Republican Candidate McClintock Confident He’s Got a Lock on Seat

The way Assemblyman Tom McClintock figures it, the race for the 19th Senate District already has been run.

It took place in March, during an open primary that allowed voters to cast ballots for candidates of any party. McClintock emerged with an overwhelming victory, taking 52% of the overall vote. Democratic opponent Daniel Gonzalez got 30%, 9 points lower than his party’s registration.

McClintock, 44, says he has seen nothing since then that would lead him to believe that he’s not the odds-on favorite to take the seat come the Nov. 7 general election, continuing Republicans’ 30-year domination of the district that straddles Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

“I’ve never had a close race, in a primary or general election, anywhere within that district,” said McClintock, who represented the entire district at various times during his 14 years in the Assembly. “But show me a candidate who takes a race for granted and I’ll show you a candidate who will lose.”

To that end, McClintock has been pouring it on.

He has widened an already substantial fund-raising lead, generating nearly $230,000 in loans and contributions since June compared to just $19,128 for Gonzalez. He also enjoys an edge in voter registration in a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats 42% to 39%.

But Gonzalez, a 44-year-old Simi Valley attorney, said he believes he can overcome McClintock’s fund-raising and voter registration advantages by focusing on his opponent’s record as a far-right ideologue often not even supported by his own party.

Gonzalez said he is waging an old-fashioned, shoe-leather campaign, attending political forums and going door to door with his message of improving education, reforming health care and returning tax dollars from the state to local governments.

He says his hard work is paying off. In Granada Hills, Republicans and Democrats alike are supporting his candidacy based on his promise to do everything possible to shut down the Sunshine Canyon Landfill, long targeted for closure by area residents.

Gonzalez said he also is buoyed by recent voter registration numbers showing that Democrats in Ventura County, where two-thirds of the district’s voters live, signed up 4,297 new voters in the district since Labor Day, compared to only 740 for Republicans.

“If I build enough critical mass, if I’m successful in getting the word out, then there could be a November surprise for Tom McClintock,” said Gonzalez, who lost a bid for Congress in 1998.

“This is an election where the issues are with the Democrats: education, jobs, health care and anti-gun violence,” he said. “It’s winnable, but it’s all up to me and my campaign. The real question is whether I’m going to be able to walk enough precincts and build the tidal wave of momentum needed to carry me to victory.”

Almost everyone, including Gonzalez, agrees that his is a long-shot candidacy.

McClintock, who has never lost a local race, has a head start in name recognition in the 19th District, which comprises the 37th and 38th Assembly districts.

He held the 37th Assembly seat from 1982 to 1992 while living in Thousand Oaks. And he has been a Northridge-based assemblyman in the 38th District since 1996.

During that time, he has gained a reputation as a tight-fisted, one-of-a-kind conservative, ready and willing to cast the sole dissenting vote on new laws because they would cost taxpayers money.

Gas Tax Cut Plan Increases Support

Such thriftiness has even rankled some within his own party.

But his tax-cutting proposals--he wants to abolish California’s car tax and the 15-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline--have won him plenty of popular support, so much so that GOP leaders aren’t even bothering to do any polling for his upcoming race.

“He’s a tremendous representative for that district and I’d find it hard to believe he wouldn’t win that election,” said Jamie Fisfis, political director for the Republican Assembly Caucus.

Just to be sure, Senate Republican leaders have loaned McClintock’s campaign $200,000 for the race. Earlier this month, he still had $205,000 in his campaign war chest compared to $2,150 for Gonzalez, who is yet to receive a similar boost from party leaders.

There are other issues as well. For two months, Gonzalez fought a State Bar of California suspension of his right to practice law. Gonzalez had been suspended for failing to respond to client complaints about the way he performed his job. But he was reinstated last month after he cleared up what was essentially an address snafu that kept him from responding.

Gonzalez said he expects the initial complaints, which he says are baseless, to be resolved soon in his favor. But he and local Democratic leaders say those problems couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“Even if it all gets cleared up, it can’t leave a good impression on the public,” said Hank Lacayo, head of the county’s Democratic Central Committee. “I think Dan is as credible a candidate to come around in that district, but he just doesn’t have the resources required to match McClintock.”

However, state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who currently holds the seat but is stepping down because of term limits, said the assemblyman could be in for a surprise if Democratic Party leaders decide to target the race and infuse Gonzalez’s campaign with cash.

Wright, who has blasted McClintock as an extremist who is too conservative for her constituents and out of touch with local issues, said out of party loyalty she would never endorse a Democrat. But she doesn’t like the idea of McClintock representing her district.

“I started out by telling him that if he was the last man running for office I wouldn’t support him,” Wright said. “If he’s elected, it spells bad news for the district because they won’t have local representation.”

Gonzalez aims to see that they do.

Wearing a pinstriped suit and a star-spangled tie, the Simi Valley native traveled from one end of the district to the other last weekend, driving home his message.

Taking His Campaign to the Neighborhoods

At Arroyo Verde Park in Ventura, he told retired teachers he wants to launch literacy programs in kindergarten and boost teacher pay. And he told them he would tap the state’s monetary reserves to immediately complete highway construction projects currently on the books.

“My opponent is known in Sacramento as ‘Mr. No,’ because he never supports anything,” Gonzalez told the crowd. “He’s one of those Libertarians disguised as a Republican.”

Gonzalez ended by talking about the need to close the Sunshine Canyon Landfill near Granada Hills, an issue with which he has scored huge political points with groups seeking to shut down the dump.

McClintock favors using the landfill to its full capacity. Gonzalez has pledged to hold state Senate hearings to see what can be done about shutting it down, a promise that has prompted Granada Hills resident Kim Thompson to walk precincts and staff phone banks on his behalf.

“This is a vote against Sunshine Canyon and McClintock’s policies on Sunshine Canyon,” said Thompson, a representative of the 300-member Mothers and Others Against the Dump, which has thrown its support behind Gonzalez.

“Because the district is so big, we probably won’t be able to make a dent,” she said. “But we have three weeks to tell everyone we meet” about McClintock’s stand on the landfill.

In the end, much of Gonzalez’s campaign strategy centers on picking apart McClintock’s position on various issues.

That McClintock accepts campaign contributions from the gun lobby and opposes any kind of gun control will not sit well in communities plagued by gun violence, he said. And that the Republican has taken such a hard line against spending has deprived his own district of much-needed funds to do everything from boosting highway infrastructure to improving schools, Gonzalez contends.

“I think he’d rather see government dismantled than reined in and constrained, like most Republicans,” Gonzalez said. “I know the issues and I care about the people, and that’s why I think it’s a winnable race

McClintock makes no apologies for his stance on the issues.

It’s true he opposes gun control, saying he’s unwilling to undermine the constitutional right for citizens to bear arms so they can protect themselves.

And it’s true he opposes shutting down Sunshine Canyon Landfill, saying it’s time that elected leaders find the political will to use such facilities to full capacity to avoid skyrocketing trash bills or the need to haul garbage out of the area.

He especially prides himself on being a staunch defender of taxpayer dollars.

But he says the end result will be that constituents in his district will benefit from his insistence that lawmakers restore the use of highway taxes for highway programs, restart the state’s program of dam construction to provide cheaper and cleaner electricity, and ensure that schools do a better job of educating children.

“I think the vast majority of people in our community believe as I do--that government is costing more and producing less than at any time in our lifetimes,” McClintock said. “I have found that the positions I have taken on issues resonate with most voters, including a high percentage of independents and many rank-and-file Democrats.”

It’s a message that resonated well last weekend as he went door to door in Thousand Oaks. Time after time, McClintock introduced himself as the sitting assemblyman, told people he was running for state Senate and won ready promises of support.

Powerful Message on Government

Westlake Village resident Gene Olson was so impressed by the candidate that he has been walking precincts on his behalf.

“I’m in favor of his reduction of the gas tax, his elimination of the vehicle tax, and I know he’s strong on education,” said Olson, adding that he favors McClintock’s approach of gutting government bureaucracy and putting decisions about everything from education to health care in the hands of people.

In the end, McClintock says there is no doubt he is fighting that battle. He wants to restructure the way government delivers services and return the resulting tax savings to the people.

“The people who have supported my candidacies are those that support the vision I have for government, people who believe as I believe that this government is too big, too meddlesome and too wasteful,” he said. “What’s required are strong voices willing to say no to that kind of waste throughout state government.”

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19th State Senate District

The 19th state Senate District includes most of Ventura County and parts of the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. Two candidates are vying for the seat held by Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who is leaving because of term limits.

Daniel R. Gonzalez

Party: Democrat

Age: 44

Residence: Simi Valley

Occupation: Lawyer

Education: Bachelor’s degree in business economics, UC Santa Barbara, 1980; law degree, Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, 1983

Background: Private practice attorney, 1984-present; past president, Ventura County Mexican-American Bar Assn., 1997-2000; judge pro tem, Ventura County Superior and Municipal courts, 1986-present; co-chairman, East County Bar Assn. Courthouse Development Committee, 1990; past president and volunteer, Free Clinic of Simi Valley, 1986-present; past director, Channel Counties Legal Services Assn., 1985-1990.

Issues: He favors return of property tax dollars from state to local governments and school districts, allowing communities to control funding decisions. He wants to reduce classroom size in grades K-12, launch literacy programs in kindergarten and fund more after-school programs. He’d like to jump-start freeway improvements already on the books. He would pursue legislation mandating trigger locks for handguns and requiring new handgun owners to receive training and pass ownership tests. He favors shutting down the Sunshine Canyon Landfill near Granada Hills. He would hold monthly town hall meetings throughout his district to allow constituents to voice their concerns.

Personal: Divorced, no children

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Tom McClintock

Party: Republican

Age: 44

Residence: Newbury Park, Sacramento

Occupation: Assemblyman

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, UCLA, 1978

Background: Chief of staff to Sen. Ed Davis, 1980-82; First elected to the California Legislature in 1982; Co-author of Mello-Condit-McClintock Tax Rebate Act, 1987; wrote California’s current lethal injection death penalty law, 1992; Director, Center for the California Taxpayer, 1992-94; Director of Economic and Regulatory Affairs, Claremont Institute’s Gold State Center for Policy Studies, 1995; Reelected to state Assembly, 1996.

Issues: He wants to abolish California’s car tax, abolish the sales tax on gasoline and allow voters in the San Fernando Valley to decide, without interference from the Los Angeles City Council, whether to secede from Los Angeles. He supports the Prop. 38 student voucher initiative. He favors the elimination of freeway carpool lanes, wants to return the use of highway taxes to bolster the state’s freeway infrastructure and give the governor emergency power to confront freeway gridlock. He would extend health coverage to California families through refundable tax credits. He wants to restart California’s program of dam construction to provide cleaner and less expensive electrical power.

Personal: Married, two children