Candidates Are Still Fighting for Name Recognition

“Republican” is not a word Jayne Murphy Shapiro uses lightly. At least not in the solidly Democratic 41st Assembly District, a scenic stretch of beaches and mountains where Shapiro is convinced that the “R-word,” as she calls it, hurts her more than it helps.

At a recent candidate’s forum, a gray-haired man rushed up to Shapiro when she finished speaking to ask her party affiliation. “I can’t find it anywhere on your campaign literature,” he said.

“I’m a Republican,” replied Shapiro, a registered nurse and children’s safety advocate who is running against Democrat Fran Pavley for the open Assembly seat. “This is not a district where I really flash the R-word too often.”

Noting the area’s lopsided voter registration--49% are Democrats and 32% Republicans--most political observers give the edge to Pavley, a middle school teacher and former Agoura Hills mayor, in the contest to succeed Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), who is running for the state Senate.

The affluent district includes some of Southern California’s most choice real estate, extending from Santa Monica and Malibu through the Santa Monica Mountains to the southwest San Fernando Valley, Calabasas, and Agoura Hills. The area has been safely Democratic for two decades, represented by such Westside liberal standard-bearers as Kuehl and Tom Hayden.

Shapiro, a moderate Republican, has made a point of distancing herself from her party, calling herself “an independent thinker” and emphasizing her liberal stance on social issues such as abortion and gay rights. At one point during the campaign, she said she did not support the Bush-Cheney presidential ticket because of its opposition to abortion rights, but later said she would vote for them despite her “unwavering pro-choice stance on abortion.”

“Shapiro has an extraordinary resume,” said Allan Hoffenblum, a veteran Republican strategist who publishes a nonpartisan guide to state legislative races. “The only thing that makes her an underdog is her political party.”

Both candidates have long histories of community service and political activism, with Pavley focusing on education and environmental issues and Shapiro devoting herself to health care and children’s safety. But neither enjoys widespread name recognition, according to a recent poll.

That Sept. 19 poll, commissioned by the Shapiro campaign, showed that most voters in the district had never heard of either candidate, said Shapiro spokesman Eric Rose.

The telephone poll of 400 likely voters found that, if the election was held that day, 20% would vote for Pavley and 17% for Shapiro. A whopping 63% said they had not made up their minds. Pavley’s slight lead fell within the survey’s 3-percentage-point margin of error.

But a poll last week, commissioned by Assembly Democrats, showed Pavley with a commanding lead. The telephone poll of 600 likely voters showed 37% supporting Pavley and 22% backing Shapiro.

Pavley helped to incorporate Agoura Hills in 1982, in part to shield the semi-rural area from excessive development. She became the fledgling city’s first mayor and served on the city council there for 15 years.

Pavley has also been a teacher for 28 years, most recently teaching American history to eighth-graders in the Moorpark Unified School District. Her husband, Andy Pavley, is a teacher as well. They have two grown children.

“The primary reason I’m running is to improve the public schools,” said Pavley, 51, who lives in Agoura Hills. “There isn’t a greater legacy we could leave future Californians.”

Shapiro, 55, is trained as a cardiac nurse. She spent nearly a decade working in intensive care units, married physician William Shapiro and later worked as a nurse in his office. Her husband, with whom she had four sons, died of cancer in 1990.

Six years ago, after hearing about a friend’s son who had been sexually molested, Shapiro founded an advocacy group, KIDS SAFE, to push for tougher laws against child abusers. She also serves on the executive committee of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women.

Shapiro, who lives in Encino, ranks inadequate health care as the state’s most pressing problem. “I frankly believe our health care system is in crisis,” she said. “It’s just not on the front burner.”

In the final days of the race, money--much of it from Democrats and labor unions--has been tumbling into Pavley’s coffers, according to recent campaign finance reports. On a single day this week, she took in $18,000, including $5,000 from the California State Council of Service Employees and $4,075 from Assembly Democratic Leadership 2000, the party’s caucus. And the next day, Tuesday, the Democratic State Central Committee gave her $36,000.

As a result, Pavley has rapidly closed the fund-raising gap that Shapiro opened early on by loaning herself more than $275,000. Pavley took in $157,000 during the first three weeks of October, fives times as much as her rival. As of Oct. 21, she had raised $505,000 while Shapiro had amassed $516,000.

Shapiro’s large donors this month include the California Correctional Peace Officers PAC, which contributed $10,000, while Pavley raked in $10,000 from both Assemblyman Herb Wesson (D-Culver City) and the California Teachers Assn.

Despite the totals, Pavley reported having more than double the cash on hand, $141,000, as Shapiro, who reported $65,000 on hand.