Campaign Dateline / Paul Feldman : A window on the California elections. : Candidate Hopes His Name Ensures a Schwing Vote

After launching his campaign for reelection to the Yorba Linda City Council, Mark Schwing noticed that his yard signs were disappearing at a dizzying rate.

At first, he was flummoxed.

“Usually, if kids are malicious, they’ll rip the sign off the stake. But we were losing the wooden stake and everything,” he said.

The picture turned clear, however, when Schwing visited his optometrist and the receptionist begged him for a sign for her 7-year-old child.

Why? Schwing asked. Check out the hit film “Wayne’s World,” she said.

As Schwing quickly discovered, the expression “Schwing!” had been popularized in the film as a bon mot uttered when an “excellent babe” walked past.

Schwing claims that nearly 300 of his cardboard yard signs have been swiped by young collectors. “But I’ve become an overnight cult hero,” said the 52-year-old aerospace program manager, whose past council record includes voting to reject an elderly housing complex across the street from the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace and speaking out against the planting of palm trees in his “rural” suburb because of their resemblance to power poles.

Whether Schwing’s newfound prominence will give an extra boost to his political career is not yet clear. That is, as long as the voting age is never lowered beneath the age of 18.

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Hold the workshop: The latest indication of the level of frustration over the state’s recent 63-day budget stalemate comes from the California Chapter of the American Planning Assn.

For the first time in memory, the Sacramento-based group has canceled its annual legislative workshop. The above ad--taken from the group’s California Planner magazine--is for a $25 written report summarizing legislation affecting city, county and state planners.

Californians on State Aid

In a recent Times poll of Californians, 24% of those surveyed said they or someone in their household receives some type of financial assistance from the state, such as Medi-Cal, welfare, Supplemental Social Security, unemployment insurance, college aid or other assistance. Here are the percentages of population subgroups who report that their households receive some type of assistance: 50% of those with household incomes of $20,000 or less

24% of those with incomes of $20,000-$40,000

9% of those with incomes over $40,000

30% of women

19% of men

48% of blacks

33% of Latinos

19% of Anglos

36% of those 18 to 25

30% of those over 65

29% of those from households with children

28% of non-registered voters

23% of registered voters

30% of Democrats

29% of independents

14% of Republicans

28% of liberals

20% of conservatives

29% of rural dwellers

26% of city dwellers

20% of suburbanites

Source: Los Angeles Times Poll of 1,695 California adults conducted Sept. 10-13.

Margin of sampling error: plus or minus 3 percentage points for full sample, somewhat higher for subgroups.

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Guess who’s coming to breakfast? In the course of her campaign for U.S. Senate, Democrat Barbara Boxer has criticized the Senate Judiciary Committee for its handling of the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas.

“Can you believe those 14 men never confronted him about his answer on Roe v. Wade ?,” Boxer was quoted as saying in a California Journal article. “It’s not a matter of whether they come from the North or the South, or whether they are liberal or conservative. It’s about whether they are dead or alive.”

This week, the chairman of that committee, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the featured guest at a $1,000-per-person Boxer fund-raiser.

The appearance is being termed “a delicious taste of irony” by the campaign manager for Boxer’s Senate foe, Republican Bruce Herschensohn. “She uniformly criticizes the entire committee,” said Ken Khachigian. “Now she wants him to help her raise money.”

Boxer campaign officials respond that Herschensohn has himself campaigned with politicians he has criticized in the past, including Vice President Dan Quayle.

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Bush trashed: The results have been tabulated in what might be termed the California Municipal Garbage Poll. And the clear verdict is to throw out President Bush.

The mock presidential preference poll, sponsored by waste disposal giant Browning-Ferris Industries, was taken among 320 officials who attended the firm’s cocktail party at the League of California Cities annual conference last week.

Bill Clinton received 52%, Bush, 28%, and Ross Perot, 16%.

Like some of their constituents, several city officials cast protest write-ins instead--for Mickey Mouse, None of the Above and Hillary Clinton, according to Browning-Ferris officials.

EXIT LINE

“I can best describe this Congress by saying it is out of touch with its constituents, out of control in its spending and out of sight in its arrogance. And I am hopeful the voters will rotate out all the rascals, myself excluded obviously . . .”

Sen. John Seymour in an interview with a Times reporter.

Campaign Dateline appears every Monday.