At $36.50 Per Vote, Senate Race Sets Record

Democrat Cecil N. Green and Republican Wayne Grisham spent a record $2.99 million on May’s special election for a state Senate seat representing parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties, making it the most expensive legislative race in the history of California, state officials said Monday.

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

The candidates spent about $36.50 for each ballot cast in the May 12 election to fill the 33rd District Senate seat formerly held by Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Cypress), who resigned in January after winning election 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 the Republicans’ hopes to take control of the Senate before lawmakers begin redrawing district boundaries in the early 1990s.

Mid-Year Report

For the 3 1/2-month campaign, Green, 62, received nearly $2.1 million in cash and non-monetary contributions, according to mid-year 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 such non-monetary support 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 show.

Like Green, the conservative Grisham, whom 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 $95,000, and the 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 northwest Orange County-southeast Los Angeles County district.

According to the Fair Political Practices Commission, the race was the most expensive California legislative contest ever, when cash and in-kind contributions for both candidates are totaled.

Political observers say the level of spending is partly attributable to its having been a special election in which the candidates did not have to compete for contributions with others in statewide races.

Previously, the Tom Hayden-Bill Hawkins race in 1982 for a Westside Assembly seat had been considered the most expensive legislative race, according to the commission. Democrat Hayden spent $2.06 million to win the 44th Assembly District, and his 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.

Both Green and Grisham ended the race in debt. Both men face reelection next year, and officials in both parties acknowledge that it will be difficult to raise money to erase debts and to build new campaign war chests.

Green still owes $147,021, mostly to political consultants, and Grisham owes $193,199.