ELECTIONS / 42ND ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Margolin Keeps Much of Former Power Base

By MAYERENE BARKER

April 29, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

In the dash for safe seats brought about by reapportionment, Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) appears to have emerged a winner.

The veteran assemblyman, elected in 1980, is running for reelection in the 42nd Assembly District, in which 58% of the registered voters are Democrats and 29% are Republicans.

Also, Margolin has retained much of his former San Fernando Valley and Westside power base. The newly drawn district includes all or portions of the Valley communities of Toluca Lake, Studio City, Sherman Oaks and Universal City, but mostly consists of Los Angeles communities north of Wilshire Boulevard and east of the San Diego Freeway.

Most are communities that fell within Margolin’s old 45th Assembly District.

Margolin, 39, won his 1990 reelection bid with 65% of the vote with his Republican challenger receiving only 29%. This year, he has drawn one Democratic challenger, attorney John J. Duran.

Duran, 32, of West Hollywood is a member of the California Commission on Hate Crimes and says he plans to spend $100,000 on his campaign to unseat Margolin.

Margolin and Duran share similar views. Both support abortion rights, capital punishment in some instances and social programs, such as a proposal to require California businesses to provide health insurance to employees.

“As a gay rights attorney, I have seen the devastating impact of HIV disease,” Duran said. “Health care is a right, not a privilege. Healthy workers lead to increased productivity. Uninsured workers lead to personnel turnover, absenteeism and decreased efficiency.”

Margolin said the proposed requirement should be “absolutely tied to a major health care cost-containment package that gives employers guaranteed controls on their health spending.”

He pointed out that he is the author of a bill to create a universal health system based on the employer’s choice of financing, which would also give employers a cap on increases in their health premiums.

The two differ slightly on welfare reform. Duran does not support Gov. Wilson’s proposal to reduce welfare benefits to families, while Margolin said he agrees with that portion of the plan that limits welfare for new arrivals in the state.

“The reduction in grants for families already on welfare won’t solve the problem,” Margolin said. “Poor children will suffer. An expanded workfare program would make more sense.”

Duran said Wilson has “vilified welfare mothers with children as a threat to our society.” If the governor wants welfare reform, he said, “he should link it to child care. Mothers won’t abandon their children to latch-key status. Providing for child care will free mothers to re-enter the work force.”

Robert K. Davis, a contractor and West Hollywood human services commissioner, and Chauncey J. Medberry, a Los Angeles businessman, are competing for the Republican nomination.

Davis, 47, also ran for the Republican nomination against Margolin in 1990, but lost to Elizabeth Michael in the primary. Like his Democratic opponents, he supports the death penalty and abortion rights.

However, he does not believe the state’s businesses should be required to fund health insurance for their employees. “People should pay for it themselves or through general taxation and not burden business,” Davis said.

He said a national health-care system would not work. “I do not believe in socialized medicine, which is what all these proposals are, even if they deny the word.”

If elected, Davis said he would work toward cutting taxation in half.

Medberry could not be reached for comment.

Also on the ballot are Libertarian Andrew S. Rotter of Los Angeles, a retired attorney, and Peace and Freedom party candidate Timothy Burdick, also of Los Angeles, an office worker.

Assembly District 42

Overview: The district emerged from reapportionment with a new number and slightly altered boundaries, but it remains a safe seat for Democrats. Assemblyman Burt Margolin, a Democrat elected in 1980, is seeking reelection. He is opposed by gay rights attorney John J. Duran in the June 2 primary.

Where: The district includes Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Universal City and West Hollywood, and portions of Sherman Oaks, West Los Angeles and the Fairfax area. To find out if you live in the district, call the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office at (213) 721-1100.

Demographics

Anglo: 79%

Latino: 10%

Black: 3%

Asian: 7%

Party Registration

Demo: 58%

GOP: 29%

Others: 13%

Candidates:

Democrat

John J. Duran, attorney