Assesomg the Westside districts

Tuesday, November 5, 1996

ELECTION:

Democrats traditionally dominate area surrounding UCLA

By John Digrado

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

While the presidential race may be all but wrapped up, local
candidates are still campaigning hard for some of the most
sought-after and, arguably, the most important and
influential-offices in this election.

Candidates on both sides of the political spectrum are still
vying for important seats in the State Assembly, State Senate and
U.S. Congress, races that could potentially change the direction of
the state heading into the 21st Century.

The stakes are particularly high in the State Assembly, where
Republicans have a one-vote, shoestring advantage over the
Democrats in the 80-member legislative branch. Any sway in the
status quo of the Assembly could change the political polarity of
the branch, affecting programs in all parts of the state.

In the 42nd District, which includes UCLA, incumbent Democrat
Wally Knox has represented the largely Democratic district in
Sacramento since 1992, experiencing the effects that the one-vote
political disadvantage has on the programs that come out of the
Assembly.

"When I entered the Assembly in 1992, I wondered, ‘What’s so big
about a one-vote majority?’" Knox said. "I soon found out: It’s
everything."

Taking credit for legislation that reduced class size to 20
students per teacher for kindergarten through third grade and a
two-consecutive-year buyout of raises in UC fees, Knox said that
control of the Assembly would give Democrats an edge in further
cutting elementary- school class sizes and keeping higher education
fees lower.

"If on Nov. 5, 41 Democrats win (in the Assembly), we will have
an Assembly that (will) sincerely want to improve health care and
K-12 education," Knox said. "We will have a return to the real
world."

Losing their grip on the landslide victories of 1994, however,
Assembly Republicans are poising themselves to keep or widen the
gap between themselves and the Democrats. Republican challenger in
the 42nd District and UCLA alumnus Adam Ross noted that educational
decisions belong in the hands of parents, not the state.

Running partially on a voucher system platform to allow parents
to send their children to either public or private school, Ross
claims that California’s ailing public schools can benefit by
modeling it after its world-renowned higher education system.

California needs to "move to a more market economy with lower
education as we have with private education," Ross said.

"Parents of children in private schools have long known that the
ultimate guarantee of a quality education is the freedom to enroll
their children in the school of their choice," Ross said. "Isn’t it
time the rest of us had that same opportunity, regardless of
financial ability?" he added.

In the race for control of the largely Democratic 23rd State
Senate District, incumbent Democrat Tom Hayden has a commanding
lead over Republican challenger Scott Schreiber. Chair of the
Senate Committee on Higher Education, Hayden and Senate colleague
Quentin Kopp, Ind-San Francisco, led the committee’s investigation
into last spring’s UCLA admissions scandals.

Among constituents in his district, Hayden has drawn both
acclaim and criticism for his environmental agenda. Issues such as
water quality, protection of endangered species and park system
reform have all come up as bills presented before the Senate by
Hayden over the course of the last legislative session, which ended
Aug. 31.

Over the course of his elections campaign, Schreiber has accused
Hayden for printing slanderous literature against the challenger,
saying that Schreiber is a "tool for the ultra-conservative
right."

Political mudslinging aside, however, the abortion-rights,
pro-environmental Republican believes that some of the best
solutions to California’s problems lie in getting tough on crime
and instating proactive programs to prevent high-risk children from
getting involved in criminal activity.

"The best way to eliminate crime is to stop it before it
happens," Schreiber said. "By targeting community leaders who
believe in our youth, by forging private-public partnerships and by
fashioning programs that will provide alternatives to gangs, we can
guarantee a brighter future for our kids."

While the race for control of the 29th Congressional District
may not be in the spotlight, candidates are still seeking that
11th-hour voter approval to represent the district in
Washington.

Incumbent Democrat Henry Waxman, whose reign over the 29th
District spans two decades, is searching for his 11th term in
Congress against Republican challenger Paul Stepanek, who claims
that Waxman has "lost touch with the 29th and its needs."

"There is no interaction between Mr. Waxman and the district,"
Stepanek said. "There is so much more that could be done," he
added, noting that if voters send him to Capitol Hill, he will keep
closer ties with the constituency that voted him in office.

Committing to more federal support of state-funded higher
education, Stepanek said that there are certain choices that can be
made in terms of budgeting funds for higher, secondary and
elementary education.

But that support is nothing without the dollars to back it up.
And Stepanek, while a supporter of public transportation, suggests
diverting Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) funds toward
state-sponsored education.

There are other forms of mass transit that are less expensive
than the proposed MTA Red Line subway slated to expand to the
Westside early in the next decade, Schreiber says."It’s a matter of
priorities."