ACTing Their Age : Political Group Born in ‘70s Idealism Is Winning More Campaigns, But Some Worry That Liberalism Is Waning

In the days before liberal became the L-word, in Pasadena there was the A-word: ACT.

ACT was a group of young political activists devoted to advancing liberal causes in a city that had never voted for a Democratic president.

They flung themselves into losing campaigns, debated esoteric points of politics and took stands that seemed so out of step with mainstream Pasadena that endorsements were never publicized for fear they would be “the kiss of death.”

“No one in their right mind took these people seriously,” said Bess Licher, a longtime conservative booster. “For that matter, who knew they existed?”

But after years of fighting the Establishment, ACT has become part of it and is considered one of the most sophisticated campaign organizations in the city.

Although the group is virtually unknown to voters, its members sit on most city commissions and form a majority on the Board of Directors and the school board. Since 1980, ACT-endorsed candidates have won in 26 of 30 municipal elections.

Computer Database

The organization’s success is due largely to its use of local voting records and computer technology. ACT has compiled a list of all those who have voted in municipal elections since 1979. Only candidates who are endorsed by the group receive the list, which allows them to concentrate on those who have a history of going to the polls, thereby saving time and money.

The power of the list is hard to quantify, but among liberal and conservative candidates, it has become almost an American Express Card of politics--don’t campaign without it.

But as ACT has backed more winners, some members, such as Christopher Sutton, a Pasadena attorney and one of its founding members, fear it has also become more cautious and pragmatic.

Sutton said liberal candidates that ACT would have endorsed in the past have been ignored, partly because no one thought they could win.

The group has also vacillated in taking a stand on the most pressing issues in the city during this decade: slow growth and historic preservation.

While ACT loyalists say the group is far from abandoning its liberal tradition, its leaders agree it is a vastly different organization from the band of idealists who first came together 16 years ago.

“It’s always more fun to be on the inside than on the outside,” said Jonathan S. Fuhrman, a founding member. “Losing was noble, but it was never fun.”

ACT, which is not an acronym, only surfaces at election time, and even then it usually remains in the background since it does not run its own candidates or contribute any significant amounts of labor or money.

The group is never involved in policy debates at City Hall, has no platform on issues. It is run by a 25-member steering committee and claims a membership of 600. Anyone can join for $25. Many candidates encourage their relatives and children to join to increase the chances of getting an endorsement, which requires a 60% affirmative vote.

“The important thing is the list,” said city Director Jess Hughston, who won a close campaign with ACT’s help in 1985. “You’d be foolish to campaign without it.”

The genesis of ACT can be traced to George McGovern’s unsuccessful 1972 presidential campaign. Pasadena was a conservative city, deeply split over a 1970 federal court decision ordering busing to integrate the Pasadena Unified School District.

Founders of the group sought to recall board members who fought busing and campaigned for liberal candidates, although it never was able to match the money or organization of the conservatives.

But in the late 1970s, Pat Bond and Fred Register, two members who have become professional political consultants, found a winning strategy.

Less Than 20% Turnout

In a typical municipal election, no more than about 20% of the city’s registered voters go to the polls.

Bond and Register figured that instead of squandering money on those who stayed home, candidates could concentrate mailings and phone calls on those who actually vote.

In every local election, a voter’s identification number is recorded by the city clerk. By matching those numbers with voter registration information kept by the county, the group compiled a list of dedicated voters, including their addresses, telephone numbers, ages and party affiliations.

The computerized list became known as the “Elf List” after the “elves” who invaded City Hall to transcribe the numbers.

This year, the list played an important role in the successful campaign on behalf of the slow-growth initiative sponsored by Pasadena Residents in Defense of our Environment (PRIDE).

Mike Salazar, co-chairman of PRIDE, said that because of the measure’s complexity, the election hinged on a mail and phone campaign. The group raised $34,000 compared with about $95,000 for its opposition, but was able to target 9,000 of the city’s 66,000 registered voters who were most likely to go to the polls.

“The ACT endorsement had a big role,” Salazar said.

Rick Phelps, chairman of the group opposing the PRIDE measure, said it might have been smarter to encourage supporters to join ACT and seize the endorsement.

In 1985, the list helped City Director Hughston, an ACT member, beat back a challenge from Margaret Sedenquist. Hughston won the endorsement and raised $24,000 for his campaign to represent the largely conservative Hastings Ranch area. Sedenquist raised a then unheard-of amount of $84,000. With the help of the list, Hughston defeated Sedenquist by just 175 votes out of 3,161 cast.

Success, however, has brought its share of change.

To begin with, other groups have begun compiling the same voter list. A private political consulting firm offers a similar list for about $300, although it only covers Pasadena elections back to 1987.

In recent years, some candidates have begun wondering if ACT has lost its liberal bent.

In the campaign for the Board of Directors this year, Michael Zinzun, a former Black Panther, failed to win the endorsement although he had the backing of Directors Rick Cole and William Paparian, two of the board’s more liberal members. Zinzun lost.

A year earlier, Paparian failed to win the endorsement, even though he was running against Jo Heckman, one of the most conservative board members at the time. Paparian won without ACT’s help.

“ACT is so concerned with winning now,” said Sutton. “The issue aspect of a campaign has almost disappeared.”

The dispute came into the open this year when Sutton bought memberships for about 75 people, including his two infant children, so they could vote to endorse Zinzun.

Even with the extra votes, Zinzun fell short of the 60% needed to win an endorsement.

Sutton’s action infuriated some members who jeered him for doing exactly what he claimed ACT was doing, that is, trying to win at all costs.

“Yeah, it does subvert the theoretical idea, but my effort was ideologically based,” Sutton said. “I wanted to move the group out into a more liberal column.”

To a certain extent, Fuhrman agreed that the group has lost its zeal and idealism over the years as its members have gotten older and more politically experienced. “We’ve learned to separate out ideology and practical considerations,” he said. “We are less inclined to waste time on hopeless campaigns.”

The problem is defining liberal issues in a community dominated by gray issues, he added.

“Before, it was war and peace, segregation and integration,” said Judith Boggs, who joined ACT in 1973. “The issues just aren’t that black and white anymore.”

In this decade, the hottest issues in Pasadena have been growth, development and historic preservation, none of which easily fit into “liberal” or “conservative” categories.

For example, many conservatives angry about traffic and congestion joined with ACT in backing PRIDE’s initiative. Just a year earlier, however, ACT found itself on the opposite side of many liberals in the campaign over the unsuccessful slow-growth measure, Proposition G. ACT opposed the measure because of fears a building moratorium would cut into school revenues.

The leadership on growth and preservation issues has clearly gone to groups like PRIDE and the historic preservation group, Pasadena Heritage.

Both groups have clear missions that have made them important players in shaping city policy while ACT has vacillated.

“Our roots are in the anti-war movement and civil rights. The passion we felt was so humanistic,” Bond said. “But growth, I just can’t get passionate about it. It’s not the haves and have nots.”