Style Has Substance in 21st District Race

It may come down to a matter of style in the race between Democratic Assemblymen Jack Scott and Scott Wildman, who are vying for Adam Schiff’s state Senate seat.

Do voters want Scott, a genteel former college president with a soft Texas twang, or do they want Wildman, a hyperkinetic, attention-grabbing former fourth-grade teacher?

The winner of the March 7 Democratic primary for the 21st State Senate district will likely face a tough fight against well-funded Republican Paul Zee.

The race is widely viewed as a significant contest because it is one of just five open Senate seats this year that is up for grabs by either party. Democrats currently hold the Senate majority in Sacramento with 25 seats to the Republicans’ 15.

Zee, a South Pasadena councilman, is the GOP front-runner in the traditionally swing district, according to political observers. He is running against engineer Dave Wallis.

Scott (D-Altadena) and Wildman (D-Los Angeles) are campaigning in the sprawling district that stretches from the east San Fernando Valley communities of Burbank and Sunland-Tujunga through the San Gabriel Valley communities of Glendale and Pasadena, and includes Los Feliz, Eagle Rock, Silver Lake and Griffith Park.

Schiff’s state Senate seat is open since he decided to run against incumbent Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale) in a hotly contested battle for Rogan’s 27th congressional seat, which includes some of the same areas.

Zee, a businessman who emigrated from Hong Kong in 1977, has raised $512,000--almost as much as Scott, who has raised about $570,000, and significantly more than Wildman, who has raised about $400,000.

Bob New is running unopposed as the Libertarian candidate.

The 21st District was once a Republican stronghold, but a recent influx of Latino and Asian voters has contributed to a decrease in GOP registration of 6 percentage points since Schiff’s win in 1994. Democrats now comprise 44% of the 393,882 registered voters in the district, to the Republicans’ 36%.

But observers say the Democratic primary is the race to watch, as it is shaping up to be one of the closest, most expensive in the state.

In such a tight race, they predict, victory could hinge on factors as seemingly inconsequential as voter turnout, each candidate’s ability to take advantage of the district’s recent demographic changes, and the number of moderate and crossover votes up for grabs in an open presidential primary.

“So much of the race will depend on the top of the ticket,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior associate at the School of Politics and Economics at Claremont Graduate University. “Are there issues that are going to bring people out? Is there still a presidential campaign?”

Scott and Wildman’s voting records and legislation are similar; their issues--both centered on education--often overlap.

Both have basked in the public spotlight in the last year--Scott for successful gun-control legislation, and Wildman for his lead role in killing the $170-million Belmont Learning Center, which sits atop an abandoned oil field.

But a day on the campaign trail with each illuminates personal differences.

On a recent Saturday, Scott heads over to Los Feliz with his wife, Lacreta, to introduce himself to voters in Wildman’s Assembly district. He drives a clean, gold Buick LeSabre and dresses like the escaped academic that he is, wearing comfortable walking shoes, khakis and a plaid shirt.

He carries his campaign literature neatly in a bag. His canvassing approach--like his legislative one--is methodical.

Scott says his issues are public education, gun control, and consumer and patient rights, and he is succinct about what distinguishes him from Wildman: “He’s had 18 bills signed into law; I’ve had 40. That seems to be a contrast in effectiveness.”

The avuncular assemblyman attended Yale University and Claremont Graduate School. He said seven years as president of Pasadena City College taught him to be more fiscally responsible. Earlier in his education career, he served as president of Cypress College and was dean of instruction at Orange Coast College.

Scott, 67, prides himself on being a citizen legislator. He chuckles at his likeness to the subject of his dissertation, John Witherspoon, a college president who became a member of Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

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Scott, whose 27-year-old son Adam was killed when a gun went off accidentally at a party in 1993, has had seven firearms bills signed into law since he was elected in 1996. He helped write and pass legislation to ban assault weapons and require trigger locks. He is currently working to require a safety course and license for handgun buyers. He has also worked to reduce class sizes, improve the training and recruitment of teachers, and expand charter schools.

Scott also wrote the first HMO reform bill signed into California law.

Wildman does his campaigning on the fly, between meetings, squeezing it in when he has time. During the week, he works the phones from Sacramento, calling long distance back to his home district, trying to win votes.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, Wildman goes out for an hour with one staff member. He has the dirt-flecked Mitsubishi sedan of a man on the go, and piles of campaign literature balance precariously in the driver’s seat. When he starts the car, the radio is blaring the pop group Matchbox 20. Wildman emanates energy.

With the sunroof open, he cruises to Burbank, heading for a neighborhood where he says his support wasn’t as strong as it should have been in the last election.

Unlike Scott, who knocked only on the doors of registered Democrats in an effort to cover more ground, Wildman marches to the door of every registered voter, regardless of party affiliation.

Whereas Scott has the measured delivery of a patient professor talking to a bright student, Wildman, dressed in scuffed cowboy boots, jeans and a jacket, has the exuberance and confidence of a natural self-promoter.

“Hi. I’m Scott Wildman, your assemblyman. Are you familiar with some of the things I do?” he asks at a voter’s door.

Wildman says his issues are education, patient rights, law enforcement and preserving local jobs.

Wildman, 49, spent his early career in the printing business, later becoming a fourth-grade bilingual teacher. He served as a United Teachers of Los Angeles representative and continues to have strong ties with the group.

Since being elected to the Assembly in 1996, he has written laws to increase school safety and expand teacher training. He has been outspoken in the fight to keep the film industry from fleeing to cheaper locations, proposing a 10% tax rebate for companies that keep production in California.

He has served as chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee since 1997--initially churning out so many press releases that his Democrat colleagues asked him to calm down--and contends he has undertaken more than 100 audits of various state and local agencies and launched 16 investigations, including that of Belmont. He is currently questioning the planned expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills.

Of the difference between him and his colleagues, Wildman says: “It’s more than a difference in style. I have a different level of activity.”

Scott has the backing of nine state legislators, while Wildman has garnered union support from the state level down--a factor observers say could help him in a race with low voter turnout.

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The candidate who can woo the growing Latino vote could have an edge, said Alan Heslop, director of Claremont McKenna College’s Rose Institute, which analyzes local politics and demographics.

Finally, Scott, with his nonpartisan academic background, may have an edge, capturing moderate and possible crossover Republican votes, analysts say.

“I think it’s really a style difference,” said Rick Taylor, a political consultant, who believes a Democrat will win the race in November. “Scott is a more soft-spoken leader, doing things quietly, and Wildman is more of a wild man--loud and good at grabbing the headlines and creating media opportunities. Both have been very effective.”