Candidates Quickly Line Up to Run for Rep. Dixon’s Seat

On the day Rep. Julian Dixon died, Assemblyman Roderick Wright filed the papers for a special election to fill the suddenly vacant seat.

“It is hard to raise money to run an effective campaign,” Wright said. “You want to file your papers as quickly as you can.”

Four days later, a day before Dixon was laid to rest, another politician in a hurry, state Sen. Kevin Murray of Culver City, sent in his papers for the election.

“It’s no secret to anyone in politics that I’m interested in running,” Murray said. “I filed because you have to have your structure in place to support the decision you make.”

The eagerness shown by Wright and Murray reflects the mounting competitive intensity of the race to succeed Dixon, but it prompted a disapproving comment from one expert on district politics.

“Traditionally, people wait until after the funeral before they begin any active campaigning,” said Kerman Maddox, a commentator on KCET-TV Channel 28 and a political science instructor at Southwest Community College. “Otherwise, it conveys a message of insensitivity.”

Thus far, nearly a dozen candidates have signaled--either through preliminary county and federal filings or by word of mouth--their interest in running for Dixon’s seat in the heavily Democratic 32nd Congressional District. It stretches from the USC area west to Culver City and parts of West Los Angeles.

It has the highest percentage of African American voters in Los Angeles, and Dixon’s death on Dec. 8 has prompted intense competition among black politicians who want to succeed him.

Gov. Gray Davis scheduled the primary for April 10. All candidates will appear on all ballots in the primary, regardless of party.

If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, a runoff for Dixon’s seat will be held June 5 among the top vote-getters in each party. The filing period for candidates seeking to put their names on the ballot begins Feb. 6 and goes through Feb. 26.

With little time to prepare a campaign, Wright said he shipped out the federal paperwork early so he could make a better assessment of the political landscape and his chances of success.

Murray, who recently returned from a trip to Washington seeking backing for a potential race, offered a similar reason.

For weeks, quietly and behind the scenes, candidates vying to succeed Dixon have been testing the waters, commissioning polls and nudging politicians and leaders from labor, community organizations and religious institutions for support.

They are scouting possible campaign headquarters and seeking financial backers for a congressional race that some candidates estimate may cost from $500,000 to $1 million.

Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden, who filed his statement of candidacy the day after Dixon’s funeral, is another contender. Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas is giving strong signals that he also will run.

But others, such as Assemblyman Herb Wesson, who may run for Assembly speaker, and former Los Angeles Police Commission President Gary Greenebaum have decided not to enter the contest after briefly toying with the idea.

The presumptive front-runner, based on name recognition and preliminary polling results by other campaigns, is former state Sen. Diane Watson, who on Saturday completed her appointment as U.S. ambassador to Micronesia.

Watson, who was forced by term limits to give up her state Senate seat at the end of 1998, is well known in the community. A Los Angeles native, Watson won her Senate seat in 1978, becoming the first black woman to serve in the chamber.

At last week’s parade celebrating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, organizers from the Draft Diane Watson for Congress Committee fanned out in the crowd, collecting signatures on petitions encouraging Watson to run and giving out signs.

“We need someone with her experience and her ability in Congress, someone a little more seasoned,” said Celestine Palmer, a committee member.

Although it is widely expected that she will run, Watson was required by federal law to refrain from announcing her intentions until she left her post as ambassador. Her preparations for the race began as soon as she touched down in Los Angeles early Sunday morning.

“I’m running for the 32nd Congressional District,” Watson said. “I’m a free agent, and I’ll be announcing publicly my campaign sometime this week.”

But Watson may find it difficult to organize a campaign. She faces candidates from a younger generation who argue that a seat in Congress--with its strict seniority system--would be better suited going to a more youthful candidate who could serve for many years.

Wright, a former aide to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), has been criticized for accepting contributions from the gun lobby.

“I support them sometimes and sometimes I don’t,” he said. “You take each issue as it goes.”

Wright is chairman of the Assembly’s Utility and Commerce Committee, which is involved in legislation to end the power crisis.

And though Murray has won some support for his legislative record--supporting the expansion of urban parks and the banning of racial profiling--his opponents have already begun discussing an incident in late 1998 in which he was detained by Los Angeles park police while parked in his car with a prostitute.

Murray was not arrested, but the incident was reported.

“I am making no attempt to cut corners,” Murray said. “That incident was over two years ago. I have apologized to anyone who may have been offended by that. I was single then. I no longer am. I hope that people judge me on my legislative record. I have a superior legislative record.”