ELECTIONS 18TH SENATE DISTRICT : Frustrating Cash Crunch Weakens Hart’s Rival

Republican Carey Rogers is frustrated that her sluggish campaign to unseat state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) has fallen far short of the cash needed to capitalize on the growing voter dissatisfaction with incumbents.

“The surveys show that a woman running against a male incumbent has an automatic 10% advantage,” Rogers said. “Everyone knows Gary Hart. The biggest problem is getting my message out, and that requires money.”

Unfortunately for Rogers, her campaign is broke. After nearly $11,000 in expenses, financial records show her campaign had $130 in cash and $3,500 in debts as of Sept. 30.

Rogers, a security alarm saleswoman in Santa Barbara, said her continuing struggle with fund raising has diminished her hopes of reaching many voters with a campaign mailer outlining her views about reducing the size of government and revamping public education.

Complicating her quest is the massive size of the 18th Senate District with 326,000 registered voters stretched across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Furthermore, Democrats hold a commanding edge in the district, with 21,000 more voters than the Republicans.

Taking a cue from his challenger, Hart said he has decided to run a low-key campaign. “My opponent has not shown her face in most parts of the district,” Hart said. “We spend as much time and money as we need to. We haven’t had to spend much.”

At first, Rogers’ campaign was being managed by her husband, Rod Sumner, who also happens to be a professional political consultant. But Sumner said his ambitious plans for the campaign were causing friction in their marriage.

“It was the first time in our first two years of marriage that we had a fight,” Sumner said. “So I technically resigned. We came to an agreement that I would rather be married to her than have her as a state senator.”

Now Sumner acts as a part-time consultant while working on other campaigns in Santa Barbara. Sumner’s parents, who visit this time of year in their motor home, have assumed the official role of campaign manager.

“Unfortunately, my wife is not your typical politician,” Sumner said. She wants to run a positive campaign on the issues without attacking Hart, he said. “I have written two dozen news releases over the past couple of months,” Sumner said. “She wants to read every one and won’t let me send them out.”

Hart has hired a campaign manager, but has no campaign staff. He plans to mail a political brochure next week to voters throughout the district that points out he was “ranked first in integrity in the state Senate by the California Journal” and details some of the bills he authored last year. California Journal is a magazine about state politics.

“This election is a referendum on me, whether I’m doing a good job,” Hart said. “The theme of this brochure is what I’ve done in the past year or so.”

Rogers, a Santa Barbara Republican Central Committee member, shies from criticizing Hart, other than saying that after 16 years in the Legislature he has been in office too long and has lost touch with his district.

A self-described “fiscal conservative and social liberal,” she prefers to explain her ideas for returning the schools to local control and reducing the role of the state government.

She has a vision for the state Legislature, a target of anti-incumbent sentiment. Rogers proposes drastically cutting legislative staff and doubling the number of lawmakers, from its current 80 Assembly and 40 Senate members.

The change would make the Legislature more representative and detract from the idea “that government should solve all of our problems,” she said. Basically, she argues that a larger Legislature would be so cumbersome that it would pass fewer laws.

“If we have more legislators, the less they will get done, the fewer laws they will pass,” Rogers said. “Hopefully, the ones they do pass will have some meaning and do some good.”

Also on the ballot is Libertarian Party candidate Jay C. Wood, an office machine salesman in Fillmore who is making his second run against Hart. “My purpose for being on the ballot is to provide a ‘none-of-the-above vote,’ ” Wood said. “Of course, Gary Hart has a lock on the job as long as he wants it.”

Candidates QUESTIONNAIRE: B8