McClintock Plans to Run for Wright’s State Senate Seat

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge) has raised $112,000 to begin a long-distance run for the state Senate seat being vacated next year by veteran Simi Valley lawmaker Cathie Wright.

McClintock, 42, who has formed a Senate campaign committee and padded his treasury with a flurry of Christmastime contributions, said Tuesday that he will soon formally announce his candidacy.

The longest-serving woman in the Legislature, Wright, 69, represents a district that includes most of Ventura County and portions of the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys. A lawmaker since 1980, she cannot seek reelection because of term limits.

“I represented half of that Senate district for 10 years,” McClintock said, “and now I represent the other half in my current seat. I don’t know of anyone who comes close to that level of experience and visibility in that district.”

McClintock, whose 38th Assembly District includes Simi Valley and Fillmore, said his early announcement lets opponents know what they are up against.

“My experience is if you see 10 opponents running toward you, nine are likely to run into a ditch before they get to you,” he said. “I plan to run a full campaign, and I’m very comfortable out of the starting gate.”

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One likely opponent in the Republican primary is former Assemblyman and onetime Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi, who survived a severe heart attack in June.

Takasugi said Tuesday that he has asked his doctor, his wife and his god whether he should seek yet another elective office at age 76.

“They all said, ‘yes,’ ” he said.

So with his heart on the mend from quintuple-bypass surgery, the encouragement of his wife, Judy, and his faith intact, Takasugi has taken the next step.

He has commissioned a pollster to see what voters think in Ventura County, where he has never lost a race, and in Los Angeles County, where he has never run.

That sampling will be done this weekend.

“I’ve always felt [McClintock] would be running, and certainly he is a formidable opponent,” Takasugi said. “But I think I have some good arguments to offer to the public.”

His greatest achievement in three Assembly terms was his bedrock opposition to new taxes, he said.

Takasugi said he would be running with the blessing of Wright, a rival of McClintock’s for almost two decades.

“A month ago,” he said, “before a group of 40 or 50 people, Cathie said, ‘Nao, I’m going out and I want you to take my place up there.’ ”

But Wright, a Republican, said in an interview that she is not yet sure whom she will endorse. Potential Republican candidates for the traditionally Republican seat also include Ventura County Supervisors Judy Mikels and Frank Schillo, she said.

“I think Nao has a good chance,” Wright said. “This district is not as conservative as it used to be. But he’s got to get known in L.A. County.”

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Wright said she will not endorse McClintock, whom she considers a Republican loner and too right-wing.

“I’ve told him he will not get my support because he would represent his philosophy,” Wright said, “and he is too conservative.”

An outspoken anti-tax maverick, McClintock said he never expected help from Wright. But he insisted that his record shows he is in tune with the views of his constituents.

“Cathie and I have been on opposite sides in every [Republican primary],” he said. “She opposed me in 1982, when I took 56% of the vote. She opposed me in 1996, when she was a vigorous supporter of one of my opponents who placed fifth out of six candidates.”

McClintock said he speaks for a constituency that “wants to get government out of their business, off their land, away from their families and out of their pockets, their faces and their lives. That is upsetting to some in the Establishment crowd.”

Although he lost runs for Congress in 1992 and state controller in 1994, McClintock has never lost an Assembly race.

A former aide to state Sen. Ed Davis, McClintock was first elected to the Assembly in 1982. He became known as a frugal, one-of-a-kind conservative, too fiscally extreme even for most Republicans. He often was the sole dissenting vote on new laws because they would cost taxpayers money.

As a result, his legislative successes were few. Last year, however, his proposal to eliminate the state vehicle license fee caught on with other lawmakers, and a 25% reduction was eventually passed.

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During his Senate campaign, McClintock said he will continue to argue for elimination of the “car tax” and of carpool lanes, which he insists cause freeway congestion.

The bedrock of his campaign will be the decentralization of government services into a “consumer-driven structure in everything from transportation to health care to education,” he said.

He will roll out details as the election approaches.

“There are precisely 407 days left,” McClintock said.