Bruin alumni run for Senate seat

By David Drucker
Daily Bruin Reporter

The race to replace Senator Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, in the
California State Senate has turned into a Bruin invitational.

Assemblywoman Sheila James Kuehl, D-Encino, UCLA alumna
“˜62; Daniel B. Rego, who graduated from UCLA last year; and
former assistant clinical pathology professor Dr. Charles T. Black
are vying to represent a region of 800,000 that includes UCLA.

“It’s a sprawling district, and very politically
diverse,” said Rocky Rushing, Hayden’s chief of staff.
“But I don’t think that the major issues are
distinguishable from those in other parts of L.A.”

According to Kuehl, who defeated Assemblyman Wally Knox, D-Los
Angeles, in the Democratic primary, those issues include health
care and education.

“I plan to place a greater emphasis on the issues that
effect higher education,” she said. “Although college
tuition has lowered recently, it’s still out of reach for the
economic class sandwiched between the financial aid-eligible and
those who don’t need it.”

Kuehl added that if elected, civil rights and hate crime
protection will be high priorities on her agenda.

Rego, who ran unopposed in the March Republican primary, takes a
more conservative approach to the issues.

“I’d like to scrap the education code and implement
a new one,” he said. “And I’d like to redirect 90
percent of school funds back to local governments for them to
administer as they see fit.”

Rego said he would also focus on reversing what he calls an
“over-centralized” state government that micromanages
too much.

Black, the Libertarian candidate, also ran unchallenged in his
primary, and said unnecessary government intervention has created
more problems than it’s solved.

“It’s not that I don’t believe in
regulation,” he said. “But, for instance, California
has the highest milk prices in the nation, even though we’re
the country’s largest producer.”

Black attributed the milk prices to the government’s
subsidies for the dairy industry, which allow companies to keep
their prices artificially high.

He added that both the Democrats and Republicans abuse power at
the expense of ordinary people.

But that sentiment may not be shared by the majority of voters
in the 23rd District, which encompasses parts of the San Fernando
Valley just north of UCLA and most of West L.A. They were happy
enough with Democrat Hayden’s leadership to elect him to the
maximum two terms in the Senate.

“Hayden was elected over and over,” Rushing said.
“I think that qualifies as a stamp of approval.”

The already established democratic base, along with the
advantage in campaign funding and endorsements from Governor Gray
Davis and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, clearly makes Kuehl the
frontrunner.

“She cares a lot about the people she represents,”
said San Fernando Valley Democratic Party spokeswoman Moreen Blum.
“And she’s always been accessible to her constituency
and in tune with the issues they care about.”

Kuehl is currently serving her second term in the assembly, and
said that running for the senate gives her an opportunity to
continue public service.

“My assembly district includes the western half of the
23rd, so it just felt like a natural,” she said.

But Rego, a pharmaceutical industry consultant and the former
chair of the Bruin Republicans, said he characterizes himself as a
Sacramento outsider with no desire to be a professional
politician.

“I ran to make sure there was a voice of opposition
against the Democratic Party,” he said. “But I received
a degree in chemistry, and I plan on making a career out of
it.”

The California Republican Assembly, one of five conservative
groups to endorse Rego, is undeterred by Kuehl’s
advantage.

“We endorsed Rego because he supports our economic
philosophy of social and economic conservatism,” said CRA
President Sergio Picchio, adding that the only way to make inroads
in a majority democratic district is to continually campaign
there.

As a member of a third party, Black said he understands that
kind of philosophy.

“I think Libertarian principles are much better than the
alternatives,” he said.

“I mean, if you don’t like the way your parents try
and run your life, just wait until the politicians get a hold of
you,” he added.

THE BATTLEGROUND: 23RD STATE SENATE RACE

UCLA and Westwood are within the boundaries of the 23rd State
Senate District,. Other cities in the district include Beverly
Hills, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Westlake Village, and Hidden
Hills

SOURCE: California State Senate

ORIGINAL by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin WEB ADAPTATION BY HERNANE
TABAY/Daily Bruin Senior Staff