ELECTIONS / 19TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT : La Follette’s Law Enforcement Ties Move to Center Stage

Marian W. La Follette forged a strong bond with law enforcement during the Vietnam War as president of the Los Angeles Community College Board.

Unlike her predecessors who buckled to disruptive student demonstrators, La Follette was quick to assert her power, state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) said. “Her words were, ‘If they break the law, lock them up,’ ” said Davis, who was the Los Angeles police chief at the time. “I’ve been friends with her ever since.”

That friendship has lasted more than 20 years and has resurfaced as political leverage for La Follette, who is competing with two other Republicans for Davis’ seat in the Senate--again at a time when Southern California has been rocked by demonstrations and civil unrest.

Last week, La Follette trumpeted her support from law enforcement representatives, ranging from Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, another longtime Davis friend, to the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

“I think that’s going to pack a real wallop when people see all that law enforcement support,” said La Follette, who recently moved to Thousand Oaks from her home in Corona del Mar to compete for the seat left vacant by Davis’ planned retirement. The newly drawn 19th Senate District stretches from the San Fernando Valley to Oxnard, with 69% of its population in Ventura County.

Moreover, the endorsements give La Follette the chance to skewer her chief opponent, Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R--Simi Valley), with 2-year-old allegations that Wright abused her power by trying to intervene with authorities on behalf of her daughter, who received 27 traffic tickets over a seven-year period.

“The main issue is one of character and integrity,” said La Follette, who represented the 38th Assembly District from 1980 to 1990.

“People who are involved in law enforcement are very resentful when somebody feels they are above the law,” she said. “And Cathie has demonstrated that she has the attitude that she is above the law.”

But Wright said the accusation is nothing more than a cheap shot from a “political opportunist” who hopped across two counties at the last moment to challenge her. Wright, who survived similar attacks on her ethics in a 1990 primary race, said it reveals desperation from a campaign unable to muster sufficient financial support.

“She’s trying to attack me on an old story,” Wright said. “I haven’t attacked her integrity. I haven’t brought up her past.”

Fillmore City Councilman Roger Campbell, a third Republican in the race, says both competitors are sullied by their incumbencies and present strong evidence why he should win the seat. “It’s time for middle-class America to take back Sacramento,” said Campbell, 41, an auto repairman and volunteer firefighter.

Wright dismisses Campbell’s candidacy, saying he has no base of support outside his small hometown, population 12,431.

She shrugs off La Follette’s law enforcement support as having no special significance. “She got the endorsements because she’s always been in that clique.”

Furthermore, Wright said that “clique” recruited La Follette for the race, continuing the feud between GOP factions split in the 1986 rift between Davis and former Rep. Bobbi Fiedler (R-Northridge) during the U.S. Senate race.

Davis made headlines nationwide by accusing Fiedler of offering him $100,000 to get out of the primary campaign. Fiedler and her campaign manager were indicted for attempted bribery, but a judge later dismissed the charges.

The scandal divided Republicans in Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley into two camps that have carried the squabble to this race.

Because of Wright’s association with Fiedler, Wright and Davis have traded public insults for years.

In a 1990 Assembly race, Wright defeated Davis’ top aide, Hunt Braly, who challenged her reelection. Wright believes it was Davis who persuaded La Follette to move from her $1.3-million residence in Orange County to Thousand Oaks to run against her--an allegation that La Follette denies.

Serving her sixth term in the Assembly, Wright said voters will support her because of her record and because she has lived in the district for 21 years. She said voters should question La Follette’s motivations because she retired from the Assembly two years ago, in part because of disgust with the Legislature.

“She quit and walked away from it,” Wright said. “The major difference is I will stay and I will fight.”

La Follette, who lived in the San Fernando Valley while serving in the Assembly, said the main reason she left the Legislature was to care for her husband, who was then dying of cancer. But she also acknowledges that she had become frustrated working with the Democratic-controlled Assembly.

She said her attitude has changed because of the recent implementation of term limits.

“I feel more optimistic,” La Follette said. “I think the makeup of the Legislature is going to be more responsive to the people. I’m more determined to get back and get things done.”

La Follette returns the fire, blasting Wright for her unusual alliance with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco). La Follette charged that Wright is politically indebted to the powerful Democratic leader for calling a Ventura County judge on behalf of Wright’s daughter, who was facing jail time for her traffic violations.

Wright said she never asked Brown to call the judge and vehemently denied any special relationship with the Assembly Speaker--the Democrat that Republicans love to hate.

“No,” Wright said, “I am not an ally.”

But La Follette pointed out that when Brown’s speakership was threatened in 1988, Wright abstained rather than join her Republican colleagues in voting for an alternative candidate.

“There is an association there that the rest of us Republicans don’t have,” La Follette said. “She’s vulnerable on this issue because loyal Republicans don’t appreciate an elected Republican supporting Willie Brown.”

While denying any association, Wright has made efforts in recent weeks to distance herself from Brown.

After the not-guilty verdicts were returned in the Rodney G. King beating case, she publicly demanded an apology from Brown for comparing racial injustice in Simi Valley to that of Mississippi.

Wright also made reference to the Assembly Speaker in one of her recent campaign mailers to 70,000 households.

“The Republicans in the Assembly need a chief GOP budget negotiator to do battle with Willie Brown. Someone with the courage and determination to say NO to higher taxes.”

Still, La Follette said she is confident that her law enforcement endorsements will help lure Ventura County voters, whose communities have been gripped by fear of retaliatory violence because it was the site of the King beating trial.

And in a county that takes pride in its low crime rate and judicial system, La Follette said Wright’s recommendation to cut the state Supreme Court’s operating budget by 38% will only hurt her. La Follette said Wright’s recommendation was retaliation for the court cutting the Legislature’s budget by 38%.

Wright denied the accusation, saying government across the board will have to take cuts during the state budget crisis. But she said she will probably support a less severe cut--possibly 30%--in the court’s budget as the Legislature hammers out funding for next year.

Meanwhile, veteran Republicans have mixed opinions about who will emerge as the winner. Both women, they say, share similar political philosophies. Their voting records are substantially the same.

“The only real difference is personalities,” said one prominent Republican officeholder who requested anonymity because he did not want to anger either candidate. “Basically, you’ve got a class act and a street fighter. I think Cathie’s going to win it going away because of the money involved and her aggressive campaigning.”

Another longtime Republican officeholder said the outcome is not so certain. “I hear a lot of people saying this is going to be a cakewalk for Cathie, but I’m not so sure,” the Republican said. “I think people have a choice of two viable candidates.”

Having collected more than $200,000 in campaign contributions, Wright said she believes money will play a key role in the primary race. She said she has used a good chunk of her contributions to pay for an extensive direct-mail campaign, with heavy emphasis on collecting the support of absentee voters. Wright and her campaign staff have also been busy canvassing neighborhoods throughout the district, taking her message to the voters’ doorsteps.

La Follette has raised less than $150,000, including a personal loan of $50,000 and a $10,000 donation from Davis. So far, La Follette has issued two mailers, contrasted with Wright’s five. But La Follette has focused on holding a series of neighborhood meetings. She said she plans to start airing television commercials on cable TV channels, featuring her and Bradbury, Ventura County’s district attorney.

Fillmore Councilman Campbell said he has raised about $18,000. Although he has issued only one mailer, Campbell has knocked on hundreds of doors throughout the district and said he has dozens of volunteers doing the same.

Campbell said Wright and La Follette are part of the reason why the state’s budget is in shambles. “It’s time for some true leadership,” he said. “They’ve had the opportunity to try and solve the problems for the last 12 years, and they haven’t. Things have gotten worse.”

CANDIDATES QUESTIONNAIRE: B5

Senate District 19

Overview: The majority of voters in this newly drawn district are Republicans, and many of the Democrats vote Republican. For example, 61% of the voters chose George Bush in 1988. In the GOP primary June 2, Assemblywoman Cathie Wright and former Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette, Republicans who once represented adjacent districts in the San Fernando Valley, are battling for the Republican nomination in the primary. Fillmore City Councilman Roger Campbell is also a GOP candidate.

Where: In Los Angeles County, the district includes Castaic, Gorman, Lake Hughes and Val Verde, and portions of Chatsworth, Granada Hills, Mission Hills, Nort Hills, Northridge and Sylmar. All or portions of the Ventura County communities of Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Oxnard, Piru, Port Hueneme, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks are also in the district. To find out if you live in the district, call the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office at (213) 721-1100.

The district extends into Ventura County and also includes the communities of Fillmore, Moorpark, Simi Valley, El Rio, Oxnard, Camarillo, Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks.

Demographics Anglo: 66% Latino: 24% Black: 3% Asian: 7%

Party Registration Demo: 40% GOP: 48% Others: 12%

Candidates Democrat Henry Phillip Starr, attorney Peace and Freedom Charles Najbergier, registered nurse Libertarian Richard N. Burns, attorney Republican Roger Campbell, firefighter, businessman, councilman Marian W. La Follette, retired assemblywoman Cathie Wright, assemblywoman