Wilson Giving $800,000 for Key Races

With battleground legislative contests going right down to the wire on election day, Gov. Pete Wilson has decided to pump at least $800,000 from his own campaign treasury into crucial state Assembly and Senate races to help Republican candidates.

The governor in recent months has amassed about $1 million, according to his spokesman Sean Walsh. The governor, who easily won a second term in 1994, is barred by term limits from seeking reelection.

“The bottom line is that we need Republicans in the Legislature to continue the governor’s agenda for the next two years,” Walsh said, adding that the donations probably will be weighted toward hot races for the Assembly, where the GOP in 1994 won a narrow majority for the first time in a quarter of a century.

Walsh declined to pinpoint for which races checks will begin to be cut this weekend. He said the contributions are part of a multi-pronged strategy that includes having Wilson stump for GOP hopefuls and headline local fund-raising events, which have raised nearly $2 million since April.

In the wake of his failed presidential campaign, which remains in debt, Wilson has been criticized for being too focused on national issues.

But Republicans say the governor’s political strategy of helping GOP candidates reflects a desire to be actively engaged in advancing a state agenda--including expanding his plan to reduce the size of public school classrooms--during his final two years in office.

The governor’s donations are expected to provide a shot in the arm to Republicans who fret that President Clinton’s strong support among California voters will provide Democrats an advantage in down-ticket races, especially in swing districts.

Wilson’s pledge of financial support will slow the momentum Democrats began to build earlier this month when the president headlined a fund-raiser on the set of the movie “Back to the Future” at Universal Studios that attracted an estimated $200,000 for Assembly Democrats seeking to recapture their majority.

With just over a week to go, the outcome of Assembly campaigns is probably too close to call.

“This is a battle to the finish and we are certainly engaged,” said Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove). Although some Republicans privately boast of adding two or three seats, Pringle is more cautious about predicting whether he will pad his slim 41-vote majority.

“Our goal is 41. Our focus is 41. We aren’t interested in over-reaching . . . we’re interested in getting 41,” Pringle said.

Assembly Democratic Leader Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who is prohibited by term limits from seeking reelection, said the Assembly is not sewed up by either side, but he voiced guarded optimism.

“I think it’s a pretty even fight right now,” Katz said. “But I think it will be a Democratic majority when it’s over.

The lineup now is 41 Republicans, 36 Democrats, one Reform Party member and two vacancies in seats considered safely in the Democratic column.

The Nov. 5 election will determine whether the 1994 election--when Democrats lost eight seats and the Assembly majority--was a two-year aberration or marked the start of a political shift in the lower house.

It will decide, too, whether Republicans for the first time in 40 years can control the Assembly after two straight legislative sessions.

In the Senate, Democrats are expected to maintain their hold on power, with Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) plowing millions of dollars into key races, including contests in the Glendale area, Long Beach and San Diego.

The key to legislative races probably will be voter turnout, which will hinge on the amount of money spent in races to fire up interest and how engaged Clinton will be in California to energize Democrats down the home-stretch.

Voter turnout will be influenced, too, by various labor or environmental groups mounting campaigns on behalf of Democrats. One group formed to protest Pringle’s appointees to the Coastal Commission has launched “Vote the Coast” to elect Democrats in hopes of shifting the balance of power on the coastal protection panel.

Among the candidates these environmentalists are seeking to boost is Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey), who is being challenged by Republican Dan Walker, a Torrance city councilman.

Also on the group’s list is Democrat Virginia Strom-Martin, a Sonoma County teacher, who is facing Republican businesswoman Margie Handley of Willits in a North Coast tiff for the seat being vacated by Assemblyman Dan Hauser (D-Arcata).

The importance of both contests has been underscored by Wilson, who last week campaigned with Handley and plans an appearance this week for Walker.

Pringle said both of these coastal races are among half a dozen key contests. He cited four others that also rank among top Democratic priorities, including:

* A rematch between Democratic Assemblywoman Susan Davis, a former San Diego school board member, and conservative businessman Bob Trettin, whom GOP legislators are strongly backing. Davis narrowly beat Trettin two years ago.

* A hotly contested challenge centered in Pasadena of staunch conservative Republican Assemblyman Bill Hoge by former Pasadena City College President Jack Scott. Democrats are hopeful because of questions raised about Hoge’s financial dealings. Pringle said Hoge has managed to get through two bruising races and will survive.

* Another rematch of a close 1994 contest in the Salinas area between Republican Assemblyman Peter Frusetta and Democrat Lily Cervantes, a former member of the Coastal Commission. Rancher Frusetta is the top target of Assembly Democrats but is proving tough to unseat.

* A Central Valley face-off between Democrat Dennis Cardoza and Republican Tom Berryhill for the seat being vacated by Sal Cannella (D-Ceres). The Democratic Party is moving money to businessman Cardoza in hopes of keeping a toe-hold in the state’s agricultural heartland. Pringle said the district is turning more friendly to Republicans.

Times staff writers Dave Lesher in Sacramento and Nancy Hill-Holtzman in Los Angeles contributed to this story.