Candidates in Key Races Disclose Campaign Spending

With just eight weeks to the election, campaign finance disclosure statements helped sharpen the focus on key political races Monday, particularly those involving Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Sheila J. Kuehl, Assemblyman Jack Scott and former Screen Actors Guild President Barry Gordon.

In what promises to be one of the hottest--and most expensive--races of the primary season, Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) and Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles)--two popular and well-known liberals barred from reelection by term limits--are contesting the heavily Democratic 23rd Disrict to succeed retiring state Sen. Tom Hayden.

Monday’s campaign finance disclosure statements showed Kuehl pulling ahead in fund-raising, reeling in more than three times as much in contributions--$353,000 to Knox’s $107,000--between October and the end of the year.

That was a sharp reversal from the previous reporting period--when Knox raised $310,000 in cash, compared to Kuehl’s $213,000. The district straddles the Santa Monica Mountains, bridging the West Valley to the Westside.

In the 21st District--another where winning the Democratic primary could be the key to final victory--Assemblyman Jack Scott (D-Altadena), a former Pasadena City College president, and Assemblyman Scott Wildman (D-Los Angeles), a teacher, are vying for the seat being vacated by state Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), who will seek the Democratic nomination in the 27th Congressional District.

Working through two committees, Scott has raised $495,000 to date, according to his campaign manager, Wendy Gordon.

That left him significantly ahead of Wildman, who has raised only $185,000. Nevertheless, Scott’s fund-raising dropped off sharply from the last period, when he raised $340,000, to this one, when he raised $105,000. That brought him more in line with Wildman, who raised $93,000 in the last three months.

In the 44th Assembly District, covering the East Valley and stretching to Pasadena, there are four candidates in the Democratic primary: Barry Gordon, an attorney and former Screen Actors Guild president; La Canada Flintridge Mayor Carol Liu; businessman Victor Franco; and businesswoman Diana Peterson-More.

Liu emerged as the fund-raising front-runner, collecting $302,000 so far. Fifty thousand dollars of that, however, was in the form of personal loans from herself and her husband.

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Despite his entertainment connections, Gordon, a former child actor whose lengthy list of contributors includes Emilio Estevez and Academy Award winner Helen Hunt, had collected less than Liu, with $221,000 to date. Gordon’s total included a $10,000 loan.

In the district’s GOP primary, TV commentator Susan Carpenter-McMillan, businessman Damian Jones and Robert Wagner are running. Libertarian Jerry Douglas is unopposed in the district, which includes La Crescenta and Sunland-Tujunga.

Three Democrats and three Republicans are running in primaries in the 43rd Assembly District, which covers Glendale and Burbank, currently represented by Wildman. The Democrats are health educator John Hisserich, former city ethics Commissioner Paul Krekorian and Dario Frommer, who headed the campaign for Proposition 217, which would have reinstated tax brackets for the highest-earning Californians.

Hours before the filing deadline, Hisserich was still completing his forms, but said he had raised $99,000.

Frommer listed no contributions in the last reporting period and $244,000 in this one.

The GOP candidates are attorneys Mark MacCarley, Craig Missakian and businesswoman Elizabeth Michael.

MacCarley reported raising $54,975, with close to $5,000 collected in this reporting period. Michael has raised $26,000--20,000 of that from loans.

In the 42nd Assembly District, three Democrats will face off in a primary for the seat held by Knox: Daniel Stone, a physician; Amanda Susskind, a city attorney; and West Hollywood City Councilman Paul Koretz. Running unopposed are Republican Douglas Cleon Taylor, Green Party candidate Sara Amir and Natural Law Party candidate Ivka Adam. The district includes the south Valley along the Santa Monica Mountains.

Susskind reported raising $295,000 to date and $92,415 in this reporting period.

Five Democrats are running for the 41st District Assembly seat held by Kuehl, including Los Angeles Department of Water and Power General Manager S. David Freeman, former Agoura Hills Mayor Fran Pavley, former Santa Monica City Councilman Tony Vazquez, Brenda Gottfried and William Wallace. Republicans Jayne Shapiro and Stean “Stu” Stitch will battle in the GOP primary.

Shapiro reported he had raised a total of $363,000, including $100,000 in loans in this reporting period and $176,000 in loans in the last.

No results were available for the 41st District Assembly race.

Results were incomplete because candidates were only required to get their campaign finance reports in first-class mail by the Jan. 10 deadline.