Palmdale Mayor to Seek New Assembly Seat

Palmdale Mayor William J. (Pete) Knight announced Friday that he will seek the Republican nomination for a proposed Assembly district covering the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys.

Knight, a former Air Force test pilot, said he will give up the mayor’s post when his term ends in April to run in the new 36th Assembly District.

Knight, who had earlier explored running for a newly created state Senate or congressional seat, said he has raised about $20,000 to run in the Assembly district, which covers most of Los Angeles County from San Fernando north.

The new district was proposed by a panel of retired judges appointed by the state Supreme Court, which is in the process of redrawing California’s congressional and legislative districts to reflect population changes documented in the 1990 U.S. census. The court is expected to approve final district maps by Tuesday.

Voter registration in the 36th District is 56% Republican and 34% Democrat, and local GOP figures are lining up to run because whoever takes the GOP nomination in June will be heavily favored to win the November election.

Only one local Democrat, Lancaster City Councilman Arnie Rodio, has expressed an interest in running.

The other announced Republican candidates are Hunt Braly, top aide to state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita); Santa Clarita slow-growth activist John Drew, and Palmdale School District Supt. Forrest McElroy.

Also mentioned as a possible GOP candidate is Tom Smith, an aide to Assemblyman Phillip Wyman from Tehachapi, who now represents portions of the Antelope Valley that would be included in the new district. Wyman recently said he will give up his seat to run for Congress.

Knight, 62, said the central issue in the campaign will be California’s sluggish economy. He said he favors reduced taxes, including a cut in the capital gains tax, to stimulate economic revival.

“I think we’ve taxed to the point where it’s really at a point of diminishing returns. I think we have to reduce taxes . . . and use the tax system as a means of stimulating the economy,” he said.

Knight said he also will campaign on his efforts to impose fees on developers to finance new schools, roads and other public facilities needed to handle explosive population growth in Palmdale over the past decade.

Knight was elected to the Palmdale City Council in 1984 after serving as an Air Force test pilot at Edwards Air Force base for 15 years. In 1988, he became the city’s first mayor to be elected by voters rather than appointed by the City Council.

As a test pilot he flew the famed X-15 rocket plane, setting a 4,520-m.p.h. speed record for single-engine airplanes that remains unbroken.