ELECTIONS / 37TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Democrat Hopes GOP Women Will Vote for Her

With abortion as one of this year’s most visible election issues, some Republican women in Ventura County predict that many of their party’s members will break ranks and vote for Democrats who reflect their views favoring abortion rights.

Democratic Assembly candidate Roz McGrath is counting on such crossover voting to overcome a 45%-41% voter registration advantage held by Republicans in the 37th Assembly District that stretches from Thousand Oaks to Oxnard.

But unlike some Democratic candidates, McGrath faces a Republican opponent who also favors abortion rights and even shares with her an endorsement from the California Abortion Rights Action League, the state’s top advocacy group on the issue.

“As a voter I would have no problems supporting Roz,” said Republican Marla Buckert, a member of the National Women’s Political Caucus. “But I think that she has a real tough race. It’s not like some races where you have two very opposite candidates.”

McGrath, a 45-year old Camarillo resident, and some Republican women have tried to challenge Takasugi’s commitment to abortion rights.

But Takasugi has worked to rob McGrath of this election issue by insisting that he opposes the National Republican Party platform plank calling for a ban on abortion. And, Takasugi believes that there will be little, if any, crossover voting in this race.

“I have enough confidence in voters here,” Takasugi said. “I am pleased with the response that I have been getting as I walk through the district.”

Meanwhile, Takasugi, 70, has maintained a considerable financial advantage, raising about $250,000 to finance his campaign compared to $44,000 for McGrath. He points out that he also has far greater name identification in Oxnard, after 10 years as mayor and six years as a councilman in the largest city in the district.

Takasugi, who is vying to become the first Asian-American elected to the Legislature since 1978, has stressed his leadership experience, noting that voters have elected him to office seven times.

John Davies, Takasugi’s campaign manager, says his candidate has a comfortable lead. He said a Takasugi-financed poll last week showed the mayor nearly 20 points ahead, including a solid following from Republican men and women.

McGrath said she has conducted her own poll earlier this month that indicates that she is within striking distance. Her poll, she said, showed Takasugi 7% ahead with 28% of the voters undecided.

In her campaign, McGrath has attempted to appeal to women of both political parties and has surrounded herself with Democratic women candidates, includinS. Senate candidate Barbara Boxer and Ventura County’s Democratic congressional candidate Anita Perez Ferguson.

In fact, the three share campaign headquarters in Camarillo donated by unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate Daphne Becker.

The businesswoman offered the office space in a gesture of solidarity in what she and others hope will be the Year of the Woman in politics. Becker and other moderate Republicans believe that the Republican Party official position on abortion and other conservative stances have set the stage for mass defection on Tuesday.

“Most everyone that I know who is a Republican is voting for any Democrat who seems to reflect their views on abortion and related issues,” said Republican Marlene Alexander of Thousand Oaks, who is actively campaigning for U. S. Senate candidate Barbara Boxer, a Democrat.

“I am one of many Republicans in Ventura County who are strongly pro-choice and who are concerned about the influence of the fundamentalist, right-wing of the Republican Party,” she added. “Many Republican women in the county are tending to want to vote for women who are strongly pro-choice.”

For the past decade, the 37th Assembly seat has been held by Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), who has decided to run for Congress. Earlier this year the district boundaries were redrawn to encompass Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and most of Thousand Oaks.

Over the past few months, McGrath has hammered away at Takasugi’s record as mayor of Oxnard, criticizing controversial development deals approved by the City Council.

McGrath, a schoolteacher and manager of her family’s historic farm, accuses him of being the point man in carving up rich farmland surrounding Oxnard.

“That’s what thoroughly ticks me off about this man,” McGrath said Wednesday. “The fact is that under his tenure as mayor, over 4,000 acres have been paved over in the Oxnard Plain.”

After months of enduring attacks against his record, Takasugi went on the offensive last week by accusing his opponent of seeking to develop agricultural land farmed by the McGrath family for more than 100 years.

He produced a 1984 letter by William McGrath, Roz McGrath’s father, asking that a 16-acre parcel west of Camarillo Airport be developed. He also produced a deed showing Roz and Roger McGrath, brother and sister, as owners.

“She can’t talk out of both sides of her mouth,” said Takasugi this week. “I’m not going to sit there and let her attack me without bringing out the situation she is involved in.”

His countercharges put McGrath on the defensive. Near a lettuce field on Wednesday, Roz McGrath and her father William held a news conference to rebut the mayor’s charges.

William McGrath acknowledged that he requested a zoning change years ago that never resulted in development. Last year, the land was deeded to Roz McGrath and her eight brothers and sisters. The family owns 300 acres, half of which are preserved in a greenbelt. She said there are no plans to develop the other half of the land.

“He is trying to portray me as a pro-development candidate, which is ludicrous,” she said. “Look at what he has done to Oxnard.”