6 Republicans Raise Money to Succeed Boland

Bolstered by a $79,000 loan to his own campaign, Canoga Park businessman Ross Hopkins leads the pack of six Republican candidates amassing dollars to pursue the Assembly seat being vacated by Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills).

Hopkins’ Assembly campaign had raised $133,338 and had $91,333 left on hand as of Dec. 31, according to financial disclosure statements filed Wednesday.

Yet the bulk of the money is a loan from Hopkins’ personal finances. “If I need it to win, I will spend it,” he said.

Steve Frank, a Simi Valley-based government-affairs consultant, had the second highest amount of contributions in the race for the 38th Assembly District, which encompasses western portions of the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys and sections of Ventura County. Frank reported a total of $65,257 raised for his campaign, with $44,860 left on hand at the end of the year. He said his contributors include attorneys pleased about his opposition to two March ballot propositions that limit contingency fees for attorneys in personal-injury cases and block lawsuits related to automobile-caused deaths and injuries.

Bob Larkin, a Simi Valley insurance agent, raised $53,921 as part of his Assembly bid, but had only $12,896 left in the bank as of Dec. 31. Larkin said he has had hefty campaign expenses, including mailing letters to 15,000 Republican voters in the area.

Larkin said the figures do not reflect a big fund-raiser he has planned next month, co-hosted by Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury. Bradbury, a local Republican power-broker, recently endorsed Larkin’s candidacy over the other five GOP contenders.

Tom McClintock, a former Assemblyman from Thousand Oaks who recently jumped into the race, reported $52,429 in contributions and $40,447 in the bank.

The donations included a public- opinion survey worth $4,750 that was conducted by one of the state’s richest and most conservative special-interest groups. The results of that poll drew McClintock into the race at the last minute.

McClintock campaign manager Tony Strickland said he expects a flurry of additional contributions when his candidate taps his rich list of 8,000 people who have donated cash to McClintock’s previous races for Assembly and unsuccessful bids for state controller and Congress.

The campaign-finance report for Peggy Freeman, a retired director of a Santa Clarita Valley community health clinic, showed overall contributions of $47,731 with $10,540 in cash left over as of Dec. 31. She said her contributors are not special interests, but individuals in the area who know her reputation as someone who “has solutions, not just rhetoric.”

Robert Hamlin, a retired deputy sheriff who lives in Castaic, came in last among Republicans competing for the open Assembly seat. Hamlin has raised $217 so far in his campaign and has no cash left over. He said he will hold his first fund-raising event this month.

The winner of the March 26 Republican primary will go on in November to face one of two Democratic candidates: Jon M. Lauritzen, a high school mathematics teacher from Chatsworth, or David Ross, a computer software engineer. Lauritzen raised $3,083, including $2,000 of his own money, he said. Ross had raised less than $1,000, as of Dec. 31

The campaign-finance statement of State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) showed $168,182 in contributions, with $15,636 in cash and $20,000 in unpaid debts. Wright faces no primary opponent. Her Democratic opponent, John Birke, a Chatsworth attorney, was out of town and unavailable for comment.