Candidates’ Diversity Reflects the Population

The cast of candidates for the March 7 primary in the 43rd Assembly District is as culturally varied as the district itself: a Republican Armenian, a Democratic Armenian, a pro-gun, Republican transsexual from Pennsylvania, and the Democrat grandson of Hungarian and Mexican immigrants, to name a few.

The key to winning this rapidly changing, increasingly diverse district will be to attract ethnic voters, particularly Armenians, observers say.

“It is an area that has a large Armenian population that has been very politically active,” said GOP consultant Allan Hoffenblum. “And they have been out there working really hard to increase the number of voters.”

Until a decade ago the district, which includes Burbank, Glendale, Toluca Lake, Griffith Park, Los Feliz and the eastern portion of Hollywood, was an unassailable GOP stronghold.

But redistricting in 1990 added Los Feliz and Silver Lake, and the flight of the aerospace industry and arrival of entertainment workers transformed the district into a vibrant multicultural mecca at a rate perhaps unsurpassed in the Los Angeles area.

In 1996, Scott Wildman became the first Democrat in modern times to represent the area when he squeaked to victory in an Assembly race with just 192 votes. (Wildman, whose tenure was ended by term limits, is now running against Democratic Assemblyman Jack Scott for the state Senate seat of Democrat Adam Schiff.)

Today, 45% of the 173,853 registered voters in the district are Democrats and 35% are Republicans.

In the Democratic primary, USC health care administrator John Hisserich is running against entertainment attorney Paul Krekorian, once a member of the city Ethics Commission, and well-funded Latino attorney Dario Frommer, who resigned as appointments secretary for Gov. Gray Davis to run for office.

Among Republicans, Glendale lawyer Mark MacCarley is running against former prosecutor Craig Missakian and computer executive Liz Michael, who identifies herself as a transsexual.

The campaign in the district is being waged in the streets, and those who have knocked on doors say more than 35 languages are spoken here. Candidate profiles are appearing in Korean and Armenian newspapers, sometimes indecipherable to the candidates themselves.

Eric Hacopian, who has closely followed Armenian trends for the last eight years and is working on the Krekorian campaign, said 100,000 of the 270,000 residents in the district are of Armenian descent.

Over time, many older, white, conservative voters have moved out, to be replaced by immigrants from Armenia, Iran and other countries suffering from the unrest in the Middle East. In recent years, these new arrivals finally became citizens and registered to vote.

Glendale Councilman Rafi Manoukian’s campaign last spring marked a turning point, observers said. The Armenian candidate worked hard to get out 3,000 people who had never cast a ballot in a municipal election, Hacopian said. Voter turnout leaped from 23% to 55%. Almost 70% of those casting ballots were first-time voters, he said.

Hacopian said about 20,000 Armenian Americans are registered to vote, which is about 12% of the district’s total. Latinos make up about 14% of registered voters, and Frommer is hoping to capture them.

Hoffenblum said Republicans would like to win the district back, but a GOP victory in the 43rd would require a strong Republican Assembly candidate in November and a strong Republican candidate for president.

Hacopian said he thinks Republicans have lost their grip for good.

“It’s essentially moved from a rock-ribbed, white conservative district, in a very fast transition to a marginal district that was up for play, to a district where whoever wins the Democratic primary is going to win,” he said.

Frommer leads Democrats in fund-raising, with $375,155. Krekorian has raised $227,011, including $45,000 in loans, and Hisserich has raised $169,203, including $50,000 in loans.

Frommer, 36, said he is the best candidate for an era in which term limits restrict Capitol experience.

“I know how Sacramento works,” he said. “That is what sets me apart.

Frommer graduated from Glendale public schools and has been involved in Democratic politics ever since.

In addition to working for Davis, Frommer was once an aide to Democrat Art Torres in the state Senate. He teaches political science at two community colleges. He has been endorsed by the state Democratic Party, City Councilman Alex Padilla and United Teachers-Los Angeles.

His top issues are education, health care and preserving open space.

Frommer’s strongest competition comes from entertainment attorney Krekorian, 39, who was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley.

Krekorian says he has captured important local support, including endorsements from the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, state Sen. Schiff (D-Burbank) and a number of local Armenian groups.

Krekorian’s top issues are education, health care and keeping run-away movie production local.

Though Hisserich, 60, significantly trails Frommer and Krekorian in fund-raising, he seemed to get the warmest reception at a League of Women Voters forum Thursday night.

Hisserich served on the California Coastal Commission from 1981 until recently, and has worked as a reserve sheriff’s deputy for 20 years.

His priorities, he says, are education and health care, and setting better standards and pay for nursing home workers.

The most recent fund-raising reports for the Republican candidates were not available, but by the end of January, loans made up the bulk of campaign coffers for all three: MacCarley had lent himself $120,000, Missakian had lent himself $85,000 and Michael had lent herself $21,000.

Former prosecutor Missakian said he is the best GOP candidate because his competitors used to be Democrats.

“I’m the only lifelong Republican in the race,” he said.

Missakian, 39, has received the endorsement of the political action committees of the Armenian American Republican Council and the Armenian National Committee, as well as state Sen. Richard Mountjoy of Arcadia.

Missakian said his top issues are crime, education and the economy. He said he wants to reform the juvenile justice system and to reduce corporate and private income taxes.

MacCarley, 48, is a Glendale attorney. He was a Democrat until the early 1990s, when he decided that many government programs demeaned the people they were supposed to help.

His top issues are health care, education and quality of life, and he advocates the breakup of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Michael, 43, calls herself a Jill of all trades who helped found and run an Arizona-based computer company. She is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania.

Michael’s top issues are keeping guns legal and accessible, improving what she calls California’s “hostile business environment” and defeating Proposition 22, which would recognize only marriage between a man and a woman in California. She has been endorsed by a number of gun rights groups and has centered her campaign on the Internet.