Republican Candidate Finds No Easy Pickings

I’ve heard all the talk about the Grand Old Party’s troubles, but it didn’t hit home until I went campaigning with former Santa Monica Mayor Christine Reed, a Republican state Assembly candidate.

You know how it is. Read something in the newspapers or see it on television and it doesn’t make much of an impression. You’ve got to experience it yourself.

Reed is running against Democratic Assemblyman Terry Friedman in the 41st Assembly District, which extends from Santa Monica to the Ventura County line and across the Santa Monica Mountains into the San Fernando Valley.

The district was created when the state Supreme Court drew new legislative and congressional lines to meet the changing population patterns revealed by the 1990 census. The court’s districts wiped out old boundaries that had favored the Democrats. And as the election year began, Republicans figured they might be within striking distance of control of the Assembly, long in the hands of the Democrats.

But as the campaign got intense in the fall, it became clear that the California Republican Party faced many obstacles, and so did Chris Reed.

As I accompanied Reed while she campaigned in Pacific Palisades on Saturday, it was easy to spot the problems.

It wasn’t the reception, which was friendly. Reed is a down-home sort who was walking the neighborhoods in a plain dress, scuffed running shoes and white socks. She had arrived at her destination in a middle-aged, no-frills camper truck loaned by her mom and dad. But no amount of friendliness can counter the hostility many voters have toward the GOP. “Hi, I’m Chris Reed, a pro-choice moderate Republican,” she told one man, using her standard introduction. “What are you doing in the Republican Party?” he asked. She gave her political life’s story--a Barry Goldwater volunteer in college who shifted toward the center. “A lot of Republicans agree with me,” she said. “Not all Republicans agree with the church people.”

Unfortunately for Reed “the church people”--fundamentalist Christian groups--are big donors to Republican legislative campaigns this year, and their money is going to the far right. Moderate candidates such as Reed were supposed to get help from Gov. Pete Wilson and the Republican legislative campaign committee, Opportunity ’92. But the checks have been late because the Republicans are having trouble raising money.

You’d think big business--predominantly Republican--would want to replace liberal Democrat Friedman with a Republican. But the corporate chiefs fear offending Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who shapes regulatory legislation affecting profits. One corporate official told Reed “our job is to protect the status quo. We have learned to work with the status quo. You represent a change in the status quo.”

Friedman is a formidable opponent who has taken enthusiastically to the challenges posed by his new district. He used to have a safe district and coasted to victory on the strength of the Berman-Waxman political organization’s famed mailed advertisements. Now, he and his volunteers walk door to door and he said it will make him a better lawmaker if he wins.

Like Reed, he is friendly and approachable. The floppy L. L. Bean Panama hat he wore to guard against the sun while precinct walking Sunday humanized his button-down shirt and striped tie.

Riding the Democratic tide, Friedman has been able to raise plenty of money, and he uses it well. Sunday, his headquarters on Ventura Boulevard was crowded with volunteers and huge mail sacks were piled up, awaiting delivery to the post office.

Before Friedman or his volunteer workers walk through precincts, a letter is sent to each house alerting residents to expect them. Afterward, the voters receive a thank you letter. Other mailings will be directed at the specific interests of the voters.

In addition, Bush’s collapse in California, plus a well-organized Democratic registration campaign, have improved the political climate in the district for Friedman. At the beginning of the election year, the district had a Democratic registration edge of 49% to 40%. Now Democrats lead 50% to 39%. “We had a great volunteer effort,” said Friedman. “And people are fed up with Bush, they are fed up with the status quo and they feel the Democratic Party is the party of change.”

Acknowledging the difficulty of their task, Republicans are speeding help to Reed. Wilson is hosting a $500-a-person fund-raising luncheon for her next week. Republican campaigners said $45,000 is going to Reed this week, $15,000 of it from the Assn. of California Insurance Carriers, a Wilson ally.

That will help. But Reed, knowing she’s the underdog, expects the Republican Party troubles to continue through Election Day. “There are no coattails,” she said. “We’re creating our own momentum.”