Delegates' Motives as Diverse as the Valley

By KRISTINA SAUERWEIN

Aug. 14, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas are sending 27 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in downtown Los Angeles this week, including a recent high school graduate, a Jewish technology leader, a City Council intern and a Mexican-born union supporter. They are introduced below.

California’s 496 delegates are registered Democrats who were elected earlier this year to represent the party by voters in each of the state’s 52 congressional districts.

Ian Carpenter

The youngest Los Angeles County Democratic delegate, Ian Carpenter, 18, of Shadow Hills, hopes to shake Vice President Al Gore’s hand. And if he gets to talk with the presidential candidate, even better.

“I would like to look at him and say, ‘You’re going to be my first presidential vote.’ That would be a big deal for me.”

Carpenter said he became a political buff years ago while helping his father do volunteer work on various campaigns in the Valley. “I liked the ability to change things and make life easier for people,” said Carpenter, who has worked on the Gore campaign.

Carpenter graduated in June from Van Nuys High School’s performing arts magnet program. After spending a year in Georgia at a paid internship for Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for the poor, Carpenter plans to attend college, probably Cal State Northridge, and ultimately become a director of action movies.

Such a career would give him the name recognition and Hollywood connections needed for running for office, Carpenter said.

“Eventually, I would like to become president,” he said. “My dad likes to work behind the scenes. I like to be up front.”

At the convention, Carpenter said he hopes to make lifelong contacts and learn as much as possible.

“I just want to experience it for the first time,” he said. “It will be completely new to me. I want to suck it all in and absorb everything.”

After the convention, he also wants to get young people to vote.

“Unfortunately, a lot of people my age aren’t as active as they should be,” Carpenter said. “There’s not a big war or cause to rally around. . . . But I tell my friends they have no right to grumble if they don’t vote.”

Carpenter said he wishes some of his friends looked forward to casting their first presidential vote.

“I’m excited about it,” he said. “It will be a steppingstone into adulthood.”

Andrew Lachman

A few years ago, Andrew Lachman used to attend the same synagogue in Georgetown as Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman. At political events, Lachman said the vice presidential nominee would recognize the young Democrat from religious services.

Lachman, who moved from the Washington, D.C. area to Los Angeles in late 1998, hopes Lieberman will remember him at the convention.

“He might if I jog his memory,” Lachman said. “I also want to tell him how excited a lot of the Jewish people are to have him on the ticket. It’s exciting, a wonderful opportunity.”

Lachman, 30, has been active in the Democratic Party for half his life. He helped his father, a physician, do volunteer work on Gary Hart’s failed presidential bid in 1984.

“That’s when I started to gain political consciousness,” recalled Lachman, publicity director for the Los Angeles County Young Democrats. “I learned it was OK to be socially liberal but fiscally conservative, to have a balance between the need to help other people while also allowing individuals to make opportunities for themselves.”

A corporate counsel to Homestore.com in Thousand Oaks, Lachman said Clinton, Gore and now Lieberman reflect such values. “As a vice president, Gore has helped the Internet/tech industry grow.”

By selecting Lieberman as his running mate, Gore has also successfully defined his candidacy, Lachman said. “Gore is a very exciting, very passionate person,” he said. “He’s making history.”

Rachel Metson

Rachel Metson, 22, of Tarzana wanted to be a delegate partly as a reminder to older Democrats that they cannot forget about young voters.

“We can’t let people age 45 or older run the political system,” the UCLA graduate said. “Young people are essential to the political process because they bring idealism and energy. It’s easier to dismiss us and say we’re apathetic.”

One of the issues of particular concern to young voters is education because many have graduated from underfunded or mediocre schools, Metson said.

“We need top-quality schools,” she said. “I believe we need to invest money in teachers. They’re shaping future members of our society.”

Through her political internships, including her current one with City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, Metson said she has learned that simply listening to young people can encourage them to get involved in the political process.

“They see that they can change issues on the local level,” she said. “They’re more likely to be involved if they feel they can make a difference.”

Sergio Rascon

Sergio Rascon, 46, of San Fernando has no ambitions to run for political office. He said he became a delegate to preserve the American dream of earning a decent living and buying a home, particularly for hard-working families from other countries.

Born in the Mexican state of Sonora, Rascon was 10 when he legally emigrated with his family to the northeast San Fernando Valley. “My father brought us here for a better life,” he said. “He taught us to work hard for those opportunities.”

As a boy, Rascon picked oranges, lemons and grapefruits for farmers in Ventura County, shined shoes on San Fernando Mission Boulevard and studied hard to learn English.

“We were below middle-class, but we always had food to eat,” he recalled. “We were surviving.”

He graduated from San Fernando High School in 1972 and became a construction worker like his father.

“My dad wanted me to go to college, but I knew it took a lot of money,” said Rascon, the oldest of eight siblings. “My dad said he would borrow the money, but I wanted to work. I had always worked hard.”

Rascon rose quickly, becoming a foreman for a Valley-based construction company.

He also worked with Laborers International Union Local 300 and is currently a business manager for the union.

“I defended Latinos so that others may have opportunities to make a better life for themselves,” said Rascon.

He said he supports Gore’s candidacy because the Democratic Party helps the working class.

“I become involved in any election that benefits or goes against hard-working people,” Rascon said. “Men and women need to earn livable wages so they can buy a house.”

Rascon said he’s proof that the American dream is attainable. He and his wife, Flora, have a comfortable three-bedroom house in San Fernando for their three children.

“Only in America,” he said. “Only in America.”

Valley-Area Delegates

Here is a list of delegates from the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas as provided by the California Democratic Party:

* State Sen. Richard Alarcon, 46, of Sylmar

* Eric Bauman, 41, of North Hollywood

* U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, 59, of Mission Hills

* Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, 37, of Sylmar

* Ian Carpenter, 18, of Shadow Hills

* Annette Castro, 35, of Glendale

* Lily Chen, 64, of Glendale

* John Chiang, 38, of Chatsworth

* Craig Christensen, 61, of Stevenson Ranch