List of Candidates for Tucker Seat Leaner Than Expected

The death of veteran Assemblyman Curtis Tucker (D-Inglewood) in October prompted predictions of a pitched battle among ambitious local politicians for that rarest of opportunities, an open Assembly seat.

But when the deadline to file for the Feb. 7 special election passed this week, the list of candidates was shorter than expected. And it was notable for the names that were absent as much as for those present.

The Democratic candidates for the 50th District seat are the late assemblyman’s son, Curtis Tucker Jr.; Inglewood school board member Lois Hill-Hale; political consultant Roderick Wright; and Los Angeles police officer Carl McGill.

The only Republican running in the heavily Democratic, predominantly black and Latino district is business consultant Mike Davis, who was the GOP candidate in November when the elder Tucker won the first posthumous Assembly victory in state history. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in February, the top Democrat and Republican will meet in an April 11 runoff.

The endorsement of Curtis Tucker Jr. by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) appears to have kept on the sidelines the three potential candidates considered to have the best shot at defeating Tucker: Inglewood Mayor Edward Vincent, Los Angeles Councilman Robert Farrell and Inglewood City Councilman Daniel Tabor.

“The story is the people who aren’t running,” Tucker said in an interview Wednesday.

Farrell, Vincent and Tabor had expressed interest in the race. They and others have said that all three have the name recognition, election experience and financial base to compete with the fund-raising and campaign apparatus Brown can place at Tucker’s disposal.

But of the three, only Vincent took out qualifying papers, and he did not file them by Tuesday’s deadline. For Vincent and the others, the decision not to run appears to be a combination of local political factors and the solidity of Brown’s support for Tucker.

Brown’s interest in the race was dramatized this month when he took the unusual step of asking Gov. George Deukmejian to move the election date to Feb. 7 from the original date of April 11. That move was seen as a boost to Tucker’s candidacy because it left other hopefuls less time to raise money and organize campaigns.

Although Farrell said in an interview Tuesday that he felt he would have had an excellent chance of winning, he said his decision was in the best interests of his council district. He also deferred to the wishes of Brown, who attended a meeting of Farrell’s South Los Angeles constituents last week, where Farrell announced he would not run and underscored his support for Brown.

“My main motivation in exploring a candidacy was to assist a speaker who was under siege,” Farrell said, referring to the year-long string of attacks on the speaker by legislative opponents. Brown’s position has improved with the November victories of several Democratic allies and his reelection as speaker in December, Farrell said.

Brown’s endorsement of Tucker is a “tremendous boost” to Tucker’s campaign, Farrell said. The councilman said he has not decided which candidate to back. Tucker, who has already won the endorsement of County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, said he hopes to get Farrell’s support.

Vincent was seen as an equally formidable challenger because of his sizable campaign fund and the Inglewood-based political organization he has cultivated in two terms as mayor. The district encompasses El Segundo, Inglewood, Lennox, Westchester and parts of south Los Angeles.

Even before Tucker’s death, Vincent made no secret of his ambitions for state office. In the past months, he had talked of running and asked community leaders for support.

But Vincent has had setbacks recently. As a result of Times articles on his wide-ranging travels, he is under investigation by the state attorney general’s office and the state Fair Political Practices Commission for possible misuse of campaign funds and failure to detail $50,000 in travel expenses in campaign reports.

In addition, Vincent figured prominently in a 1987 Superior Court trial that resulted in the annulment of the election of Councilman Ervin (Tony) Thomas, a Vincent ally. The judge found evidence of widespread Election Code violations, including instances in which the mayor was implicated by trial testimony. That case has sparked ongoing inquiries by the FPPC and Los Angeles district attorney.

These and other controversies during Vincent’s tenure would have figured prominently in an Assembly campaign, observers said. “If he would have run, his political baggage would have been a major obstacle to overcome,” Tucker said.

Vincent could not be reached for an interview, but he released a statement through his City Hall office saying he had decided not to run because he wanted to finish the work he started as mayor and deal with the “enormous uncertainty about the future of city government in Inglewood.”

Upcoming Elections

The statement mentioned that the city will have as many as four council elections in 1989--two scheduled for April, another April election required by the death of Councilwoman Ann Wilk, and a possible fourth election if the annulment of Thomas’s election is upheld on appeal.

“I believe the best place for me right now is at my desk in City Hall,” the statement said.

While Tabor does not have the stature or finances of Vincent and Farrell, he was considered a likely candidate because he had challenged the elder Tucker in last year’s Democratic primary, a move that was unsuccessful but was seen as Tabor’s attempt to establish himself as heir apparent.

The timing of this year’s special election ultimately drove Tabor from the race, however. He is one of the council members up for reelection in April, and he said last week it would be too hard to run for two offices at once. Tabor also said he is increasingly interested in running for mayor in 1990.

Despite the lack of a strong challenger, Tucker said he plans an aggressive campaign promoting himself as the candidate best able to succeed his popular father, who won reelection eight times.

Tucker, 34, is a locally based aide to Assemblywoman Gwen Moore and previously worked as an aide to Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Mike Roos. He said his legislative work makes him the most qualified candidate and dismissed criticism that he is running solely on the strength of his father’s name.

“Now the people will have an opportunity to get to know me,” said Tucker. “They will see from my performance that I am not just a put-up by Willie Brown.”

Tucker’s Challengers

Although the other candidates lack Tucker’s resources and name recognition, they said they plan to campaign hard and challenge Tucker’s credentials. They also said they plan to portray him as a puppet of Brown, hoping to spur voter resentment of what they describe as the speaker’s interference in local elections.

“If there’s not a campaign, it becomes tantamount to an appointment,” said Wright, 34, an Inglewood-based political consultant and government affairs analyst for the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

“Everybody who’s interested in the job will have to lay down their credentials . . . I don’t know if there’s going to be a vast voter revolt against Willie Brown, but they’re going to have to represent this guy (Tucker) as who and what he is.”

Wright, 36, has worked on many campaigns at the local, state and national level. He was indicted on three felony counts of election fraud after a bitter 1985 City Council election in Compton and pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge. He said he feels he did nothing dishonest.

Hill-Hale was elected to the Inglewood Unified School District board in 1987 and served a year as board president. Before her election, she was chief deputy for State Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles). She could not be reached for comment.

McGill, 29, is an Inglewood resident, Los Angeles police officer and admitted political neophyte. He has earned recognition through a volunteer anti-gang program he conducts in Los Angeles County, being named “Person of the Week” by ABC News last year. He says he intends to stress his integrity and independence.

Davis, 34, once again faces an uphill fight as a Republican in a district where 77% of the voters are Democrats. After losing to the deceased Tucker in November, he said he would not run again. But he said he changed his mind at the urging of Republican leaders in Sacramento.

“Even if the district were 100% Democratic, the GOP wants to send a message that it intends to be competitive in the district,” he said.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the unusual format of the special election ensures that Davis will be in the runoff because he is the only Republican.