Political Heavyweights Lend Candidates Muscle

The primary race in the Republican-dominant 38th Assembly District has drawn in Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, Los Angeles Police Commissioner Bert Boeckmann, and Paula Boland--each supporting a different candidate.

The high-powered endorsements have been matched by pointed debate over hot-button issues from San Fernando Valley secession to abortion, fueling voter interest in the election Tuesday.

Riordan and County Supervisor Mike Antonovich back Northridge physician Keith Stuart Richman, who is the dominant fund-raiser with $550,000.

But Valley GOP power broker Bert Boeckmann supports businessman and former Chamber of Commerce chairman Ross B. Hopkins of Canoga Park. The incumbent, Tom McClintock of Northridge, and his predecessor, Paula Boland, have endorsed Norm Walker, an anti-abortion, pro-secession member of the Simi Valley school board who has raised $142,000.

“It’s a good race--you have three people there all worthy of serious consideration,” said Bobbi Fiedler, a former congresswoman for the area, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 43% to 39%.

Richman serves as Riordan’s appointee to the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency board. His significant lead in fund-raising includes $350,000 that he loaned the campaign from his own pocket.

Walker said his opposition to abortion distinguishes him from his rivals. Richman and Hopkins said they are pro-choice, although Hopkins said he and his wife would not personally choose abortion.

“The district has always elected pro-life candidates,” Walker said.

Hopkins, the immediate past chairman of the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley, has blasted Richman on the landfill and secession issues, noting that Riordan is a leading opponent of Valley cityhood and signed into law the ordinance allowing expansion of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill.

Hopkins, 55, opposes the landfill expansion and supports secession.

“I’ve spent too many years fighting the bureaucracy of the city of Los Angeles,” said Hopkins, who runs a public relations consulting firm and is also a former chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.

Richman, 46, said he opposes the landfill expansion and does support the cityhood study, but is still neutral on secession. He said he wants to see if the changes to the charter lessen the need for secession by improving city services and representation.

Walker, 49, said he favors secession in principle and believes the city should look at alternative landfill sites to Sunshine Canyon.

A former school principal who has served on the school board since 1994, Walker said his top priority is to change the way schools are funded to ensure local districts have more flexibility and that more money goes to classrooms rather than administration.

“I’d try to find enough votes to cut some of the strings for educational funding,” Walker said.

Hopkins, a former government relations manager for Lockheed, said he will push to plan for the expected explosion in the state’s population, which will put a burden on California’s parks, highways and government services.

“The main priority is to set up a committee to comprehensively look at where California will be in 20 years,” Hopkins said. “There is no mechanism in place for how to deal with the 12.5 million additional people who we are going to have in 20 years.”

Richman founded a medical practice that now employs 250 people.

“My priorities are education, investment in the state infrastructure and health care,” Richman said. “We need to make sure people have access to quality and affordable health care.”

The Republican primary is the only one that is contested in a district where Republicans hold the lead in voter registration. Jon Lauritzen, a Canoga Park High School math teacher who lives in Chatsworth, is the only Democrat vying for the Assembly seat, while businessman Philip Baron is the lone Libertarian Party candidate.