a powerful get-out-the-vote drive--a trademark of the Waxman-Berman organization--Friedman won the nomination by just 31 votes over Deputy City Atty. John Emerson, 3,427 to 3,396. Church drew 1,316 votes in winning the Republican nomination without opposition. Also in the Tuesday runoff are Elizabeth Nakano, 65, the nominee of the Peace and Freedom Party, who got 185 votes, and Michael Benedict Everling, 36, of the Libertarian Party, who collected 102 votes.

Friedman has spent more than $350,000 in her campaign; Church has spent $2,913. More than $100,000 of her contributions came from organized labor. Church had $1,533 cash on hand earlier this month but was getting some help from state Republicans.

Even though Church did not have a GOP primary opponent, he attended all of the candidate forums, at which he won points for his candor and humor. Surrounded by Democrats in one recent session in Silver Lake, Church was asked what he would do to preserve the boundaries of the 46th District during this year’s legislative redistricting. He replied: “You would have to give me that question. If I was elected, I am sure that Mr. Brown (the Assembly Speaker) wouldn’t look too kindly on the district. I suppose that is something you would want to consider when you vote.”

Friedman’s campaign literature dwelt heavily on promises to end political corruption, a theme drawn from her role in the city controller’s office the past two years.

“I’ve seen the arrogance and waste of great bureaucracies like the (Los Angeles) Department of Water and Power,” she said at the Silver Lake forum. “We have to eliminate waste and corruption in government.”

Her opponents attempted to brand her a captive of the Waxman-Berman “machine.” But in an interview last week, she had no apologies for the political alliance.

A decade ago, after working several years for labor organizations, Friedman decided to get experience on the staff of an elected official. She wound up in Sacramento as chief of staff to a Waxman-Berman ally, Assemblyman Burt Margolin, who represents the neighboring 45th District. In 1985, Friedman came back to Los Angeles to join the staff of City Controller Rick Tuttle.

Church was steeped in Republican politics at an early age in his native Cleveland, where his grandfather was a confidant of then-Gov. Jim Rhodes and of Cuyahoga County GOP officials. Young Geoff startled his family in 1976 when he ignored their unanimous backing of President Gerald R. Ford and supported Ronald Reagan for the GOP presidential nomination. Church was then 13 years old.

Church moved West to get a graduate degree in political science at Cal State Long Beach. After taking a stockbroker’s job in downtown Los Angeles five years ago, he moved into the Mid-Wilshire District in the heart of the 46th and became active in Los Angeles County GOP affairs.

When Republicans could not find a candidate to challenge Roos’ reelection in 1990, Church ran “to raise some hell.” Describing himself as “a suicide candidate,” he collected about 7,000 votes to Roos’ 20,000.

“This time I’m running a much more serious campaign,” Church said. “It’s a special election. Almost anything can happen.”

The Race for the 46th Assembly District

On Tuesday, a special election will be held to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Democrat Mike Roos. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Here is a look at the 46th Assembly District:

The Race: The winner will fill out the rest of Roos’ term, which ends Dec. 7, 1992.

The District: The 46th is an approximately 25-square-mile area west and north of downtown Los Angeles, including Mid-Wilshire, Pico-Rivera, eastern Hollywood, MacArthur Park, Silverlake and Los Feliz.

The Population: 373,336, about the same as the city of Fresno.

The Ethnic Mix: Nearly 50% Latino, 25% Anglo, 20% Asian-American and 5% black.

The Candidates: Barbara Friedman finished first in a field of 12 in the June 4 primary to win the Democratic nomination. Uncontested for their parties’ nominations were Geoffrey Church, Republican; Michael Benedict Everling, Libertarian, and Elizabeth Nakano, Peace and Freedom.

The Voters: Of the 63,172 registered voters, there are 36,441 Democrats, 17,412 Republicans, 625 in the American Independent Party, 609 in the Peace and Freedom Party, 454 Libertarians, 309 miscellaneous and 7,322 who do not state an affiliation.