<i> Snapshots of life in the Golden State.</i> : Yet Another Slice in the California Split Decision?

On the heels of a string of June advisory ballot victories, boosters of the plan to split California in half are upping the ante.

Now, they want to divide California into three states.

The move is a practical means of gaining support from stubborn Bay Area residents, secessionist leaders say.

As the split was originally proposed, the San Francisco--Sacramento region would have been lumped into one big state with Central and Southern California. But that didn’t seem to sit well with Bay Area voters on primary day. With 31 mainly rural counties polled, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Mariposa were the only ones that disapproved of the breakup.

The new proposal calls for a North California made up of 28 rural counties, a 22-county Central California that would include San Francisco and Sacramento, and an eight-county Southern California covering the region from Santa Barbara south to San Diego.

“San Francisco is never going to let rural California get away and still be with L.A.,” opines Mark Powers, chief aide to secessionist leader Assemblyman Stan Statham (R-Redding). “The third state is a natural fallback.”

STATE POLITICS

One belief they agree on: With a November face-off pending between Democrat Barbara Boxer and Republican Bruce Herschensohn, California voters are guaranteed to elect a U.S. senator of the Jewish faith for the first time in state history.

The fact that the religious preferences of Senate candidates has been a non-issue this year is a breath of fresh air in an era of social turmoil, according to David Lehrer, the Anti-Defamation League’s regional director in Southern California.

“It’s an important sign of progress,” said Lehrer. “(Particularly) at a time when society seems more and more Balkanized.”

Add faith: In the other Senate race, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, who also is Jewish, faces Republican John Seymour, the only non-Jewish major party candidate for either Senate seat.

Stephen Sass, president of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California, has a novel solution for that. “If Seymour was his first name rather than his last name, (it would at least sound Jewish). Maybe he should toy with that.”

Second time around: Two Orange County Republican women who lost June primary battles may press ahead anyway with write-in campaigns this fall.

Their theory is that in the Republican-rich county, Democrats apt to vote for female candidates in this, the Year of the Woman, may be more inclined to choose a GOP write-in than their own party’s long shot.

Considering write-in bids are Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates and former Superior Court Judge Judith K. Ryan. Bates insists that Oceanside lawyer Bill Morrow beat her June 2 only because of a last-minute financial windfall from establishment sources in Sacramento. Ryan believes that she just did not have enough time to inform voters about the dark side of her opponent, Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove).

Death in California

Below are the 10 leading causes of death in California in 1990*. Although the numbers change, the ranking of causes does not change that much from year to year, according to state health officials.

NO. OF % OF CAUSE DEATHS ALL DEATHS Heart Disease 67,425 31.5 Cancer 48,896 22.9 Stroke 15,462 7.2 Unintentional Injuries 10,170 4.8 Pneumonia/Influenza 9,686 4.5 Lung diseases 9,647 4.5 AIDS 5,041 2.4 Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis 3,890 1.8 Suicide 3,735 1.7 Homicide 3,703 1.7

* Latest figures available

SOURCE: California Dept. of Health Services, Death Records

Compiled by researcher Tracy Thomas

IN BRIEF / Electoral shorts

* In Los Angeles County, 200,723 voters cast their ballots by mail this month. But another 6,415 mail-in ballots were not counted because they did not arrive at the county registrar’s office until after the election night deadline.

* Then again, some Los Angeles voters were still receiving last-minute election mail pitches as late as two weeks after the polls closed. Among the candidates whose missives did not arrive on doorsteps until well after the votes were counted were unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidates Mel Levine and Gray Davis and unsuccessful congressional contender Helen Hernandez.

* In this topsy-turvy election year, are Ross Perot supporters in Los Angeles fearful that their candidate will eventually plummet in the polls? Not at this point, it seems. In honor of the Texas billionaire’s birthday, they are throwing a party at a trendy nightclub with an appropriate name for his dizzying success--Vertigo.

EXIT LINE

“It must be a sign of the times that potholders are out and shell casings are in.”

--The Political Pulse newsletter, commenting on law and order campaign mailers--each of which contained a spent assault weapon shell--sent to 70,000 Sacramento area voters by Democratic Assemblyman Lloyd G. Connelly in his successful bid for a Superior Court judgeship.