Green, Grisham Break Record for Election Spending : $2.99 Million Averages Out at $36.50 Per Vote

Democrat Cecil N. Green and Republican Wayne Grisham spent a record $2.99 million on May’s special election in the 33rd state Senate District, making it the most expensive legislative race in the history of California, state officials said Monday.

Green, a longtime Norwalk councilman, outspent Assemblyman Grisham, also of Norwalk, more than 2 to 1 in winning the $37,105-a-year job and strengthening the Democrats’ hold on the state Senate.

The candidates spent about $36.50 for each of the 82,074 ballots cast in the May 12 election to fill the seat formerly held by Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Cypress), who resigned in January after he was elected to the State Board of Equalization.

Political action groups controlled by Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) contributed heavily to Green’s campaign. His victory was considered by many to be a blow to GOP hopes to take control of the Senate before lawmakers begin redrawing district boundaries in the early 1990s.

For the 3 1/2-month campaign, Green, 62, received nearly $2.1 million in cash and non-monetary contributions, according to midyear campaign contribution and expenditure reports filed with the secretary of state’s office. The deadline for mailing those reports was Friday.

Acting on behalf of Senate Democrats, Roberti gave Green $721,703 in cash and $352,433 in non-monetary support such as staff and consulting services.

Grisham, 64, a two-term assemblyman who was the favorite at the outset of the race, received $943,794 in cash and in-kind contributions, records showed.

Like Green, the conservative Grisham, who many believed would be popular in the middle-class suburbs that make up the 33rd district, relied heavily on Sacramento for money to fuel his campaign. He received nearly $250,000 in cash and in-kind support from the Senate Republican Political Action Committee, the political arm of GOP senators. The California Republican Party chipped in another $95,000, and the new Senate Republican Leader, Ken Maddy (R-Fresno), gave $45,000.

All but a fraction of the total of $2,996,411 in contributions to the two candidates came from sources outside the district, which cuts across northwest Orange County and southeast Los Angeles County.

State officials said the race is the most expensive California legislative contest ever when cash and in-kind contributions are totaled for both candidates. But political observers said the level of spending is partly because it was a special election and partly because the two candidates did not have to compete with other statewide races for contributions.

Previously, the Tom Hayden-Bill Hawkins 1982 Westside Los Angeles race for an Assembly seat had been considered the most expensive legislative race ever, the Fair Political Practices Commission said Monday. Democrat Hayden spent $2.06 million to win the 44th Assembly District, while his losing Republican opponent, Hawkins, spent $907,924, for a total of slightly more than $2.9 million. It was the first legislative race in the state to top $2 million.

In 1986, five races for Senate and Assembly seats cost more than $2 million each, including a hotly contested race between incumbent Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose) and Santa Clara County Supervisor Tom Legan, his Republican opponent. The two spent more than $2.8 million, state officials said.

Both Green and Grisham ended the race in debt. Both men face tough reelection bids next year. Officials in both parties acknowledged that it will be difficult to raise money not only to erase debts but also to build new campaign warchests.

Green still owes $147,021, mostly to political consultants, while Grisham owes $193,199, including debts to employment agencies that hired workers--many of them teen-agers--at $5 an hour to go door to door in the campaign’s final days.

Both candidates said they plan a series of fund-raising dinners in the coming weeks to offset their debts.

Grisham said much of his debt was amassed without his knowledge in the final weeks of the campaign. He said the campaign was being directed by Sacramento-based consultants who simply kept spending, even though the money had run out.

“The stakes were so high I guess they decided to roll the dice. It was win at any cost,” Grisham said. “In any campaign I’ve ever been in, I’ve never spent money I did not have. This race was no different. Other people were calling the shots.”

As a result, Grisham said he believes Senate Republicans should help pull him out of debt.

But some senators, like Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), said it is up to Grisham to pay his own bills.

“It’s rare that a campaign ends up with a surplus,” said Bergeson, who contributed $10,000 to Grisham’s campaign.

“Incurring debts is part of the business, and one has to be willing to accept that. I don’t feel any responsiblity (for helping Grisham).”

Greg Haskins, executive director of the Orange County Republican Party, said Grisham faces an uphill fund-raising struggle because there are both state and federal elections next year.

“He must pay off the debt to maintain his credibility and at the same time start raising money for what may be an expensive reelection struggle,” Haskins said. “It’s going to be difficult because everybody in the world is going to be asking for money next year.”

Grisham has said he will not challenge Green again. Instead, he plans to seek a third term in the 63rd Assembly District.

Green, who was elected to serve the final 18 months of Carpenter’s four-year term, said his 1988 reelection effort is under way.

The most talked-about challenger in the 33rd District on the Republican side is Cerritos Councilman Don Knabe. While stopping short of announcing his candidacy, Knabe, chief deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana, said last week: “I’m looking very hard and very seriously (at running against Green).”

Knabe was a candidate early on in this year’s election in the 33rd District but withdrew after Gov. George Deukmejian met privately with both him and Grisham to encourage one of the two to drop out and help the party unify behind one candidate.

Grisham’s defeat has only intensified the Republicans’ interest in the seat, Republican State Party Chairman Robert Naylor said.

“It is our top Senate election priority,” said Naylor, adding that he does not believe Roberti and the Democratic Party will have the same kind of resources to commit to the race next year.

Bob Forsyth, Roberti’s chief of staff, disagreed: “It is a seat we can win, and we will spend whatever it takes to hold it.”

It will be easier for Green to raise money next year because of his incumbency, said John Hanna, Orange County Democratic Party chairman. “There’s no question, the race will be competitive,” he said.

“But he’s (Green) not the unknown he was. A lot of contributors who did not take his candidacy seriously will now be willing to step forward.”