Foes Debate Whether to Hold Debates

The congressional race between former state Sen. Diane Watson, businesswoman Noel Irwin Hentschel and two minor-party candidates has boiled down to a debate over debates, as three contenders chomp for the chance to take on Watson, but Watson continues to decline.

Wednesday night, the candidates met to compare views at an event in the Crenshaw district sponsored by the Los Angeles Press Club and the Black Chamber of Commerce of L.A. County. They found Watson’s chair empty.

That continued a pattern that has dominated the race since April 10, when Hentschel, Watson, Reform Party candidate Ezola Foster and Green Party candidate Donna Warren landed in a runoff. The election is June 5.

“‘I would propose we hold at least six debates--in Crenshaw, in the east side of the district, in Koreatown, in Culver City, on the campus of the University of Southern California and in the Beverlywood area,” Hentschel wrote after the primary election.

Three weeks later, Hentschel received a letter from Watson declining the invitation.

“What I told Noel is ‘I’m not going to debate you,’ ” the longtime Democrat said. “ ‘I taught school. I was on the school board. I was in the Senate on the Education Committee for 20 years. You are the one the voters don’t know. You have no election experience. You’re not going to use me to get it.’ ”

Watson, who won the April primary with 32% of the vote, hasn’t completely ruled out participating in campaign forums with her three opponents, but the requests “must be in writing and from legitimate organizations.”

Watson, who missed Wednesday night’s forum because of a previous commitment to attend a fund-raiser, can afford to pick and choose her shots because she is the Democratic nominee in one of the most heavily Democratic districts in the state.

That has angered her opponents, however.

‘Issues Matter!’

“It’s an insult to the voters,” said Foster, who ran for vice president on the Pat Buchanan ticket. “This is not a popularity contest. Issues matter!”

“It’s important to talk about how to improve the lot of people in our district,” said Warren, an accountant with the MTA.

Foster has argued that the government’s failure to contain illegal immigration is destroying the nation. Warren blames the government for the spread of crack cocaine and advocates the payments of reparations to African Americans for the nation’s history of slavery.

Hentschel, a Republican, emphasizes education in her campaigning. Like her Green and Reform Party colleagues, she has decried Watson’s decision to skip debates as “an insult.”

The absence of debates has been particularly hard on the Green and Reform Party candidates, who are trying to run campaigns on shoestring budgets. In Hentschel’s case, she has a $1-million campaign treasury, which she is using to mount a full-fledged multimedia campaign.

Hentschel has put together a high-powered team of campaign advisors with major ties to the Republican Party. Lodwrick Cook, retired Arco chairman, and Univision chief Jerry Perenchio are campaign co-chairmen. Hentschel includes among her inner circle political consultant Stu Spencer, who managed Ronald Reagan’s campaigns.

Her message has been plastered on billboards and is being aired in slick television and radio ads in English and Spanish. She even purchased a small home in View Park and turned it into a campaign headquarters.

“I’m not tilting at windmills,” she said. “I plan on winning. This is not a dream.”

But Hentschel, who is white and lives outside the district in Bel-Air, is facing tough political realities in her quest to fill the vacancy created by the death of Rep. Julian Dixon, an African American who represented the area for more than two decades. Republicans make up just 12% of the vote in the 32nd District.

“I call it the impossible dream,” said veteran GOP consultant Allan Hoffenblum. “I have to believe she has another agenda other than winning on June 5.”

Daunting Challenge

Even in her own camp, many of her advisors said she faces a daunting task.

In the ethnically diverse, Democratic stronghold, Spencer said, Hentschel is hurt more because she is a Republican than by being the only white running for a seat that has been traditionally held by an African American.

“There is a lot of anti-Republican feeling in that district,” Spencer said. “She was told by me and many others that it would be a difficult race. She has to convince Democrats to come across. That’s the game.”

Hentschel, who grew up in South Los Angeles and Culver City, has criticized Republicans and Democrats for failing to deliver on promises.

“Too many Republicans have not taken the time to understand the needs of this community, and too many Democrats have not listened to the voices of the voters,” she said.

Hoffenblum said Hentschel might have a slight chance of winning if voter turnout were extremely low for the runoff, but that scenario is not likely to occur because the congressional election is on the same day as the mayoral election. Most of the district lies inside the Los Angeles city limits, and both mayoral candidates have stumped long and hard in predominantly African American neighborhoods.

“The mayor’s race is the nail in the coffin of her campaign,” Hoffenblum said.

Watson said she plans to spend about $700,000 on a campaign that will remind voters that she was born and raised in the 32nd District and enjoyed political name recognition that was forged over a 20-year career in the state Senate and during a stint as U.S. ambassador to Micronesia.

And though she intends to campaign until election day, Watson is acting like her victory is assured.

“We’re evaluating 300 resumes to fill 19 positions,” she said.