New Assemblyman Kuykendall Blending Ideology, Pragmatism : Politics: Legislator says accepting tobacco firm’s $125,000 contribution helped him beat incumbent, and vows it won’t ease his opposition to smoking.

If the state Assembly takes up campaign finance reform again, Assemblyman Steven T. Kuykendall (R-Rancho Palos Verdes) admits that he might be singled out.

“I may have taken what is the largest single contribution to an individual Assembly candidate, except for maybe Willie Brown,” said Kuykendall, who was sworn in Monday as the assemblyman in the 54th District, which includes the Long Beach, Signal Hill, Palos Verdes Peninsula and San Pedro. Campaign reform would limit the size of contributions to state Assembly and Senate campaigns.

In the waning days of the campaign, Kuykendall accepted a $125,000 check from tobacco giant Philip Morris even though he is on record as supporting anti-smoking legislation.

It might look like a contradiction. But this is how the political system works, Kuykendall says.

A more polished politician might be coy about it, but Kuykendall freely admits that accepting the money was a pragmatic move that may have helped him defeat incumbent Betty Karnette by 597 votes.

Now, Kuykendall, an ex-Marine and mortgage banker, is facing threats of a recall launched by Sacramento Democrats. The state party has already filed a complaint over the contribution with the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

But so far, there’s been little protest beyond Sacramento Democrats. Kuykendall and his supporters dismiss the complaint as frivolous and doubt that a recall will go anywhere.

“It’s something that he’s always going to to have to deal with. But I’d rather accept the check and be the winner with controversy than be the loser,” said Republican consultant Tom Shortridge, president of Bear Republic Political Services in Redondo Beach.

Even anti-smoking groups say they are confident Kuykendall won’t be beholden to the tobacco company.

“I expect we are going to be working with him,” said Paul Knepprath spokesman for the American Lung Assn. in Sacramento.

This is not the first time that pragmatism and ideology have clashed for Kuykendall. Elected to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council as a “read-my-lips, no-new-taxes” conservative, he soon found himself justifying tax increases as a way to resolve the city’s fiscal crisis.

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He voted for a utility tax, which the council passed last year, and supported a parcel tax, which narrowly lost when it was put on the ballot in 1992. With the city in need of new revenue, Kuykendall suggested a referendum to ask residents if they wanted to hand control of the city over to the county.

“It’s not a question of ideology, but whether a locally controlled city government can survive or not,” he said at the time.

The proposal went nowhere, but did get people talking.

“As a businessman, he had a way of saying ‘Look at this problem or we’ll be in bankruptcy,’ ” former Councilwoman Jacki Bacharach said.

And Kuykendall’s supporters say that voters have little if any resentment over the Philip Morris contribution. Kuykendall notes that the tobacco giant has a number of subsidiaries, including real estate and food products.

“That company has got a lot more at stake than whether or not they sell cigarettes,” he said.

And ironically, it could be the Philip Morris contribution that ensures that he backs anti-smoking legislation while in Sacramento. Otherwise, opponents could gain even more fodder for a recall.

“He’s not going to be dumb enough to vote tobacco,” said Shortridge, the Republican consultant. “I don’t think he owes them anything.”