Democrat Takes Aim at Breaking GOP Stronghold

The race is on in the 37th Assembly District.

Armed with an encouraging new poll, 51-year-old Democratic candidate Roz McGrath is pressing party leaders for big bucks to kick her low-key campaign up a notch as she tries to steal a traditionally Republican seat in Ventura County.

McGrath, a kindergarten teacher by day, is canvassing precincts on weekends and stalking votes at back-to-school nights in the leafy Republican neighborhoods of Thousand Oaks.

“Hi, I’m Roz McGrath. I’m a schoolteacher and I want to represent you and your children in Sacramento,” she told parents Thursday evening at Madrona Elementary School. And generally they stopped and listened. “When I say I’m a teacher, that’s the magic word,” she said.

On the other end of the county--and of the political spectrum--28-year-old Republican candidate Tony Strickland also hustled converts behind enemy lines last week.

Strickland, who resigned as top aide to Assemblyman Tom McClintock last December to campaign full time, worked wide streets with big houses in north Oxnard.

Flanked by his parents, a retired Army sergeant and his German-born wife, the self-described “pure conservative” pitched his platform of tax cuts, small government, family values and safe streets.

His hard-charging campaign style, he said, shows who he is. He’s walked precincts at least part time since November 1996, and full time, seven days a week all this year, he said.

“I guarantee, no one will work harder than me,” said the 6-foot-4 former basketball player who idolizes Ronald Reagan and married last year at the Richard Nixon Library. “This is hard work walking door to door, and people respect that. We’re in very good shape right now.”

McGrath’s late-starting campaign tried to gather steam last week, however, when a new Democratic poll showed her in a dead heat with Strickland--likely voters favoring her 31% to 30%. Reform Party candidate Michael Farris had 6%. A full one-third of voters were undecided.

But McGrath, a descendant of Irish immigrant farmers who settled on the Oxnard Plain in the 1860s, acknowledges she’s between the proverbial rock and a hard place: Despite strong name identification in the west county, she figures it will take $500,000 to win this open Assembly seat. And that kind of money needs to come from Sacramento.

“That leaves me with a need to raise money,” she said. “He’s shown he can raise lots of money. But the results of this poll have really energized our volunteers. And I’m convinced this poll is going to be the catalyst for a great show of support.”

Indeed, a key Democratic strategist said the party’s interest in the McGrath race increased dramatically because of Thursday’s poll results. Although a political novice and outspent 5-to-1, McGrath lost to Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard) only 51%-44% in her first race in 1992. Takasugi is leaving because of term limits.

Even Strickland’s political consultant, Joe Giardiello, acknowledged McGrath’s strong name recognition.

“We’re running against someone who has run before,” he said. “And let’s face it, the McGrath name is well known and that has to help her. But I think we’re about 5 points or so ahead because that’s the makeup of the district.”

Financial Trump Card

The 37th District has 3,500 more registered Republicans than Democrats. Republicans also vote more frequently. So no Democrat has captured the seat in at least 30 years.

That is why Strickland, described by McGrath as a “right-wing extremist,” figures he fits nicely into the district’s mainstream.

Strickland also has what he considers a financial trump card: the support of an array of pro-business, small-government political action committees determined to add him to the list of conservative legislators who have helped shift California politics to the right this decade.

Prominent among Strickland’s supporters is the free-spending California Independent Business PAC. The group--which has spent millions on California campaigns in the 1990s--counts among its leaders Edward Atsinger III, a Camarillo-based owner of 43 religious radio stations.

That PAC alone pumped $21,000 into Strickland’s hard-fought primary victory and lent him $10,000 more. Other principal support in the primary included McClintock’s $25,000 loan and contributions from PACs representing conservative attorneys, the real estate industry and the National Rifle Assn.

“The PACs and the independent groups have pretty much said that whatever it takes, we will not lose this seat,” consultant Giardiello said.

“This seat is a Republican seat,” Strickland said. “And it always will be a Republican seat.”

He is even talking about a possible landslide victory and funneling some of his campaign surplus to Republican candidates such as actor Chris Mitchum in the 35th Assembly District that includes Ventura and Ojai.

“Obviously, I have to take care of my situation at home, but I would like to help out the Republican cause and make sure we get a majority in the Assembly,” he said.

Strickland beams at his good fortune so far.

He beat a richer, more prominent Republican in Rich Sybert when he took 46% of the Republican vote in a heated five-way primary race in June. Sybert not only undercut his own campaign by tearing down Strickland signs late at night, but gave the upstart who caught him in the act on videotape more free publicity than Strickland could ever buy.

“It’s not every Assembly campaign that’s on CNN and the front page of the Los Angeles Times,” Strickland said. By his count, the Sybert sign fiasco got more Los Angeles television time last spring than the gubernatorial race.

Partly as a result, voters in the 37th District know Tony Strickland by name.

McGrath’s poll last week found that 47% of likely voters knew of Strickland, while only 38% knew of McGrath. The McGrath camp said even that was good news, because 14% of those who knew Strickland considered him negatively, while only 6% who could identify McGrath thought badly of her.

Sign of His Dependence

In fact, when McGrath considers Strickland’s perceived advantages, she says they are negatives from her perspective.

To her, the financial support that enabled him to take 11 months off work to try to win an election is a sign of his dependence on right-wing Republicans who want to buy power and force their views on the more moderate mainstream.

Strickland says she’s the extremist out of step with the district.

She supports abortion rights. He opposes abortion except when it is necessary to save a woman’s life or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

She favors bans on assault weapons and small-caliber handguns. He opposes limits on the constitutional right of citizens to arm and protect themselves.

She opposes taxpayer-funded vouchers that students can use in private schools. He favors them.

She cites her breadth of experience as a teacher, college lecturer, farm manager, first woman board member of the county Farm Bureau, and director of organizations that assisted battered women and moved women off welfare with jobs.

He says his experience is far deeper in the political world than hers, since he worked his first campaign as a 12-year-old volunteer for Ronald Reagan, founded the Young Republicans chapter at Whittier College and worked as a volunteer on ballot initiatives, legislative races and for other conservative causes.

He has earned his living as an aide to two Assemblymen, McClintock and Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside). Indeed, he was a point man last year in the successful campaign to cut vehicle fees.

“I’ve had a lot of experience working in this field, and I decided to step up and do the job myself instead of looking over my shoulder to see who else was running,” Strickland said. “Tom McClintock was 25 when he won this seat. Chuck Imbrecht was 27. So I guess I’m a little old for the Assembly.”

Strickland said he is getting so much volunteer help from college Young Republicans--five students from Cal Lutheran and Pepperdine work for him daily and more on weekends--because he is a “classic example” of how they can work hard and succeed.

“I’m not rich. I got where I am because I work hard. And a lot of these people see the opportunity is there,” Strickland said.

As for McGrath, who described herself as a moderate until this week when she concluded she really is a conservative, the Strickland camp calls her an extreme liberal.

What About Clinton?

Whatever their political labels--and both claim to be stalwart supporters of education and law enforcement--they took their platforms to the voters face-to-face last week.

And if there was one clear lesson, it is that backing President Clinton this election season is no way to win voter support.

In Oxnard, the first prospective voter to answer the door for Strickland’s mother, Antonie, not only wanted to know how old the candidate was but what he thought of Bill Clinton.

“I wanted a straightforward answer that impeachment would be the way to go,” said Irena Root, 57, a Montessori teacher in the River Ridge tract. “Anyone running for public office ought to be able to answer that question.”

Strickland’s answer is that he thinks Clinton has disgraced the presidency and should resign.

“Richard Nixon had to pay for what he did, and he should have,” said Strickland, who knew Nixon personally because the late president’s former roommate at Whittier College introduced them while Strickland was a student there. “Will Bill Clinton be held to the same standard?”

In Thousand Oaks, a mother taking her sixth-grade daughter to back-to-school night was just as insistent when quizzing McGrath. “The baseball guys are a much better example than the president,” said Marilyn Fiumerodo. “Are you a supporter?”

“I used to be,” McGrath responded.

That pleased Fiumerodo.

“I’m a Republican and I thought [McGrath] was nice, and I’d be willing to vote for a Democrat if I believed in them,” she said. “But I would not vote for anyone who would support Clinton.”

Nearly everybody asks that same question, McGrath said.

“It’s been very demoralizing. Children so desperately need role models, and here’s another one down the tubes,” she said.

Yet McGrath in an earlier interview said Clinton should be rated as a leader, too. “He’s been very effective,” she said. “He’s been good for the country overall.”

The candidates’ canvassing also highlighted the bedrock issues on which Strickland and McGrath are counting.

If McGrath is to pull thousands of cross-over Republican votes she needs to win, she knows she must convince voters she is no liberal. And focusing on education helps her get past such labels.

She greeted parents near three Thousand Oaks schools last week and plans to attend five back-to-school nights in Moorpark this week.

Fair Share for Schools

Dressed in casual green slacks and a matching sweater, the small woman greeted parent and teacher alike with a pleasant smile and assurance that schools will get their fair share if teachers like her are elected to the Legislature.

“Help bring taxpayers’ money to schools,” she told one mother. “We need more computers and more books.”

The fact that a teacher was soliciting his vote made him pause, said Bill Moya, 50, the father of a second-grader. “She knows what we’re looking for in the school system,” he said.

One teacher recognized McGrath’s name and took a handful of her brochures to distribute.

“Yes, this is my audience,” McGrath said. “Which local audience does Mr. Strickland have?”

In Oxnard last week, there was an answer of sorts.

“I’m supported by Tom McClintock, Nao Takasugi, former Sheriff Larry Carpenter and Sheriff Bob Brooks,” Strickland told Douglas Solberg, 76, a retired dentist.

Solberg recognized Strickland as the “guy whose signs were torn down.” And he liked what he saw on his doorstep.

“He comes on good and looks you right straight in the eye,” Solberg said. “But I’m a Republican, and I’d probably vote for him anyway.”

Rick Milbourn, 52, said Strickland has his vote, too. Milbourn said he liked having the candidate show up personally. “I’ll shake your hand,” he said. “You remind me of [county Supervisor] John Flynn 20 years ago.

“I know Roz McGrath,” he added, “but I’ll vote for Strickland because he’s a Republican.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

37th Assembly District

Two candidates are vying for this seat, which represents Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Oxnard and Camarillo.

Roz McGrath

Party affiliation: Democrat

Age: 51

Residence: Camarillo

Occupation: Teacher, farmer

Education: Bachelor’s in fine arts from Dominican College of San Rafael, master’s in early childhood education from San Francisco State University

Background: The Democratic nominee for the 37th District seat in 1992, McGrath is a member of the historic McGrath farming family. She was the Ventura County Farm Bureau’s first woman board member and has been active in California Women for Agriculture and the National Women’s Political Caucus.

Issues: McGrath believes California needs to spend more per child on education. She is a proponent of bilingual education and believes in reducing class sizes in all grades. She believes in creating a financial mechanism to fund farmland trusts and supports abortion rights and gun control. She opposes the use of school vouchers in private schools.

*

Tony Strickland

Party affiliation: Republican

Age: 28

Residence: Thousand Oaks

Occupation: Former legislative director for Assemblyman Tom McClintock

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science from Whittier College

Background: He was known locally as a Royal High School basketball player and an all-conference guard in college. He has worked for two conservative GOP legislators, most recently as chief aide to McClintock (R-Northridge). He took a leave of absence in December to run for office full time.

Issues: Deeply conservative, Strickland believes California levies too many taxes and is losing business to Arizona as a result. He helped lead the successful drive to cut the car registration tax. He would like to expand the death penalty to include serial rapists, and supports school vouchers. He opposes abortion, except to save the mother’s life and cases of rape and incest. He opposes gun-control measures.