Election Could Redefine Valley’s Legislative Voice

The candidates are busy banging on doors and putting the arm on potential supporters. More seats are open than at any time in recent San Fernando Valley political history. The two main parties, as well as Latino and women’s groups, are warring for the chance to significantly recast the Valley’s legislative voice in both Washington and Sacramento.

But while the state’s first-ever March primary is just four weeks away, the local election season has so far failed to ignite much interest among the public, despite races that have caught the collective eyes of political observers across the country.

California’s only two open congressional seats are up for grabs in the Valley; Republican and Democratic national leaders have identified them as key districts to defend or conquer. Voters in the northeast Valley have the chance to send the area’s first Latino lawmaker to the state Assembly. And religious conservatives continue to rise to prominence in the high desert.

But the local contests seem to have suffered in the shadow of presidential politics on the national level and from an earlier-than-ever state primary date that has sent candidates scrambling to get ready.

“Moving the primary up cut into the amount of preparation time people have,” said Republican pollster Arnold Steinberg. “There’s less money, less time, less awareness.”

A recent statewide survey showed that half of the state’s voters have no idea of the primary’s date. Only 16% knew it was in March.

“Everybody gets oversaturated,” added Northridge political consultant Paul Clarke. “They’ve heard presidential stuff for the last three months, and quite frankly, if you asked the man in the street, ‘Do you want to read about political campaigns or something else?’ something else would come first.”

Nonetheless, results of the two congressional races, an open race for the state Senate in Glendale and Burbank and five open Assembly contests from Palmdale to Glendale, and from North Hollywood to Northridge, could reverberate in both the national and state capitols.

In the 24th and 27th districts, being vacated by retiring Reps. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) and Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale), party leaders have targeted the seats as vulnerable and crucial in the battle to control the House of Representatives. They are the only two open congressional seats in the state and, on paper, could be won by either party.

Beilenson’s district, which stretches from Thousand Oaks to Malibu and includes large chunks of the Valley’s hillside communities, is difficult terrain for a Democrat.

His Republican opponent of two years ago, businessman Rich Sybert, is making another bid for office, this time without an incumbent in his path. Sybert, who by year’s end had raised nearly $112,000, some of it for old campaign debts, faces less well-known Republicans Stephen C. Brecht and K. Paul Jhin in the primary.

Six Democrats will mix it up on their side of the ballot.

The leading Democratic candidate, Board of Equalization member Brad Sherman, has support from organized labor and many Democratic officeholders. He jump-started his campaign with a $275,000 personal loan and had raised $12,000 by the end of last year, the last available records for congressional candidates.

His opponents are teacher Craig Freis, professor Michael Jordan, consultant Elizabeth Knipe, businessman/attorney Jeffrey A. Lipow and financial planner Mark S. Pash.

In the race to replace Moorhead, popular Assemblyman James Rogan (D-Glendale) has an immediate edge in what has traditionally been a Republican seat. He has one primary opponent, Pasadena resident Joe Paul.

But Democrats no longer concede this district, which because of expanded boundaries and a registration drive now tilts slightly Democratic, though not enough to overcome Republicans’ greater propensity to vote.

“The registration is coming our way, but it’s not there yet,” said Democratic consultant Larry Levine.

Vying to oppose Rogan are Democrat Barry Gordon, an actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, and businessman Doug Kahn, a perennial candidate. Gordon has amassed strong support from fellow Democrats such as Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) and has heavy backing from labor groups, women’s groups and the entertainment industry. His latest campaign report indicates he had about $26,000 on hand at the end of the year, with several major fund-raisers scheduled.

Gordon said many area Republicans “are sick and tired of the extreme right-wing agenda” and may vote for him, rather than Rogan. “I’m the only candidate who can beat Rogan,” he said.

Kahn has more money than Gordon, chiefly his $400,000 personal loan to the campaign. He also has the advantage of being a familiar name from his past efforts as a candidate.

“How in the world does Barry Gordon beat a guy [Kahn] who most of the Democrats in the district have voted for two times?” asked Levine, who is not involved in the race.

In the open Assembly races, with voter registration heavily tilted toward one party or the other, winning the primary is tantamount to election.

In the northeast Valley, half a dozen candidates are fighting to succeed veteran Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), forced out of his safely Democratic seat in the 39th District by term limits.

The district--drawn to concentrate the voting strength of Latinos, who make up the majority of residents but only a quarter of registered voters--offers the best chance to elect the Valley’s first Latino state legislator.

Realtor Tony Cardenas, 32, has racked up endorsements from several Latino groups and lawmakers and also from the state Democratic Party.

But Cardenas faces stiff opposition for the Democratic nomination from Valerie Salkin, 29, an attorney for the state Board of Equalization who has the backing of women’s organizations and high-profile local female politicians, such as Los Angeles City Council members Laura Chick and Jackie Goldberg. Both Salkin and former professional baseball player Jim Dantona, 47, another strong challenger for the Democratic nod, have raised twice as much cash as Cardenas.

“I’m really trying to appeal to everybody. I don’t view myself as just a women’s candidate,” Salkin said. “The background and experience I have on job issues and criminal justice issues transcend gender.”

She also brushed aside criticism that her upbringing in West Los Angeles puts her out of touch with the concerns of the northeast Valley and Latinos.

Both Cardenas and Dantona trumpet their longtime residency in the Valley.

“The fact that I was born and raised here puts me in touch with the community better than anything else,” including his Latino heritage, said Cardenas, who identifies education and an increase in the minimum wage as other high priorities.

In the Antelope Valley, Republican candidates competing for the nomination in the 36th Assembly District hope to draw on support from the religious right, which has become increasingly influential in local politics.

Indeed, two of the leading GOP candidates, school board member Billy A. Pricer and Lancaster Mayor George Runner, have close ties to Christian conservatives, setting up a contest where the religious vote could be split to the benefit of longtime Santa Clarita City Councilman George L. Pederson.

But both Pricer and Runner characterize their support as broader than the Christian right and their credentials as the distinction between them.

“There are some similarities in George Runner’s and my background, but when you get to actual experience . . . there’s a world of difference,” said Pricer, who cited his background in the military and in law enforcement as a former sheriff’s deputy.

Pricer, whose major claim to political fame lies in his successful drive to bring down the controversial California Learning Assessment Program tests two years ago, said: “I’ve been a proven fighter. I don’t think he’s [Runner] really faced tough issues.”

But Runner, founder of Desert Christian School, noted that he has the backing of local sheriff’s deputies, not Pricer, and that Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) has endorsed his candidacy.

“I have broad legislative support. I’m the only nonincumbent who has Speaker Pringle’s endorsement,” Runner said.

Also running for the GOP nomination is Barbara Hogan, a Littlerock businesswoman. On the Democratic side, David Cochran of Santa Clarita is running unopposed.

In the strongly Democratic 40th Assembly District in the mid-Valley, two candidates with deep roots in the local political establishment are battling for the Democratic nomination: attorney Bob Hertzberg, who is close to county government figures, and Francine Oschin, an aide to Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson.

Hertzberg has waited three years to run for the seat, currently held by Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman, and has garnered more than $180,000 in contributions since 1993, much of it from fellow lawyers and some from political action committees representing real estate agents, dentists and other professional groups.

Hertzberg points to the sheaf of endorsements he has received from Friedman herself, former county Supervisor Ed Edelman and Supervisor Gloria Molina, among others.

Oschin, who has raised $56,000, said she has not actively pursued partisan endorsements so ardently as her opponent.

“I do not belong to the Democrats. They do not own me,” she said. “I don’t want to be beholden.”

On the GOP side, contenders for the nomination are H.R. (Ron) Culver, Michael McGarr and David J. Ozeran.

The 43rd Assembly District race is flush with Republican hopefuls, nine of them, who want to replace Rogan in this Glendale-Burbank area. Their debate, over who’s the true Republican, and what a true Republican is, echoes the public soul-searching that has made the Republican presidential primaries so strident.

Candidates include Moorhead deputy Pete Musurlian, who this week sent a mailer equating rival Sheldon S. Baker with former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. Baker, a Glendale councilman, defines himself as a conservative, though he apparently doesn’t meet Musurlian’s litmus test.

Other candidates include businessman and political newcomer John Geranios, Los Angeles Police Officer Peter Repovich and Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Missakian. The lone Democrat running is teacher Scott Wildman.

With Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills) unable to run again because of term limits, a bunch of Republicans have jumped into the primary in this safe GOP district. Among them are former Assemblyman Tom McClintock, trying for a political comeback, who raised $145,833 in the first six weeks of the year, much of it loans from Republican officeholders. The other contenders are businessman Ross Hopkins, insurance agent Bob Larkin, consultant Steve Frank, retired health clinic director Peggy Freeman and retired Deputy Sheriff Robert Hamlin.

Boland, meanwhile, is trying for the region’s only open state Senate seat, which is centered in Glendale and Burbank, far away from her home base in Granada Hills.

There she faces three business candidates--Robert Oltman, Wilbert L. Smith and Sharon R. Beauchamp--and charges that she is a carpetbagger.

Her opponents say moving into the district to run will hurt her with voters, who prefer home-grown legislators. But Boland said she used to represent chunks of the 21st, including Sunland-Tujunga and La Crescenta, and can attract votes with her experience on crime and support for the breakup of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“People want someone who’s gone and done it already,” Boland said.

Boland’s and Smith’s campaigns say they caught Oltman in a contradiction this week when he told voters at a forum that he voted against Proposition 187, while his literature says he favored it.

But Oltman’s consultant, Bob Gouty, said his candidate was sandbagged into making a mistake. He offered a letter from the leader of the immigration reform group, Save Our State, endorsing Oltman. “It’s all straightened out,” Gouty said.

Don’t bet on it.

The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Adam Schiff in the general election.

In less hotly contested elections, Democratic incumbents Sheila J. Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) and Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) are running unopposed for their party’s nominations in the 41st and 42nd Assembly districts, respectively. In the 44th District, incumbent William Hoge (R-Pasadena) is also running for reelection and is up against two lesser-known Republicans for the GOP nomination in next month’s primary.

State Sens. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) and William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale) are also seeking reelection. Knight will battle past candidate Phil Wyman and James L. Cox for the Republican nod in the 17th District, while Hayden has no Democratic opponent in the 23rd District primary.

And three incumbent congressmen--Howard Berman (D-Panorama City), Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles)--face token or no opposition for their party’s nominations in the primary.