4 Candidates Seek to Make History

Deep in the shadows of California’s gubernatorial contest, four of the five top competitors for the governor’s understudy--his lieutenant--are quietly battling to make history.

* Democrat Cruz Bustamante, the former state Assembly speaker from Fresno, would become the first Latino elected to statewide office this century--a symbol of the growing power of the Latino electorate.

* His top competitor, former acting Secretary of State Tony Miller, would be the first openly gay lieutenant governor.

* On the Republican side, local travel company mogul Noel Irwin Hentschel would become California’s first female lieutenant governor, a gender trend in many other states.

* Her competition, state Sen. Tim Leslie (R-Tahoe City), would prove to himself and the state that an election-year brush with terminal cancer is not a political death sentence.

“There’s been a lot of people encouraged by what I’ve done already,” Leslie said. “You have a choice: Do you quit or do you go forward? And my message to everyone I talk to is, ‘Hey, don’t give up.’ ”

The fifth competitor, state Sen. Richard Mountjoy of Arcadia, is the only one who would break no records. And Mountjoy was slightly ahead in the polls last week among Republicans.

Do not assume that any of these lieutenant governor hopefuls toil in obscurity by choice. In fact, most politely complain that the news media have largely ignored them and--in the greatest injustice of all--the television stations don’t even want most of their paid advertising.

Because of the multimillion-dollar television buys made by the four leading gubernatorial candidates, even lieutenant governor candidates with money to spend are finding it tough to get their word out.

Political consultant Richie Ross, Bustamante’s campaign strategist, said he wanted to spend more than $700,000 this week on TV but can get stations to squeeze in only $500,000 worth.

That is a bigger headache for Bustamante, who has raised more than $1.3 million so far, than it is for Miller, who has raised only $38,000. Leslie has raised $130,000, Irwin Hentschel has raised nearly $375,000, and Mountjoy’s latest contribution report was not available.

In a state the size of California, being snubbed by television is particularly frustrating for candidates attempting to stand out in a field of 13. The other Republican candidate is organic rice company owner Ingrid Lundberg. Riverside Democrat Larry Reed also is running.

In addition, Los Angeles community college instructor Regina Lark and high school teacher Jaime Luis Gomez are running as Peace and Freedom candidates, environmental scientist Sara Amir is a Green, Santa Monican James Mangia is a Reform candidate, Calaveras County Supervisor Thomas Tryon is a Libertarian and contractor George McCoy an American Independent.

Polls have consistently shown that a majority of voters remain undecided in the race. So, day after day the major candidates travel up and down the state seeking votes, endorsements and money--speaking before civic groups, schmoozing at fund-raising receptions and sweating through meetings with newspaper editorial boards.

Each is trying to deliver a promise that is distinct from the others.

For Leslie it is to be a conservative Republican voice either in partnership with a Republican governor or in counterpoint to a Democrat. For Irwin Hentschel it is to use the experience of running a company to improve the business climate in California.

For Miller it is to broaden his quest for campaign spending limits. For Bustamante it is to use the goodwill built through running the Assembly to push through moderate liberal policies and legislation.

Though Mountjoy was a nose ahead in polls last week--at just 9%--the heated competition on the Republican side has been between political veteran Leslie and millionaire newcomer Irwin Hentschel. Witness this exchange during one of only two candidate forums so far--both on public radio--held at KQED-FM in San Francisco.

In discussing his credentials for the job, Leslie noted that Irwin Hentschel talks of what she could do as chairwoman of the Economic Development Commission as lieutenant governor.

“What she may not be aware of is that [the commission has] been de-funded and virtually [does] not exist anymore,” he said.

Unfazed, Irwin Hentschel shot back: “That’s why I would be the ideal lieutenant governor, because I have the ability to make sure that we do get funding for that in reaching out to the business community.”

While Mountjoy has publicized his conservative credentials--including authorship of Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigration initiative--Leslie’s campaign has focused directly on his major vulnerability: his recent brush with an often fatal form of bone cancer--multiple myeloma.

Leslie’s doctor says that after extensive treatment including chemotherapy, Leslie is in remission; his ads say he has “beat cancer.”

Irwin Hentschel finds herself fighting allegations that she is a political lightweight. Though she describes herself as a Republican activist of 15 years, records circulated by the Leslie campaign indicate that she may have voted only twice in the past 12 elections.

“I think it’s shocking that someone who hasn’t been voting would step up to the plate and run an expensive campaign to be lieutenant governor,” Leslie said.

Irwin Hentschel responded with a letter to Leslie, saying that she had voted regularly, on an absentee ballot. “It demeans you to make misleading allegations,” she wrote.

Then, the chairman of the Monterey County Republican Party weighed in:

“I don’t like anybody to be falsely accused of anything,” Brett Landon said. “So I did the research and found out Tim Leslie is pretty much right: She only voted in a third of the elections.”

An independent check of the records was impossible because they have been purged by the county registrar of voters.

On the Democratic side, both Bustamante and Miller are more or less career politicians. But Miller is running on his record of fighting politics as we know it--most recently as co-author of Proposition 208, the campaign contribution limits law stayed by the courts earlier this year.

Bustamante is running on experience, saying that his amicable departure from the speaker’s post--term limits prohibit him from remaining in the Assembly--ties him to the Legislature like no lieutenant governor before him.

“Many of the same chairs and people appointed by me are still there,” Bustamante said. “I have goodwill that other lieutenant governors have not had.”

But the brevity of his Assembly tenure--15 months as speaker and five years total in office--has caused some to question the value of his experience.

Though Bustamante bolted far ahead in the polls last week--at 19% compared to Miller’s 6%--Miller is counting on the free publicity offered through candidate statements in voter pamphlets--statements Miller initiated when he was secretary of state.

“People simply don’t focus on these down-ticket races until the very end,” Miller said. “It’s that last . . . Monday night when people sit down at their dining room tables and think through it.”