ELECTIONS 20TH STATE SENATE : Diverse Field of Candidates Seeks the Seat Robbins Held

The race to replace former Sen. Alan Robbins has attracted a field of 10 candidates, who are campaigning on platforms from reforming the public schools to colonizing the moon.

So far, much of the attention has focused on the best-known candidate, state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles). A longtime liberal who is Senate president pro tem, Roberti has stressed that he can use his powerful position to get things done for San Fernando Valley constituents.

But the other nine candidates for the 20th State Senate District--including the first Green Party candidate on the California ballot--have taken positions on a range of controversial issues. Here, in capsule form and random order, are some of them.

* JOHN VERNON (LIBERTARIAN)

Vernon, 52, is a past president of the California Libertarian Party. A Van Nuys resident, he runs a catering business.

If elected, he would work to repeal the state sales and income tax increases approved by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1990, arguing that there was no economic justification for them.

He also would freeze all state hiring and reduce staffing levels through attrition as a way of cutting the state budget.

Vernon also believes the state could save dollars by freezing all hiring and administrative costs for public schools. He favors the proposed school voucher initiative, which would supply parents with $2,600 annually and allow them to send their children to any school they wanted, public or private.

* TED DAN AUGUST (DEMOCRAT)

August, 72, lives in Van Nuys and has run unsuccessfully for the 20th Senate District seat four times. He is the retired owner of a chain of appliance stores.

Endorsed by the National Rifle Assn., August opposes laws restricting the purchase and use of handguns.

“I oppose the guns laws. But I think bazookas and that type of gun should be outlawed, because they can kill thousands of people at one shot,” he said.

August opposes cuts in welfare grants proposed by Wilson. He believes welfare recipients should be given living stipends while they undergo job-training programs and should then be put to work in factories closed by the recession.

August supports legal abortion and believes California election ballots should be printed in English only.

* DOLORES WHITE (REPUBLICAN)

A Reseda resident, White is making her first run for public office. She is 57 years old and works as a real estate broker.

Trained as an economist, White supports a “major cut” in the sales tax as a way of priming California’s economy and ending the recession.

She also advocates placing welfare recipients in privately operated job-training classes. Trainers would be paid through tax credits and lump-sum bonuses for each person they successfully train.

Asked how much such a program would cost the state, White said she does not “have exact numbers on that. But it would be far less” than the cost of the current welfare program, she said.

* GARY KAST (PEACE AND FREEDOM)

Kast, 39, is a Panorama City lawyer.

He favors eliminating criminal penalties for the sale and use of all drugs from marijuana to heroin.

Kast believes the drug laws only serve to “stupidly inflate” drug prices, forcing addicts to commit crimes such as burglary and robbery to pay for illegal substances.

He said addiction rates may rise if drug penalties are eliminated, but the general public will experience a drop in crime. Addicts’ lives may be saved, he said, because they often do not know the real strength of street drugs, leading them to overdose.

* CAROL ROWEN (REPUBLICAN)

A longtime activist for legal abortion, Rowen, 57, is a private pension consultant. She lives in Tarzana.

Rowen has made support for abortion rights a centerpiece of her campaign. She points out that Roberti is a longtime abortion opponent.

“He has voted against family planning. He has likened Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan. And he called in right-to-life supporters to teach them how to lobby more effectively,” Rowen said.

She said she also favors easing environmental and other state regulations that hinder business and opposes the school voucher initiative.

* DREW ANGEL (DEMOCRAT)

Angel, 43, is a North Hollywood resident. A former computer programmer, he has been on disability since 1989.

Angel--who has appeared at candidate forums wearing a cap reading, “We Are Robots, We Should Colonize the Moon”--favors a massive U.S. program to settle and develop the lunar landscape. Such an effort would generate 2 million jobs for Americans, he said, and open up opportunities for hundreds of U.S. businesses.

Angel also favors a law banning murder scenes in movies. Anyone who filmed such scenes should be subject to capital punishment, he said.

Asked about his disability, Angel responded: “I’m classified in-between the schizophrenic and the manic-depressive.”

* DAVID HONDA (REPUBLICAN)

A general contractor who builds high-rises and medical offices, Honda, 41, is making his first run for public office. He is president of the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley.

Honda has campaigned primarily on cutting back the size of government and easing environmental and other regulations to make California more attractive to business.

“It’s a Gestapo mentality, and what businesses are saying is, if you have a Gestapo mentality what do you do? You leave the state,” he said.

Honda and other chamber leaders have proposed an “employers bill of rights” that would allow businesses facing deadlines to comply with state regulations to obtain court injunctions delaying implementation of the rules.

* GLENN BAILEY (GREEN)

Bailey, 36, works as an administrative assistant for a program that places high school students in enrichment classes at a local college. He lives in Encino and has run for office several times before.

Bailey says he is running to give voters an alternative to Roberti and other mainstream politicians who he says are captives of special interests.

“I think it’s a conflict of interest for elected officials to receive money from parties--businesses and industries--that stand to benefit from the decisions that elected officials are going to make,” he said.

“I don’t buy the argument that they just do it for access. The reality is that they get favorable legislation. I think whoever is elected is supposed to represent the public interest.”

* BILL DOMINGUEZ (DEMOCRAT)

Dominguez, 41, is a corporate efficiency expert who lives in Van Nuys.

He says he is “interested in returning government to the people.” Special-interest money is making government “less free, less open and most importantly, less representative,” he said.

Dominguez, who came to the United States at age 10 as a refugee from his native Cuba, says he also favors cutting administrative costs as a way of keeping the public school system financially healthy.

He said he opposes cutting welfare grants but supports capping benefits to newcomers to California at the levels of the states they came from.

He also opposes the voucher initiative and favors abortion rights.