4 Republicans, Lone Democrat Compete for Open Seat

The Republican women who showed up for a lunch of chicken Caesar salad at the Long Beach Yacht Club were faced with the toughest of choices as they listened to three of the GOP candidates running in the Legislature’s 54th Assembly District primary election.

Should they support Long Beach City Councilman Doug Drummond, a local political fixture whom most of the women had supported over the years?

What about Rancho Palos Verdes City Councilwoman Marilyn Lyon, a longtime volunteer with various state and local Republican organizations?

And then there was Long Beach city prosecutor Julie Alban, at 32 something of a local folk hero because of her highly publicized battle to overcome a devastating gunshot wound.

Ten years ago, Alban, the daughter of a prominent Long Beach surgeon, was shot in the back by her then-boyfriend. The bullet, fired by Bradley Ackerman, the stepson of Daniel H. Ridder, a former chairman of the Long Beach Press-Telegram, left her paralyzed from the waist down.

The shooting, and Ackerman’s subsequent trial and conviction, were followed closely by local residents, including many women in the room, because of the prominence of the two families.

Now Alban, a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair, was asking for their help, while replaying the tragedy.

Alban has put together a brief video that contains snippets of interviews and features done on her by national television shows, and she played it for the 35 women at the yacht club.

“He fired a shot right into the middle of my back,” Alban says in one interview. “I got life--he got 7 1/2 years.”

Alban said her former boyfriend, now a tennis pro, had his original life sentence overturned on appeal and plea bargained for a lighter sentence.

And that led into the main theme of her campaign--the rights of crime victims like herself and plea bargaining that allows many defendants to serve reduced sentences.

The women nodded sympathetically. But if they had made up their minds about whom they would support, they weren’t saying.

A fourth Republican candidate is also in the primary, Alva Romero Personius, a homemaker from Rolling Hills Estates. An ardent anti-abortion activist, Personius, who tried unsuccessfully to have her ballot designation list her as a grandmother, said she entered the race to publicize her opposition to abortion.

For the Democratic nomination, Long Beach City Councilman Alan Lowenthal, a well-established local officeholder, is expected to handily defeat his lone opponent, Sandor Jay Sonnen, a public school teacher who said he has never run for office before.

The lack of a strong primary challenge has allowed Lowenthal to build a base of support that includes labor groups, environmental organizations and Democratic officeholders.

There is also a Libertarian Party candidate, businessman Al Carlan of Rancho Palos Verdes, and an American Independent candidate, businessman George P. “Phil” Drake of Long Beach. Neither is opposed for their party’s nomination.

On the Republican side, the fight is expected to boil down to a battle between Alban, Drummond and Lyon, and voting is expected to be close.

Along with deciding the candidates who will battle in the general election, the race in the 54th District will provide a look at the blanket primary system. For the first time in modern California political history, primary voters will be able to cast ballots for candidates from any party, the result of a political reform initiative approved in 1996. That makes swing voters key, and the 54th District has them in abundance.

The 54th District, which runs from the Orange County line through Long Beach to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and includes San Pedro, Signal Hill and parts of Hawaiian Gardens, is home to voters with a history of going with a Democrat one election and a Republican the next. It leans to Democrats in registration, 45% to 39%, but it is being represented in the Legislature by a Republican--Assemblyman Steve Kuykendall of Rancho Palos Verdes, who is giving up his seat to run for Congress.

As a result, Alban, Drummond and Lyon have been campaigning for Democratic votes. Alban rarely mentions being a Republican in her literature and has been sending out mass mailings to Democrats and Republicans. Lyon, although she has the strongest Republican credentials, is also mailing material to Democrats. Drummond hopes two victorious nonpartisan City Council elections will pull votes for him from the other party.

But no one knows how the blanket primary will play out.

“I think I have some loyal Democrats who will vote for me, but I just don’t know,” Drummond said. “It’s a real puzzle. You find yourself spending more money. In a primary, you don’t just mail to Republicans anymore.”

Among Republicans, having three well-known candidates in the same primary has created troubling choices.

“This is a very, very tough race for us,” said one middle-aged Republican activist who spoke on condition of anonymity. She said she and her husband usually agree about candidates--but not in this election. “Our family will probably split the vote,” she said, drawing understanding nods from others at her table.

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At campaign stops and in mailings, Alban never misses an opportunity to remind voters about the shooting.

“Dear Friend,” began one letter soliciting support from a district voter, “Ten years ago, I was shot in the back by a former boyfriend, which left me paralyzed from the waist down.”

Although critics complain about her efforts to generate sympathy, they do so cautiously because her story is so compelling.

Alban was 22 with a bright future when Ackerman, just a year older and a lifelong friend, burst into her bedroom at her parents’ house early one morning and shot her. He then shot himself. (Although he was seriously injured, he eventually recovered.)

Alban’s ensuing struggle, first with the paralyzing injury and then to get through law school, won her numerous fans in Long Beach. For the last several years, she has prosecuted criminal cases with the city prosecutor’s office.

Drummond, a retired police commander, avoids discussing Alban’s disability, unlike Lyon, who is openly critical of Alban.

“I don’t know how to deal with it,” Drummond said.

Lyon, who has her own business development and marketing business in Long Beach, called Alban “a 32-year-old who is bankrolled by her father,” a reference to the about $250,000 Alban and her parents have put into the campaign.

“Since when does being a victim qualify you for the Legislature?” asked Tom Shortridge, a Lyon political advisor.

During campaign appearances, Alban talks mostly about the need for tougher criminal penalties and her desire to boost education programs. Lyon also talks about crime and education, as well as opposing tax increases. Drummond cultivates the image of a hard-working public servant.

Suggestions that she is somehow benefiting from the shooting infuriates Alban, who specializes in prosecuting domestic violence cases for the city. Off the job, she volunteers at battered women’s shelters and lobbies for services for the handicapped.

“I’d give up everything to get my legs back,” Alban said in response to comments from the Lyon camp. “If anything, my wheelchair has only presented me with obstacles.”