ELECTIONS / 35TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Challengers See Redrawn Boundaries as Edge Against Incumbent

For the past decade, Democratic Assemblyman Jack O’Connell has had the political advantage of representing a district with far more registered Democratic voters than Republicans.

That all changed with this year’s redistricting that redrew the boundaries of the 35th Assembly District to make it far more competitive for would-be Republican rivals.

Three Santa Barbara Republicans hope to take advantage of the shift in district lines, but political analysts say O’Connell remains the man to beat with his widespread bipartisan support.

“I don’t think Jack’s in trouble,” said Mary Rose, a Santa Barbara political consultant. “He’s not going to take anything for granted.”

Another political consultant, John Davies, said he is impressed by the breadth of O’Connell’s support. “For a Democrat, he has a lot of Republicans who support him,” Davies said. “Of every incumbent in the state, I would say that Jack O’Connell is the least vulnerable.”

So far, O’Connell has raised more than $118,000 for his reelection bid, far outpacing the three Republicans in the race, according to campaign financial statements filed in March.

On the Republican side, Alan O. (Lanny) Ebenstein was the top fund-raiser, with about $1,688. GOP contenders Paul Pillmore and Aaron H. Gray had raised less than the $1,000 that triggers the requirement for filing financial statements with elections officials.

Voters will decide in the June 2 primary which of the three Republicans will face the assemblyman in the November election. No other Democrats have entered the race.

In O’Connell’s last race, he won with about 70% of the vote. But, as he points out, “it was a different district back then.”

Before the political lines were redrawn, the 35th Assembly District included heavily Democratic sections of Oxnard. But the newly configured district dropped Oxnard and picked up Ventura, Ojai and some heavily Republican parts of Santa Barbara County.

“It will be a challenge,” he said. “But I’ve always done well with Republican voters. They are just as concerned with having quality education, helping our environment and helping our small-business community.”

Although the three Republicans do not have large war chests, each says he is determined to mount an aggressive campaign.

Lanny Ebenstein, 32, has focused his message on the financial ills of the state. Ebenstein, who works as a political science lecturer at Antioch University of Santa Barbara, holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics. He believes that his background would be valuable in the Assembly.

“We really need people who understand economics and how our economy works,” Ebenstein said. He said he would like to see the state give more encouragement to industry.

“If you saddle it with too many individual requirements, it can create an unhealthful business climate,” Ebenstein said.

He is also a member of the Santa Barbara Board of Education. He said that if he is elected, California public schools would be one of his top priorities. He said he would like to do away with the use of state lottery funds to help support the school system.

“It acts as a tax on those who are least able to afford it,” Ebenstein said. “We should phase it out. It has not helped the schools much but has created the illusion that it is helping.”

He said he would like parents to have the opportunity to choose which schools their children attend. He wants the school system to adopt a year-round calendar.

“By having a long gap (during the summer), kids tend to forget what they’ve learned,” Ebenstein said. “I want to make sure all students have the necessary skills to be effective members of the job force.”

Candidate Paul Pillmore, 32, a self-employed financial analyst in Santa Barbara, has emerged as the feistiest of the GOP challengers, trying to put O’Connell on the defensive.

In a news release, Pillmore has alleged that O’Connell used political donations to purchase his position as speaker pro tempore of the Assembly--a charge O’Connell calls “complete and utter nonsense.”

“O’Connell’s image as an island of virtue amidst an archipelago of deceit is a complete and utter farce,” Pillmore said. “Just follow the money.”

Pillmore contends that the assemblyman funneled more than $160,000 in campaign contributions “to the Sacramento political machine run by Willie Brown,” the Assembly Speaker. About that time, O’Connell was named speaker pro tempore of the Assembly, Pillmore asserts.

O’Connell dismisses Pillmore’s claims as “totally inaccurate.” The donations came from fund-raisers held to help fight Proposition 140, the initiative that limited terms for state legislators, he said. O’Connell said the donations went to pay legal fees in the court battle and never benefited Brown or his political associates.

O’Connell said he had been serving as the assistant speaker pro tempore and was in line for the position. “It was a natural progression,” he said.

But Pillmore believes that his attacks will make O’Connell more vulnerable.

“I’m the person who wants to carry the Republican banner into battle,” Pillmore said. “He’s a 10-year incumbent. He’s firmly entrenched. It is going to take someone who is articulate, aggressive and conservative with the issues to unseat him.”

Candidate Aaron Gray, a 39-year-old gun advocate and self-employed hat maker, said he decided to join the race because he is tired of government chipping away at civil liberties.

“I’m fed up with a lot of things,” Gray said. “I’m not running because I want to be a politician. In the last 15 years I’ve seen this country change dramatically.

“You have to have the dog tied up in the back of the truck, you’ve got to wear a helmet on a motorcycle. You’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that. I would like to bring it back to what it was originally: a free country.”

Gray saves most of his outrage for gun controls.

“It’s a basic human right to defend yourself,” Gray said. “Look at the riots. The ones who had weapons and defended their businesses--they were not burned out.”

He said he is also opposed to levying more taxes and fines as a means of raising revenue for government.

“What are they going to do when there are no more businesses to tax?” Gray said. “That pool of people is getting smaller and smaller. We’re driving businesses out of California.”

O’Connell agreed that the state needs to be more sensitive to the business community and “put the welcome mat out” to attract new businesses.

“We need to let them know that we appreciate them,” he said.

O’Connell said he seeks reelection because there are still many things he would like to accomplish.

Among his pet projects is a proposal to allow schools to gain funding with a simple majority vote on bond issues. Schools now must receive approval of two-thirds of the voters, a difficult task.

“I’ve never been able to understand why it should take two yes votes to offset one no vote,” he said.

O’Connell said he would also like to see California become the center for the production of electric cars.

“I’ve always thought California should be to the electric car industry what Michigan is to the combustion engine,” he said.

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