Redistricting Redefines Campaigns : Politics: In the newly drawn 41st District, for example, Republicans may have a chance to capture what was once considered solid Democrat territory.

Political redistricting makes for strange bedfellows.

Artsy, urban Santa Monica and bucolic Hidden Hills, communities seldom spoken of in the same breath, will share a legislator in the state Assembly for the next decade.

It’s the newly drawn 41st Assembly District, one of four new Westside districts up for grabs this November.

The district runs west from the San Diego Freeway (405), and then south of Sunset Boulevard it cuts farther west to take in Santa Monica; it then stretches northwest to the Ventura County line, taking in huge chunks of the West San Fernando Valley.

It is Westlake Village and Pacific Palisades, Calabasas and Brentwood, Malibu and Tarzana. About half the voters are north of Mulholland Drive.

The 41st appears to be a swing district. Democrats outnumber Republicans 49% to 40% among registered voters, but Republicans tend to be more loyal to their party’s nominees and more likely to vote, so many observers rate the district as a tossup. In 1988, the voters of the 41st area narrowly went for George Bush over Democrat Michael S. Dukakis, but in 1990 they favored Democrat Dianne Feinstein over Republican Pete Wilson in the gubernatorial race.

Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) has taken himself out of the picture, opting instead to run for the state Senate. So Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles), running in what is mostly a new district for him, is all alone on the Democratic side.

Sensing a chance to capture what has been Democratic territory, five Republicans are competing for the right to take on Friedman.

“It’s a winnable district,” said Republican candidate Christine Reed. “It’s not a walkaway for either party.”

The other three Westside Assembly districts appear less likely to generate suspense in a general election. Two are solid Democratic territory, and the other appears to be safely Republican.

Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) is running in one of the Democratic districts, the 42nd, in which 58% of the registered voters are Democrats and 29% are Republicans. The district consists of most of the Westside north of Wilshire Boulevard and east of the San Diego Freeway.

Even safer turf for Democrats is the 47th Assembly District, with a lopsided 75%-to-16% edge in party registration. Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles) will seek to return to Sacramento representing this area, which includes Culver City, Palms, Baldwin Hills and Crenshaw.

Venice and Mar Vista have been cut loose from their Westside moorings to become the north end of the 53rd Assembly District, a mostly South Bay district that takes in Torrance and the southern beach cities. Republicans outnumber Democrats 44% to 42%.

In the hotly contested Republican primary in the 41st Assembly District, the candidates are:

Reed, 48, a former four-term Santa Monica city councilwoman who calls herself a pro-choice, pro-environment fiscal conservative who is moderate on social issues. She calls Friedman a “tax-and-spend liberal,” and, like all challengers, plans to make his incumbency an issue if she wins the primary. “Voters are asking for changes,” she said.

Former Santa Monica College trustee Fred Beteta, 62, a retired engineer who challenged Tom Hayden two years ago and offers a conservative plank of “reforms, reforms, reforms,” stressing education and tightening up illegal immigration as a drain on resources. Beteta favors the voucher system, under which students attending private schools would receive public subsidies.

Santa Monica attorney Scott Meehan, 31. A conservative who is active in Heal the Bay, Meehan says he will mount a grass-roots effort in his first bid for office. He already has 100 volunteers canvassing the district, and he says they have told him that the economy is the overriding issue in the race. “In Westlake Village,” he said, “people wake up on a daily basis and wonder, ‘Is my job secure?’ ” Meehan promises to ease regulations and red tape to make the state friendly to business.

Accounting professor Paul Foote, 45, of Agoura Hills. He assisted Beteta in his bid to oust Hayden two years ago and was itching to take on Hayden this year. Foote, a conservative, is interested in giving a boost to business and clamping down on top-heavy school districts by requiring them to reduce overhead expenses. “These Assembly races boil down to two things,” he said. “How many slate mailers can you get on, and how much money can you raise?”

Malibu businessman Stefan (Stu) Stitch is also on the ballot. Efforts to reach him for comment on his candidacy were unsuccessful.

While the Republicans slug it out until the June 2 primary, Friedman, who already has $150,000 in the bank, can raise money, get acquainted in the parts of the new district he hasn’t represented and prepare for the general election in November.

The three-term legislator said he sees the unifying issues in the district as protection of the Santa Monica Mountains and the coastline from unbridled development and pollution. Friedman, 42, said he will fend off anti-incumbency sentiments by showing what he called his “unblemished record on matters of public integrity.”

A close ally of Reps. Henry Waxman and Howard Berman, whose liberal Democratic political organization dominates Westside politics, Friedman picked the 41st to avoid clashing with Margolin, another member of the Waxman-Berman group. Friedman must move into the district.

This political musical chairs is the result of redistricting, the reshuffling of legislative boundaries to reflect population shifts found by the 1990 Census.

Westside Democrats were hit hard by the new lines because the area’s population growth in the 1980s lagged far behind other parts of the state. The districts were drawn under the supervision of the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court. The court intervened after Gov. Wilson and the Democrat-controlled Legislature were unable to reach an agreement on the new districts.

In the 1980s, for example, four safe Democratic congressional seats radiated out from the Westside. The new reapportionment collapsed the Democratic stronghold into a single district, and left officeholders such as Margolin, who had wanted to run for Congress, with no available district to run in.

In the 42nd District, Margolin has drawn one Democratic challenger, civil rights attorney John J. Duran. Businessmen Robert K. Davis and Chauncer J. Medberry will compete for the Republican slot on the ballot there.

In the Venice-South Bay 53rd Assembly District, there is no incumbent running. Assemblyman Gerald N. Felando (R-San Pedro), who represented much of the area, has decided to run in a neighboring district. The district’s GOP leanings have attracted a large group of Republicans in the primary.

The Republican field includes Torrance City Councilman Dan Walker, Redondo Beach Mayor W. Brad Parton, Redondo Beach City Councilwoman Barbara Doerr and public affairs adviser George Young of Marina del Rey.

On the Democratic side, Venice attorney and activist Debra L. Bowen, in her first bid for elected office, is unopposed.

In the 47th District, Assemblywoman Moore is being challenged in the primary by Stephen Brown. Attorney Michael Quinn and businessman Jonathan Leonard are seeking the Republican nomination.

Assembly District 41

Where: Santa Monica, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, western San Fernando Valley.

Registration: 49% Democratic, 40% Republican

Demographics: 82% Anglo, 10% Latino, 6% Asian, 2% black

Candidates:

Democratic --Terry B. Friedman, Assemblyman Republican --Fred Beteta, senior associate engineer --Paul Foote, professor, business consultant --Scott Meehan, attorney, lecturer --Christine Reed --Stefan “Stu” Stitch, businessman Libertarian --Roy A. Sykes Jr., business owner Demographics:

Anglo Latino Black Asian 82% 10% 2% 6%

Party Registration:

Democrat Republican 49% 40%

Assembly District 42

Where: Most of the Westside east of the San Diego Freeway and north of Wilshire Boulevard.

Registration: 58% Democratic, 29% Republican

Demographics: 79% Anglo, 10% Latino, 7% Asian, 3% black.

Candidates:

Democratic --John J. Duran, civil rights attorney --Burt Margolin, Assemblyman Republican --Robert K. Davis, independent businessman --Chauncer J. Medberry, independent businessman Libertarian --Andrew S. Rotter, historian/retired lawyer Peace and Freedom --Timothy Burdick, office worker Demographics:

Anglo Latino Black Asian 79% 10% 3% 7%

Party Registration:

Democrat Republican 58% 29%

Assembly District 47 Where: Culver City, Palms, Mid-City, Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw.

Registration: 75% Democratic, 16% Republican

Demographics: 40% black, 30% Anglo, 23% Latino, 8% Asian

Candidates:

Democratic --Stephen Brown --Gwen Moore, Assemblywoman Republican --Michael Quinn, attorney --Jonathan Leonard, businessman Libertarian --Chuck Hammill, mathematician/computer programmer Peace and Freedom --Yassin A. Saededdin, bilingual hotel manager Demographics*:

Anglo Latino Black Asian 30% 23% 40% 8%

Party Registration:

Democrat Republican 75% 16%

* Demographic percentages sometimes add up to more than 100% because census may count some Latinos in racial catergories.

Assembly District 53 Where: Venice, Mar Vista, Westchester, South Bay beach cities, Torrance.

Registration: 44% Republican, 42% Democratic

Demographics: 74% Anglo, 12% Latino, 12% Asian, 2% black

Candidates:

Democratic --Debra L. Bowen, public interest attorney Republican --Barbara Doerr, urban planner/councilmember --Marleah L. Sena, businesswoman/teacher --W. Brad Parton, independent businessman/mayor --Dan Walker, Torrance council member/businessman --George R. Young, public affairs advisor --Steven J. Zak, political scientist --Ross Moen, police detective, lieutenant Green --Roger Donaldson, business systems analyst Libertarian --William N. Gaillard, road construction sales --Sal Princiotta Jr., artist/massage therapist Demographics:

Anglo Latino Black Asian 74% 12% 2% 12%

Party Registration:

Democrat Republican 42% 44%