Primaries Become the Real Battleground

Sheila Kuehl sat down last November and penned a little letter to her “dear friends”--the 8,000 or so people who wrote the checks that helped her become the first openly lesbian member of the California Senate.

Kuehl did not envision the letter as a declaration of war against the moderate, business-friendly politicians now gaining prominence in her own Democratic Party. But she was asking her donors for more money to bankroll “like-minded” liberal candidates, so that essentially is what it was.

The letter soon was widely disseminated and discussed in Sacramento, because what Kuehl wrote perfectly captured the theme of this year’s state legislative campaigns, which are no longer really about electing Republicans or Democrats in November.

Rather, the campaigns are about electing the right Republican or Democratic candidates in next month’s primaries; with only a few exceptions, it is already clear which party will win this fall in every legislative contest from Riverside to Redding.

That, at least, is the prevailing view among state political experts, who say lawmakers preordained the outcomes last year by passing a redistricting plan that heavily tilted voter registration to favor one party over the other for most of the 100 Senate and Assembly seats in play this political season.

“Elections have been abolished in California by an act of the Legislature,” summed up Democratic political consultant Parke Skelton. “There is nowhere left to turn” but the primaries.

As a result, influential lawmakers such as Kuehl--and some of the state’s most well-heeled special interests--are more aggressively picking sides in primary races than at any time in recent memory.

“Now that virtually every Democratic seat in the Legislature is utterly safe,” Kuehl wrote in her letter, “we can finally turn our attention to fighting the primary battles, heretofore off limits to incumbents who didn’t want to stick their necks out. We now have several chances to get not just any Democrats, but the right Democrats in state legislative seats.”

In the most significant example, Kuehl and a loose-knit coalition of left-leaning Democrats and traditional Democratic donors such as labor unions and trial lawyers, are working to beat back gains by the Democratic Business Caucus. To the chagrin of many liberals, the group of moderate Democrats has grown in size and stature in recent years, becoming one of the most powerful players in Sacramento.

So a world away from her urbane West Los Angeles district, in agricultural Kings County, Kuehl has entered the fray in a Democratic Assembly primary pitting a prominent farmer, Jim Crettol, against a slightly more liberal congressional aide, Nicole Parra. And quite a nasty little fray it is. When the Crettol campaign made an issue of Parra’s financial support from “lesbian members of the Legislature,” Kuehl shot back, dubbing Crettol “Jim Cretin.”

A similar fight is taking place in Los Angeles, where differing Democratic factions are backing rival candidates to replace former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), who is being forced out by term limits. “The business community got involved in Democratic primaries a few years ago. What you are seeing is the left wing and organized labor getting involved to counter what they see as the excessive power of the mods,” said Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga

There also are numerous primary battles where lawmakers are coming down on opposing sides according to ethnic or racial lines. They include the southeast Los Angeles contest to replace Assemblyman Carl Washington (D-Paramount), which features an experienced African American politician, former Lt. Gov. Mervyn Dymally, and two Latinas, Paramount Mayor Diane Janet Martinez and communications union Vice President Alexandra Gallardo-Rooker.

Some, including Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, regard the surge in Democratic primary battles as a healthy sign of the party’s diversity of opinion. But others worry that the primary squabbles are turning divisive, and could lead to a loss of unity in November that could create opportunities for Republicans.

“Frankly, there should not be arrogance from either party. When either party thinks they can take a seat for granted, that party is going to be in trouble,” said Assemblyman John Dutra (D-Fremont), a leading member of the business-oriented Democrats. “It’s amazing to me how people think these are all safe seats now. I don’t think it’s healthy for there to be competition among Democrats. The business Democrats are not in competition with Democrats, we are in competition with Republicans.”

Legislative contests have ultimately always been about one thing: Republicans and Democrats jousting for control of the Senate and Assembly. That is the reason the parties and their benefactors pump millions of dollars into the races every two years.

But Democrats now have a stranglehold on both houses--50 of the 80 seats in the Assembly, and 26 of the 40 seats in the Senate--and given the latest redistricting, no one, including Republicans, expects the Democrats’ grip to loosen anytime soon. If not for the state budget, which requires a two-thirds vote and thus needs Republican support, the GOP would be flirting with total irrelevance in the state capital.

“Our sights are set much lower. We’re not going for 41 seats anymore,” said Matt Rexroad, the strategist overseeing Assembly races for the California Republican Party. He said the GOP’s more modest goal this year is to gain a few seats, not a majority of the 80-member house. “Even in a tidal wave year” for Republicans statewide, control of the Legislature appears out of reach for the near future, he said.

But Republicans too are watching as established incumbents and some of their stronger candidates have to run against one another, a consequence of redistricting.

In San Diego and Riverside counties, conservative Assemblyman Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) is seeking the same state Senate seat as moderate Assemblywoman Charlene Zettel (R-Poway). The seat formerly did not include Hollingsworth’s home, but now does. In north Los Angeles County, a similar contest pits Assemblyman Phil Wyman (R-Tehachapi) against Sharon Runner, wife of the incumbent, Assemblyman George Runner (R-Lancaster). Wyman moved into the area after redistricting changed the makeup of his district.

Political veterans expect the trend to continue well into the next decade, until population shifts scramble the handiwork of Sacramento’s political map-drawers.

“There are usually less competitive races right after redistricting, and then over time the district demographics change and become more competitive,” said Senate President Pro Tempore John Burton (D-San Francisco). “But because of term limits, there are open seats, and that always makes for competitive primaries.”