Democrat in Key Assembly Race Concedes Defeat

A Democratic assemblywoman from Long Beach whose election loss tipped the state Assembly in favor of the Republicans officially conceded defeat Tuesday, but not before taking a shot at Philip Morris Co. for giving her opponent a last-minute cash infusion.

“That’s disturbing,” said Assemblywoman Betty Karnette, who lost to Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Steve Kuykendall by 597 votes. “I just sort of think that I am conceding against the tobacco industry.”

But Kuykendall defended the $125,000 contribution as part of the political process, and some of his supporters called Karnette’s comment sour grapes.

“One thing about elections is that you have to be very pragmatic,” Kuykendall said at an afternoon news conference. “You must use the system in place to your full advantage, because you can be sure that your opponent will.”

Kuykendall’s win gives Republicans a 41-39 majority in the Assembly, which in turn could end Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown’s longtime hold on his powerful post when the new Assembly returns Monday. Because of what was at stake in the tight Kuykendall-Karnette race, both parties had sent teams of representatives to the Los Angeles County registrar’s office, where the final absentee ballots were counted in the weeks after the election.

“I’m happy to be part of the process of removing Speaker Brown from his post,” said Kuykendall, flanked by supporters who wore T-shirts emblazoned with the number 41. “The election turned out to be far more momentous than any of us believed.”

Yet some state Democrats have hinted that they will mount a recall campaign against Kuykendall for taking the Philip Morris contribution, believed to be a record lump sum from a single donor to an Assembly campaign. The candidate accepted the donation the weekend before the election and used the money to finance three late mailers. But voters were not aware of the contribution because it was first reported to the California secretary of state the day before balloting.

Karnette, a former schoolteacher who voted for anti-smoking legislation in her freshman term in Sacramento, said she believes that the tobacco giant “wanted to use an Assembly member as an example.”

“It was to show the power of the tobacco industry,” she said.

But she stopped short of supporting a recall effort against Kuykendall.

“The votes are in now,” she said. “I wish Mr. Kuykendall the best.”

Kuykendall, a real estate broker and ex-Marine, doubts that any recall effort would work, given that he backed anti-smoking measures in Rancho Palos Verdes and voted against the Philip Morris-supported Proposition 188. He said he made sure that the company knew his anti-smoking stance before it gave him the money.

Philip Morris, he noted, also owns real estate development firms, Kraft Foods and Miller Beer, and “has more at stake in California than tobacco.”

“Yes, people will always say it was the tobacco money” that propelled him to victory, Kuykendall said at his news conference. “But I’ve got such a definitive record already.”

USC political science professor Larry Berg said Kuykendall can expect more scrutiny of his voting record, given the contribution.

“He’s got some big-time problems (in the next election) if he supports the weakening of some of the tobacco legislation,” Berg said.