Candidates Are Courting Hertzberg for Key Funds

Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) is very popular these days with Democratic candidates for the Assembly.

That’s because he sits on a major pile of cash that will be doled out over the next few months to candidates judged capable of winning legislative seats and thereby keeping Democrats in control of the Assembly.

Hertzberg controls the Assembly Democratic Leadership 2000 fund, which during the past five months has grown to $4.58 million through a flood of contributions from corporations, unions and other groups wanting to be on the good side of the political party in power in Sacramento.

In comparison, the Assembly Republican PAC has slightly more than $1 million in the bank.

“The Democrats have raised a lot of money up here. They are in total control,” Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) said.

Strickland has firsthand experience with Hertzberg’s special political fund.

The Republican lawmaker’s Democratic opponent in the November election, Somis schoolteacher Roz McGrath, has been one of the top beneficiaries of the speaker’s fund, receiving a quarter of all she raised during the latest reporting period from the Hertzberg account for staffing, polling and other campaign expenses.

McGrath, who lost to Strickland by just 1% in 1998, was recruited by the Democratic leadership, and she has said they promised her $500,000 to $1 million in campaign help.

Hertzberg’s fund will make him a key player in elections throughout California.

“Everyone will compete for it,” said political consultant Rick Taylor, who is not handling a legislative race. “When you need an extra quarter of a million dollars in the last weeks before the election, you want to be on the speaker’s target list.”

The speaker’s fund very likely will benefit Hertzberg politically as much as those it elects, because candidates helped by Hertzberg will remember his role when it comes time to vote on the Assembly leadership position, Democratic political consultant Joe Cerrell said. “It does two things,” Cerrell said. “It guarantees there will be a Democratic majority in the Assembly, and it ensures that nobody will challenge him for speaker.”

Darry Sragow, a Hertzberg advisor, said there are 20 Assembly races, including the McGrath-Strickland contest, that very likely will be targeted by the speaker’s fund. Hertzberg will have to raise about $10 million for the account, Sragow said, with an additional $5 million to $10 million coming from other candidates and Assembly members into the targeted races.

Hertzberg is on track to meet the goal, Sragow said. “We are not going to lose a race because there wasn’t enough money,” he said.

While final targeting decisions are a few weeks away, Sragow said other San Fernando Valley-area candidates to benefit from the speaker’s fund will probably include Dario Frommer in the 43rd District, including Glendale and Burbank; and Carol Liu in the 44th District, which includes Pasadena and La Canada Flintridge.

Contributions to Hertzberg’s fund have included $35,000 from the Agua Caliente band of Cahuilla Indians, which has been pushing this year for legislation friendly to Indian gaming.

Other big contributors with interest in what happens in Sacramento include the California State Employees Assn., Edison International, Hewlett-Packard, California Teachers Assn. and the American Methanol Institute.

Strickland is getting some help of his own from a big benefactor. Conservative Christian broadcast mogul Edward G. Atsinger III has loaned Strickland’s campaign $100,000.

Still, Strickland said the Hertzberg fund will probably have some effect on his race. “One million dollars buys a lot of television and a lot of mail,” he said.