ELECTIONS / 37TH ASSEMBLY SEAT : Longtime Rivals Find Plenty to Disagree On

Assemblyman Nao Takasugi, a retired grocery store owner, ran for the Legislature two years ago because he wanted to bring a more businesslike attitude to Sacramento.

Since his election, the Oxnard Republican said, he has voted to reform workers’ compensation laws, give tax credits to manufacturing businesses and get the state budget passed on schedule for the first time in seven years.

Takasugi said he wants to return to the Assembly for another term to continue his work to boost the state’s economy and to make California more attractive to business.

“We need to roll out the red carpet for businesses and cut out the red tape,” said Takasugi, whose 37th Assembly District stretches from Oxnard to Thousand Oaks and Moorpark.

But Dorothy Maron, Takasugi’s Democratic opponent in the November election, paints a different picture of his effectiveness as a 72-year-old freshman legislator.

Not one to mince words, Maron described Takasugi as an “elitist” politician, more concerned about the interests of big business, particularly those who contribute to his campaign, than about the people he represents.

“He’s wrong for this district,” said Maron, 65, a former Oxnard councilwoman whose candidacy has resumed a decade-long grudge match with Takasugi. “He votes against the people.”

As an example, she cites his vote against a 2-cent sales tax on cigarette companies to help fund breast cancer research.

“That’s a vote against women,” Maron said, noting that Takasugi has received campaign contributions from tobacco giant Philip Morris U.S.A.

Takasugi defended his vote against the tax, saying he believed that breast cancer research should be funded by “a more permanent source of income.” He also said the proposed tax was unfair because such tobacco companies as Philip Morris not only sell cigarettes, but are involved in other businesses as well. Such a tax, he said, would hurt those businesses at a time when the state is trying to boost the economy.

“I’m not just for big business,” said Takasugi, a former grocery store owner. “I’ve been a small-business operator myself for 35 years.”

As for his Democratic opponent, Takasugi dismissed Maron’s criticisms as nothing more than the rabble-rousing of a desperate politician who has lost two elections in the last four years.

“She’s clutching at straws,” said Takasugi, who soundly defeated Maron in 1990 when she challenged him for his then job as mayor of Oxnard.

On other issues, Maron criticized Takasugi for voting against a bill signed into law recently by Gov. Pete Wilson. The bill, authored by Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria), bans offshore oil drilling along California’s 1,100-mile coastline, a ban that for the first time includes unprotected portions of Ventura County.

“I can’t believe he would vote against this,” said Maron, noting that Takasugi has also received large contributions from oil companies. “It’s our coastline. If we had a spill, can you imagine what a mess it would be?”

Takasugi said he voted against the bill because he believed it would hurt the local economy, of which the oil industry is a large part.

“I think a ban is bad for business,” Takasugi said. “Ventura County has been hit hard by the recession. This would be another hit to the local oil industry. That’s a very important part of our county economy.”

Republican leaders said that Takasugi has served his district well and that they don’t consider Maron a serious threat. Besides, they point out, voter registration in the district favors Republicans.

“We’re pretty confident this is a safe seat,” said Bob Larkin, chairman of Ventura County’s Republican Central Committee.

Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez, a Democrat who has endorsed Maron, said in order to win Maron would have to receive a large number of crossover votes.

“Whether she is able to do that will determine whether she is successful or not,” he said.

In the Assembly race, Takasugi and Maron quickly fell back into their longtime grudge match, trading charges of racism left over from their battles at City Hall.

“I’m sure folks out there will tell you I’m nutty to be in this race, and maybe I am,” said Maron, who has lent her cash-starved campaign $6,000. “But when things are not right, you have to try and make them right.”

Ironically, the two candidates were not always enemies. Indeed, it was Takasugi who encouraged Maron to first run for the Oxnard City Council in 1980.

“I thought she would make a good councilwoman,” he said.

Over the years, however, their relationship soured and the two often found themselves at odds with one another, until finally Maron announced that she would challenge Takasugi for mayor in 1990.

It was in the mayor’s race, Maron said, that Takasugi’s campaign made an issue of the fact that she was Jewish.

“They had people call up and ask voters, ‘How would you feel about having a Jew for mayor,’ ” Maron said. “About a half dozen people called to tell me” that they had received such calls.

Maron said the people who made the calls identified themselves as pollsters and were careful not to mention Takasugi’s name.

“I don’t believe he’s a racist,” Maron said. “What I do believe is that he is willing to use race against anyone who is running against him. And I think that’s awful, despicable.”

Takasugi denied Maron’s accusations.

“I don’t recall anything like that,” he said. “I wouldn’t have tolerated it. If there were any calls like that, I would have stopped it right then and there.”

Takasugi then pointed out that as a councilwoman Maron had voted to oust David Mora, Oxnard’s first Mexican-American city manager in a city that is more than 50% Latino. He said she also voted against reappointing Al Duff, a black, and Tony Grey, an Asian American, to the Planning Commission.

“In each case, I supported each one,” Takasugi said. “So if she’s calling me a racist, I would have to tell her ‘Go back, and take a look at your own record.’ Now who’s calling the kettle black.”

Maron said race had nothing to do with her votes involving Duff or Grey. In both instances, she said, she simply preferred other candidates--in one case a woman.

“My vote was never against anybody,” she said. “It was always for somebody.”

As for Mora, Maron said she voted to oust him not because he was a Latino but because he was willing to give up property taxes in order to lure developers to the city.

Still, both candidates, who reside in a city where half the population is Latino, are sensitive when it comes to issues of race.

One such issue is Proposition 187, the statewide ballot initiative that would bar illegal immigrants from schools, non-emergency health care and social services.

“I will vote against it,” Maron said, adding that she prefers instead to increase border patrols and to more aggressively enforce existing laws against employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Takasugi said he has decided not to take a public stand on Proposition 187 because it is an initiative that the people of California have chosen to put on the ballot.

But Takasugi said he believed illegal immigration is a major drain on the state’s economy, and that the government should look for ways to reduce or eliminate benefits to those who are here illegally.

“They’ve broken the law to come here,” he said. “They should not be expected to receive services when so many of our citizens have seen services cut back.”

35th Assembly District

Seeking his second term in the Legislature, Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard) faces Democratic challenger Dorothy Maron in the Nov. 8 election. The two candidates squared off four years ago in a mayoral election in Oxnard. Now the old adversaries are competing for votes in the 35th Assembly District, which includes most of the Conejo Valley, Moorpark and Oxnard.

Dorothy Maron

Age: 65

Party: Democrat

Residence: Oxnard

Occupation: Financial consultant

Education: Studied 3 1/2 years at Brooklyn College

Background: Resident of Oxnard for 37 years; served on the Planning Commission from 1970 to 1980; elected to the City Council in 1980 and served until 1992, when she was defeated in her reelection bid; ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1990 against then-Mayor Nao Takasugi.

Issues: Maron wants to help small businesses to expand by streamlining government regulations and providing tax incentives, fight to return more control to local school districts, work to protect the environment.

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Nao Takasugi

Age: 72

Party: Republican

Residence: Oxnard

Occupation: Assemblyman

Education: Master’s degree in business administration from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania; bachelor’s degree in accounting from Temple University

Background: Oxnard native was appointed to the city’s Planning Commission in 1974 and served 2 1/2 years; elected to the City Council in 1976; in the middle of his second term, he was elected mayor and served 10 years; elected to the state Assembly in 1992.

Issues: Takasugi wants to continue to eliminate excessive regulations on business and continue workers’ compensation reforms; supports elimination of parole for convicted murderers, elimination of conjugal visits in prison and enhanced penalties for arsonists.