Condit Files Paperwork to Run Again

Embattled Rep. Gary Condit made it official Friday, personally filing formal papers to seek reelection just hours before the deadline despite a glaring lack of support from Democratic leaders and a formidable challenge from his old political protege.

The late, albeit expected, decision by the once-popular congressman, who saw his political fortunes plummet amid disclosures that he was romantically linked to missing Washington intern Chandra Levy, capped a day in which the field of contenders for state and congressional offices finally became clear.

As expected, a trio of Republican challengers--former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, Secretary of State Bill Jones and businessman Bill Simon Jr.--will compete in March for the right to take on Democratic Gov. Gray Davis next November. And in the other statewide races, such as attorney general and lieutenant governor, a cadre of current and former GOP legislators will attempt to unseat a heavily funded, and heavily favored, group of Democratic incumbents.

“Now is not the time to elect a governor with no statewide political or policy experience,” Jones said in a speech Friday after filing his papers in his hometown of Fresno. He was taking a shot at his two GOP rivals, who have not served in statewide office.

In the battles for Congress, there appeared to be few surprises Friday, the last day for political hopefuls throughout California to file their declarations of candidacy with local elections officials. Attracting the most attention was the race for the Modesto-area seat now held by Condit, where at least eight challengers filed papers to unseat him. They include state Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced), a former Condit aide taking on his old mentor, and state Sen. Dick Monteith (R-Modesto).

Democratic leaders in Washington and California have declined to support Condit’s reelection campaign, leading to widespread speculation that the congressman would back down from an earlier pledge to seek another term. Thus, television crews and reporters camped outside the Stanislaus County offices where Condit had to file his papers despite repeated assurances from his staff that he would enter the race.

Condit’s son, Chad, said: “This was just a tough, tough decision” for the congressman, conceding that “part of me didn’t want him to run. It’s going to end up a pretty brutal campaign.” Nonetheless, he said he abandoned his own plans to run for a state Senate seat because he “wanted to commit to helping” his father.

“We all understand the damage that has been done,” Chad Condit said, adding that “some 6,500 stories were done over the summer” on Condit and Levy.

Cardoza said Friday that Condit’s decision to enter the race “does not change my focus in the slightest.” He said he plans to run a campaign free of personal attacks, because the conservative, churchgoing Modesto area needs time to heal from the tabloid frenzy that unfolded there this year.

People in the area “are not only tired, they are embarrassed,” Cardoza said. “This is a very proud agricultural region, and they are aghast at the press the community has gotten. They do not like being a part of a sex scandal.”

One House Democratic leadership aide expressed disappointment with Condit’s decision to run.

“People were certainly hopeful they wouldn’t have to deal with it,” said the aide, who requested anonymity. “It’s the type of intramural conflict you’d like to avoid.”

Challenger to Oakland Rep. Lee Steps Aside

Elsewhere, former Assemblywoman Audie Bock abruptly abandoned her challenge of Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), who became a target when she cast the lone vote in Congress against giving President Bush the authority to use “all necessary and appropriate force” in responding to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bock said she was stepping aside in favor of her campaign co-chairman because Lee had made an issue of Bock’s relatively recent switch from the Green Party to the Democratic Party.

“They were portraying me as an opportunist,” Bock said.

Instead, Lee will face Kevin Greene, a civil engineer and longtime Democratic activist, in the March 5 primary.

“Their whole strategy was to smear me . . . so they could deflect attention from Barbara Lee,” Bock said. “They can’t do that anymore.”

In the so-called down-ticket races, the statewide posts besides governor, many of the Republican candidates are Sacramento veterans who believe that a Davis defeat now appears more likely because of the state’s energy crisis and related budget problems--and could help sweep them into office.

Democrats currently hold all but one of California’s statewide offices, the secretary of state job held by Jones, after the only other Republican, Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, resigned in scandal last year. But Republicans believe that could change quickly if voters lose faith in Davis.

Two months ago, Dick Ackerman was an incumbent state senator from Orange County with a long year ahead of him as the Republicans’ point man on the troubled state budget. Now he is also the GOP’s sole candidate for state attorney general, challenging Democratic incumbent Bill Lockyer in next year’s elections.

“This race is going to be driven by the top of the ticket, and the fact that Davis’ numbers are going in the wrong direction is what will determine whether some of us in the down-ballot races are successful,” said Ackerman, an early Riordan backer. “I think [Davis] is much more vulnerable now than he has been in the past, and that was a factor in my decision.”

Yet for a party that has labored in recent years to reshape its image and field candidates who more closely resemble increasingly diverse California, some politicos said the GOP ticket looked like the same old losing formula.

“It seems to be a little too white and a little too male, but it wasn’t for lack of trying,” Allan Hoffenblum, a former Republican strategist who publishes the nonpartisan Target Book tip sheet, said of the GOP field. “They were looking for women, were looking for Latinos, but the problem was that most of the qualified Latinos have better offers from the Bush administration and were not interested in tilting at windmills in Sacramento.”

GOP Challengers Face Formidable Fund-Raisers

California Republican Party spokesman Rob Stutzman defended the GOP’s leading statewide candidates, noting that the one trait they all possess is years of experience in government. But he acknowledged that the party found it difficult to recruit candidates to challenge well-heeled incumbents such as Lockyer and state Treasurer Phil Angelides. The treasurer is facing a challenge from former Public Utilities Commissioner P. Gregory Conlon and former Deputy Treasurer Mary Toman.

“Let’s make no bones about it, you are running against incumbents who are voracious fund-raisers,” Stutzman said. “There is a barrier to entry.”

One exception to the GOP’s old white male trend is the race to replace Delaine Eastin as state superintendent of schools, in which Assemblywoman Lynne Leach (R-Walnut Creek) will face Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-San Luis Obispo).

The race about which Republicans feel most optimistic is the contest to replace Controller Kathleen Connell, who is barred by term limits from seeking reelection.

It has attracted two outspoken Republicans, Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks and Dean Andal, a member of the State Board of Equalization. Democratic challengers include Board of Equalization member Johan Klehs and former EBay executive Steve Westly.

Perhaps the most wide open statewide contest is the race to replace Jones as secretary of state. Democratic candidates include Michela Alioto of San Francisco, who narrowly lost to Jones in 1998, Assemblyman Kevin Shelley (D-San Francisco), and former 20-year Secretary of State March Fong Eu. The favored GOP candidate is former Assemblyman Keith Olberg, who is backed by Jones and party leaders.

In the race for insurance commissioner, Gary Mendoza, a former deputy Los Angeles mayor under Riordan and corporations commissioner under former Gov. Pete Wilson, is seeking the Republican nod. But Democrats, who are fielding several well-known candidates, argue that whoever wins their March primary will cruise to victory in the fall because the lingering fallout from the Quackenbush scandal will sully GOP hopefuls.

Quackenbush Seen as Democratic Insurance

“The perception out there is that this is definitely a primary election,” said Assemblyman Tom Calderon (D-Montebello), who said he has already secured a number of important labor endorsements in his quest for the party nomination, including the United Farm Workers’. Other Democratic hopefuls include former Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and former Orange County Assemblyman Tom Umberg.

In the contest for lieutenant governor, Republicans were relieved Friday when state Sen. Bruce McPherson carried through on a pledge to challenge incumbent Democrat Cruz Bustamante. McPherson’s son, Hunter, was recently shot and killed by a robber in San Francisco, and McPherson acknowledged in a statement that his family debated whether he should go on with the race.

“We finally decided that this was the right thing to do--that it is a fitting tribute to our son’s warm humanity and passion for life,” McPherson said. “Hunter would say, ‘If you feel it and you mean it, then show it and do it’--and those words will guide my campaign.”