Deukmejian Calls Special Election to Replace Carpenter

Gov. George Deukmejian on Thursday called a special state Senate election for May 12 to fill the vacancy created last week when Sen. Paul B. Carpenter (D-Cypress) took a seat on the State Board of Equalization.

Deukmejian’s declaration came a day after he held a highly unusual private meeting with the top Republican contenders for the Carpenter seat

and reportedly urged one or the other to bow out of the race to avoid a potentially costly and nasty campaign.

The unannounced session provided a glimpse into behind-the-scenes political maneuvering by Deukmejian, who rarely, if ever, interjects himself directly into Republican legislative primaries. Aides said they could recall no other similar occasion.

But both contenders, Don Knabe, the mayor of Cerritos and chief deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana, and Assemblyman Wayne Grisham of Norwalk, said separately Thursday that they intend to remain in the race despite Deukmejian’s appeal.

“Neither Wayne nor I are moving off the dime at this point. We’re both in the race,” Knabe said. Grisham insisted that he was “in the race 100%.”

Primary in March

The general election will be preceded by a special primary March 17. In the primary, all candidates will be listed on a single ballot, and voters of any party can vote for any candidate. If no one wins more than 50% of the vote, then the top vote-getters from each party will compete in the May general election.

Hoping to avoid a bitter GOP fight, Republican officials have appealed to Grisham to keep his heavily Democratic 63rd Assembly District seat, which they anticipate will be hard to defend without the popular two-term legislator in office.

Against this backdrop, Deukmejian called Grisham, 63, and Knabe, 43, together in his office Wednesday evening to, as Grisham put it later, express his preference that “it would be best if one of us was in the race.” Grisham and Knabe said the governor indicated that it was up to the two to decide who would pull out.

Kevin Brett, the governor’s deputy press secretary, said that he could not reveal what was discussed. Brett said he believed that it was the first time the governor had held a private meeting with rival GOP candidates before an election.

Knabe termed the hourlong discussion “friendly.” He said Deukmejian indicated that with both him and Grisham in the race there was a “potential of unnecessary” campaign expenditures. Knabe said he plans to spend up to $500,000.

Carpenter’s election Nov. 4 to the Board of Equalization sparked jockeying by potential Republican and Democratic candidates in his 33rd Senate District, which straddles the Los Angeles and Orange County line. Democrats hold a 54%-38% registration margin over Republicans in the district.

Even so, GOP leaders contend that Republicans have a good shot at capturing the conservative-leaning suburban district in the primary, especially considering that former Hawaiian Gardens Mayor Margaret Vineyard came close to beating Carpenter in 1984. She, too, has announced that she will run again this time.

The seat is important to Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), who on Tuesday endorsed Norwalk City Councilman Cecil N. Green. Roberti does not want to see his Democratic majority drop any further. Although Democrats control the Senate 23-15, with one independent, they lost two seats Nov. 4.

Voters in the 33rd District include residents of Buena Park, La Palma, Cypress and Los Alamitos in Orange County, as well as Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, Artesia, Cerritos, Bellflower, Norwalk, Downey, Santa Fe Springs and South Whittier in Los Angeles County.