Both Parties Target Special Senate Race, Prepare Bankrolls

The prize is the 33rd state Senate District.

But it won’t come cheap for those jockeying to replace Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Cypress), who is resigning early next year to take a seat he won on the state Board of Equalization.

To win Carpenter’s seat in a special election may cost $1 million, according to some political observers. Seven candidates have announced they will enter the race, and the scramble for dollars and endorsements is in full swing even though an election date has not been set. Carpenter, who was first elected to the Senate in 1976, plans to leave office Jan. 5, and Gov. George Deukmejian is expected to call a special election soon after for late March or early April.

The race will draw statewide attention, with Senate Republicans looking to build on several impressive victories in November, and Democrats trying to protect their majority in the state’s only Senate race next year.

Field Has Firmed Up

In recent weeks, the field has firmed up with Cerritos Mayor Don Knabe, Assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk) and former Hawaiian Gardens Mayor Margaret Vineyard the announced Republican entries. On the Democratic side, retired Municipal Judge Leon Emerson, Norwalk Councilman Cecil N. Green, South Whittier School District board member David Hayes and former Cypress Mayor Otto Lacayo are running.

In a special election, all candidates are listed on a single ballot and voters of any party can vote for any candidate. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, then the top vote-getters from each party compete in a runoff election.

Spending by the Republican hopefuls could be particularly heavy. Both Knabe and Grisham, who was elected last month to a second Assembly term in the 63rd District, have access to large contributors. Knabe, 43, has been endorsed by the influential Lincoln Club of Orange County, a conservative fund-raising group, and he expects to receive financial help from his boss, Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana. Knabe, Dana’s top aide, said his goal is to raise $100,000 by the end of the year.

Nearly Upset Carpenter

In two Assembly races, Grisham, 63, has shown he too can attract big money. Two years ago, he raised more than $300,000 to win the seat for the Republicans, and last month in a race against longtime Norwalk Councilman Bob White, he raised nearly $200,000 en route to an easy reelection. Grisham said in an interview this week that he has $50,000 already set aside for a Senate run.

Vineyard, who nearly upset Carpenter and won the 33rd Senate seat two years ago, said her Republican rivals have an edge in the fund-raising department. But she said voters are tired of expensive, high-powered campaigns. She believes that may work in her favor because she does not plan to match her opponents dollar for dollar.

The importance of the race, also has Democrats talking of spending freely. Although Democrats hold a 24-to-15 edge in the state Senate, they lost two seats in the November general election and Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) does not want to lose another.

Roberti and the Democratic caucus in Sacramento recently polled voters in the 33rd Senate District to find out which Democrat has the highest name recognition. The move is seen by many as a signal that the party plans to endorse a candidate in the election and finance that person’s campaign with state party funds. Endorsing a candidate, said Roberti spokesman Bob Forsyth, would be a break from tradition, but a necessary move to win the seat.

“The grim reality is such that if we don’t get involved early in this race, the Republicans and their big money could win it without going to a runoff,” said Forsyth, who declined to discuss the Democrats’ voter survey in the district. “This is the only game in town next year and both parties are keenly interested in the race.”

Caucus Endorsement Sought

An endorsement by the caucus would be a significant boost to any one of the Democratic challengers hoping to hang on to the seat for the party in a district that spills across two counties. About 75% of the 33rd Senate District is in southeast Los Angeles County, including all or parts of Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Artesia, Cerritos, Bellflower, Norwalk, Downey, Santa Fe Springs and South Whittier. The district also covers Buena Park, La Palma, Cypress and Los Alamitos in northwest Orange County. Voter registration favors the Democrats roughly 54% to 38%.

Even with the edge in voter registration, the Democrats say their biggest problem is the lack of a candidate with districtwide name recognition.

Emerson, 61, retired last year after 24 years as a judge on the Downey Municipal Court. A Downey resident since the late 1950s, Emerson said he was encouraged to run by family and friends as well as several party leaders in Sacramento. However, he said, “I’m a little rusty” when it comes to campaigning, and he added that he is at a disadvantage in raising money. Even if he does not get Roberti’s backing, Emerson said he is in the race to the finish.

Green, 62, also said he is committed to run, with or without help from Sacramento. A member of the Norwalk council since 1974, he said his career as a public official is “unfinished . . . my next challenge is the State of California.”

Green, who has more than $40,000 in his campaign account from past council races, said he is vulnerable in Orange County, where he is a virtual unknown. But he is counting on carrying his hometown, Norwalk, the largest city in the district, with nearly 40% of its 89,000 residents registered to vote.

Lacayo, 51, is the only announced Orange County entrant in the race. A four-term member of the Cypress City Council, Lacayo is a trustee on the North Orange County Community College District board. He was one of the first to announce his candidacy, and said he needs to capture a large chunk of the Orange County vote to win. About a quarter of the district’s 285,290 registered voters live in Orange County.

Like Carpenter, Lacayo is a longtime Cypress resident, but he does not expect Carpenter to endorse him. The two ran against each other for Assembly in 1974, and have not been close since.

Carpenter’s blessing could be valuable to any Democrat but a spokesman said the senator plans to wait and see who the caucus endorses before deciding whether to back anyone.

“The senator is in no hurry at this point to commit,” spokesman Jerry Goldberg said.

Of the four Democrats in the race, the least known is Hayes. A trustee in the South Whittier School District, Hayes, 37, was a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department until this fall when a knee injury forced him to retire. He is a distant cousin to Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park). But Hayes said he does not expect any support from Martinez. Hayes, like Lacayo, hopes to draw heavily on the Latino support in Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk, Hawaiian Gardens and Artesia.

The unknown in the Democratic equation is Richard Robinson, the former Orange County assemblyman who was beaten badly in November when he tried to unseat Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) in the 38th Congressional District. Shortly after losing to Dornan, Robinson moved his legal residence from Garden Grove to Buena Park, well within the 33rd Senate District, leading many to assume he was positioning himself to run for Carpenter’s seat.

But Robinson has not announced what he plans to do, and despite repeated attempts, he could not be reached for comment. In recent weeks, Robinson’s name has stopped surfacing as a potential candidate, according to political observers both in the district and in Sacramento. “He hasn’t been talked about for some time now,” Roberti spokesman Forsyth said. “Nobody really knows what his status is.”

Among the Republicans, speculation has focused on whether Grisham will stay in the race and force a costly showdown with Knabe, who has already received numerous endorsements in both counties. At a recent press conference, Knabe suggested that Grisham should drop out for the good of the Republican party. Two years ago, Knabe said he was “a good soldier” and stayed out of the 63rd Assembly District race. By doing so, Knabe believes he helped get Grisham elected by showing voters the party was unified behind one candidate.

‘Avoid . . . In-House Fight’

“A lot of people worked very hard to put Wayne where he is today,” Knabe said. “And now 25 months later he is turning that upside down and getting into another race. . . . I think he should remember what was done for him and (help) avoid a major in-house fight.”

Grisham said he had planned to wait and run when Carpenter’s term expired in 1988. But Carpenter’s election to the Board of Equalization accelerated his timetable. “I really wish it was two years from now,” Grisham said. “But the opportunity is there now, and there is going to be a new senator. . . . I hope it is me.”

If Grisham should run and win, some have suggested that Knabe will seek the 63rd District Assembly seat. But Knabe said he has no designs on Grisham’s seat. “I’ve planned this Senate try for many months,” he said.

Knabe has come under fire from Lacayo, who has charged that Knabe is “campaigning on taxpayers’ time.” But Knabe said he plans to take an unpaid leave absence from his job as Supervisor Dana’s deputy beginning in January.

To win the seat, Knabe has hired the same political consultant who helped Rep. Ed Zschau (R-Los Altos) come within a whisker of defeating longtime Democratic U. S. Sen. Alan Cranston in November. When Zschau first entered the race he was not widely known outside of his Northern California district, and most people were unable to pronounce his name. Knabe believes he has a similar problem with name recognition, and he promised recently that before the campaign is over, “you’ll know what a Knabe is.”