ELECTIONS / 35TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Even Foe Praises Popular Veteran O’Connell

Assemblyman Jack O’Connell, the veteran Democratic lawmaker who represents parts of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, is so popular that he has become a virtual role model for members of both major parties aspiring to public office.

Even Lanny Ebenstein, his Republican opponent in the race for the 35th Assembly District seat, admits that O’Connell has attributes that he would like to emulate if he succeeds in upsetting the incumbent.

“Jack is very open, accessible and hard-working,” said Ebenstein, 33, a college instructor.

Most political strategists give Ebenstein little chance of upsetting the 40-year-old assemblyman, even in an election year that threatens many incumbents.

“O’Connell should be one of the safest legislators in the state,” said John Davies, a Santa Barbara political consultant who managed O’Connell’s first Assembly campaign in 1982. “He does his constituent service like no one else.”

Furthermore, O’Connell has a 100-to-1 advantage in financial resources over challenger Ebenstein, who teaches public policy at Antioch University of Santa Barbara.

As of last June 30, O’Connell, drawing on his years of incumbency, had amassed a campaign nest egg of more than $209,000.

“That is certainly a large chunk of change,” said Ebenstein, who acknowledged that so far, he has only $2,000 to finance his general election campaign. And he does not expect to receive a penny from the state Republican Party, which has targeted other races for financial help.

Still, Ebenstein is buoyed by the fact that redistricting weakened the Democrats domination of the 35th Assembly District that now includes Ventura, Santa Paula and Oxnard.

With the political lines redrawn earlier this year, Democrats have 45% of the district’s registered voters, compared to 39% for the Republicans, according to registrar of voter figures in the two counties. Before redistricting, the district had a more comfortable edge for the Democrats over Republicans, 47% to 36%.

The big gain in Republican voters has prompted senior Assembly Democrats in Sacramento to put the 35th Assembly District contest on their incumbents “watch list,” although O’Connell has displayed considerable political muscle in past races.

Many of the “watch list” incumbents can expect financial or volunteer help for their reelection effort. But not O’Connell, who Democratic officials expected to trounce Ebenstein without requiring outside help.

“Jack is a tenacious campaigner,” said an Assembly campaign strategist in Sacramento, who requested anonymity.

The rough-and-tumble world of politics is a relatively new experience for the scholarly Ebenstein. He studied political science and economics at UC Santa Barbara and then went on to receive his doctorate from the London School of Economics. His father, the late William Ebenstein, was a professor of political science at Princeton and UC Santa Barbara.

Ebenstein, originally a Democrat who changed his party affiliation in 1984, got his first whiff of politics at age 20 when he ran for a seat on the Santa Barbara Board of Education. He lost. But 11 years later, he ran again and made it.

This year, he said he decided to run for an Assembly seat because of the increase in the number of Republican voters in the new Assembly district. “There was a real possibility that a Republican could win,” he said. “So I decided to throw my hat in the ring.”

Ebenstein survived a close race in the Republican primary, beating a financial analyst by about four percentage points.

Despite his much tougher challenge in the general election, some political strategists say that Ebenstein, win or lose, is a politician on the rise.

“He’s the type of guy who’s going to age well in politics,” Davies said. He said he turned down consulting jobs with both candidates “because I know them both too well.”

Richard Ferrier, chairman of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee, also thinks highly of Ebenstein and has been attempting to get more volunteer help for the young candidate. Ferrier is the first to say that Ebenstein is “an underdog, no doubt about it.

“But Lanny is a young, attractive candidate. And it’s a year of strong anti-incumbency.”

O’Connell is a native of Long Island, N.Y., who resides in Carpinteria. A former high school teacher, he has built a big following among Democrats and even many Republicans in his district by focusing on local issues.

Cautious by nature, O’Connell will not be baited into suggesting that he could bury Ebenstein in the November election.

“You can never take anything for granted,” he said in an interview. For example, he prides himself on walking voting precincts almost every weekday night and on weekends.

His full-throttle approach was reflected by his $88,000 expenditure in the Democratic primary, even though he had no competition. Much of the cash was spent on largely successful efforts to step up Democratic registration, as a way to neutralize the higher level of Republican voters in the newly drawn district.

Philosophically, Ebenstein is a conservative while O’Connell is middle-of-the-road to liberal on many issues. Both, however, view themselves as conservatives on law-and-order matters; both support the death penalty.

On the volatile issue of abortion, the two are far apart. O’Connell is an abortion-rights advocate. Ebenstein is against abortion except when it threatens the life of the mother. He supports overturning the U. S. Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision that declares a woman’s right to choose an abortion is protected by her right to privacy.

“I look at every issue individually and how it impacts our community and try to make the best choice,” O’Connell said, describing his voting record.

Ebenstein sees his biggest differences with O’Connell on economic issues. “I am a fiscal conservative,” he said.

As Speaker pro tem, O’Connell presides over many Assembly sessions. That gives him a high profile in the Sacramento political Establishment that has repeatedly clashed with Gov. Pete Wilson on resolving the budget crisis and other issues. Ebenstein is counting on this image of O’Connell as part of the problem in Sacramento to help him in his campaign.

“When our system becomes too political, when people do what’s in their personal interest and not in the public interest, that’s when things start to deteriorate,” Ebenstein said of the state’s prolonged fiscal stalemate.

O’Connell acknowledged that the state fiscal mess “is a concern,” but does not think it will hurt his reelection effort.

“People appreciate my effort to obtain more funding for local education,” he said. “As a result of the stalemate, I helped guide nearly a billion dollars more for public education.”

Ebenstein said he is miffed that O’Connell will not engage him in formal debates.

On Aug. 10, he wrote O’Connell urging that they hold seven debates in September and October to “provide the voters with valuable background regarding our positions on the issues.”

O’Connell responded that the candidates would speak at two forums sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce, and that would be sufficient.

But, looking back on these events, Ebenstein contended that they were not debates and that there was little or no media coverage.

“He is evading a real debate because as an incumbent he doesn’t think it’s to his advantage that the race get more publicity,” Ebenstein said.

For his part, O’Connell said these events were close enough to debates to satisfy him.

“I don’t mind sitting on the stage with him and answering questions and I think an audience can ask intelligent questions,” he said.

Jim Dantona, a Simi Valley public affairs consultant and Democratic Party activist, thinks that O’Connell made the right strategic decision.

“Jack would probably chew up Lanny and spit him out in a debate,” Dantona said. “But you don’t give the upstart the opportunity, the credibility to discuss issues.

“I’ve worked for incumbents my whole life. I’ve never seen incumbents debate unless they’re losing badly.”