Assembly Democrats Put Their Money on Late Entry Roz McGrath

Call it a dispute among friends.

The race for the Democratic nomination in the 37th Assembly District involves what some local Democrats see as Sacramento big-footing--but what state party leaders consider a dose of reality for the locals.

Democratic Assembly leaders say they’re prepared to spend $500,000 to $1 million to help Somis teacher Roz McGrath, who barely lost to Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) in 1998, knock off the incumbent in November.

“It’s simple,” said Darry Sragow, campaign manager for the Assembly Democratic Caucus. “Roz McGrath almost beat Strickland last time. And if Roz McGrath is the candidate, we’re quite confident she can beat Tony Strickland this time.”

But to get to Strickland, who is unopposed in the March 7 primary, McGrath first must defeat Port Hueneme Councilman Jon Sharkey.

And a number of local Democrats say they’re backing Sharkey all the way because they pledged their support long before McGrath’s last-minute recruitment by the Sacramento pols.

“I think Jon Sharkey is a very good candidate, and that doesn’t mean Roz McGrath is a bad one,” said Hank Lacayo, chairman of the county Democratic Central Committee. “He started running from Day 1, after Roz said she wouldn’t run and long before she came back into the race. Jon was consistent in his effort, so I’ll be consistent in my support for him.”

Despite lobbying by Assembly Speaker-designate Bob Hertzberg, local Democrats voted 14 to 10 three weeks ago to endorse Sharkey in the primary instead of McGrath.

The split comes partly because Sharkey was the only Democrat in the race until the mid-November filing deadline. McGrath, suffering from her second bout with breast cancer, had bowed out last spring.

But then McGrath, healthy again, got a call in the fall from Hertzberg and Kevin Shelley, the Democratic floor leader in the Assembly. The party needed her, they argued, and it would spend all the money it would take to get her elected.

“I wasn’t going to say yes until I had all my demands met,” McGrath said. “That included this being a targeted race so there would be a party investment to win.”

For the primary, that commitment has produced seed money from the Assembly Democrats--enough to pay for a full-time campaign manager, an office and a phone. She hopes for more in February. Then in the general election, if she wins, the party treasury would free McGrath to campaign full-time from June to November, instead of going back to her kindergarten classroom in the fall, as she did during her last campaign.

It would also guarantee her enough money to match Strickland dollar for dollar in advertising. In 1998, party support came in a belated splat during the last three weeks.

But first, she must survive the primary.

And Sharkey is determined not to go quietly.

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At age 50, the former professional piano player who toured with a “Frank Zappa-like” band, is a colorful figure who stands 6 feet 3 and sports a salt-and-pepper ponytail that drapes down his back.

“Color is me,” said Sharkey, a retired events manager who begins campaign speeches by boasting about saving Shady, the City Hall cat, from exile. “When I was mayor I stood firm for Shady. Cat lovers do vote. And I got more mail on that than anything I’ve ever done.”

Seriously, Sharkey said, he gives voters a clear choice in the primary.

He strongly backed the SOAR farmland-preservation initiatives that passed overwhelmingly across the county in 1998, while McGrath opposed them. “Two-thirds of the people in this county voted for SOAR,” he said. “Not only did she miss the boat, she tried to sink it.”

One of Sharkey’s principal backers now is Oxnard attorney Richard Francis, co-author of those ballot measures.

“I’m the guy,” Sharkey said, “who has been here for years, working on issues that are important to Ventura County--urban sprawl, job creation, taxation issues. If the people of Sacramento don’t get that, then I think they’re completely out of touch. They can try to parachute a campaign in here, but that doesn’t mean they have any support.”

If elected, Sharkey said, he will try to revamp the state tax system so cities do not depend so heavily on sales taxes for survival and abandon good planning to compete for every new store. He also wants new state laws that reward cities for building low-cost housing, so people such as his adult son, a Navy seaman, can afford a house when he moves back home with his wife.

On issues often used to define a candidate, Sharkey supports women’s choice on abortion, opposes vouchers that allow public school students to transfer tax dollars to private schools, and opposes additional gun control laws.

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“I consider myself a pragmatist: The only question I ask is, ‘Does it work?’ ” he said. “With me, they get someone with experience both in government and in life, somebody with a notion of where we need to go in this state. We need decisions made at the right level, locally. And we need a community where people can afford to live and work, where we have a clean environment and good schools to send their kids.”

McGrath, 52, a descendant of Irish immigrant farmers who settled on the Oxnard Plain in the 1860s, hardly discusses Sharkey in interviews and campaign gatherings.

At a recent Democratic forum in Port Hueneme, she proclaimed her opponent a friend who helped in her 1998 campaign.

“Jonathan, I love you,” she said. “I’m glad we have two qualified candidates. But I know in my heart I am the one best qualified to get Tony Strickland out of office. That’s why I’m back in the race, to defeat Tony Strickland.”

She can win, McGrath said, because voters know her.

In a district that sprawls from Oxnard through Camarillo to Thousand Oaks, she lost the Assembly seat by only 51%-44% in 1992 to veteran Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi, who outspent her 5 to 1.

Then in 1998, she lost to Strickland by a single percentage point, about 1,300 votes, even though Republican registered voters outnumbered Democrats in the district by 3,500 and despite a yearlong full-time campaign by the well-financed Strickland.

In the end, after late donations, each spent more than $400,000.

This time, McGrath thinks she can steal a Republican seat no Democrat has captured in at least 30 years.

But she won’t do it by debating the local SOAR initiatives again, she said.

“SOAR was a very important issue that has been decided by the voters, and I wholeheartedly support local control,” she said. “But I’m running for state Assembly, and the issues on the state level are education, health care and protecting the environment.”

She supports new initiatives to attract and retain good teachers and to return control over tax dollars for schools to local boards.

She backs programs to guarantee affordable health care for millions of uninsured children and the working poor. The state also needs to force improvement of nursing homes, she said.

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McGrath is pro-choice on abortion, backs stricter controls on guns and opposes vouchers as destructive to public education.

She said she had no idea where Sharkey stood on issues.

“But I do believe I’ve got a broader background in terms of small business and agriculture and education. So I believe I am better qualified and, with the party’s support, more likely to win in November. And the bottom line is to beat Mr. Strickland.”

She is not concerned about the vote of the local Democratic Endorsement Committee. “Many people had committed to him before I announced, but many of those folks say they will support me after I win the primary.”

McGrath plans a February trip to Sacramento to raise money for the primary.

She reported contributions of just $4,137 through Jan. 22, while Sharkey had $37,600.

Although she likes Sharkey, McGrath is already looking past him to the general election.

“I’m very much geared up for this,” she said.

“It just feels different this time. It feels right. It feels like a winning campaign.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Democratic Race in 37th Assembly District

The district includes Camarillo, Moorpark, Oxnard, Port Hueneme and most of Thousand Oaks.

Roz McGrath

Age: 52

Residence: Camarillo

Occupation: Kindergarten teacher

Education: Bachelor’s degree in fine arts, Dominican College of San Rafael, 1969; master’s degree in early childhood education, San Francisco State University, 1976; California teaching credential, San Francisco State University, 1976

Background: Teacher, private elementary schools, 1969-73; part-time child development instructor, Oxnard College, 1976-82; partner in McGrath family farming operation, 1976-present; executive director, county Coalition to End Domestic Violence, 1980-82; instructor at Ventura County Women’s Economic and Education Inc., which helped women on welfare get jobs, 1982-84; teacher, Mesa Union Elementary in Somis, 1989-present. She was the Ventura County Farm Bureau’s first woman board member and has been active in California Women for Agriculture and the National Women’s Political Caucus.

Issues: She thinks that her narrow loss to Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) in 1998 and her showing against former Republican Assemblyman Nao Takasugi in 1992 prove she can beat Strickland with the strong financial support that Democratic leaders have promised. She says that her moderate politics suit the district and that her background is far broader than Jon Sharkey’s. She pledges reforms in education and health care and more environmental protection.

Personal: She is single.

Jon Sharkey

Age: 50

Residence: Port Hueneme

Occupation: Port Hueneme city councilman, retired events manager

Education: Bachelor’s degree in mass communications, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1971; certificate of mediation, Ventura College of Law, 1996

Background: Cab and truck driver and factory worker, 1971-76; owner of J. Sharkey Entertainment Services, which provided production, marketing and consulting services for special events, and part-time professional piano player, 1976-99; Port Hueneme city councilman since 1994. Member of 23 boards or commissions dealing with aspects of local and regional government since 1994, including chairman of the regional sanitation district and committees dealing with beach preservation, Navy services, youth services and a new regional airport.

Issues: He wants to revamp the state tax system so cities do not depend heavily on sales taxes and abandon good planning to compete for every new store. He wants new state laws that reward cities for building low-cost housing. He criticizes Roz McGrath for opposing the SOAR farmland preservation initiatives that passed overwhelmingly across the county in 1998.

Personal: Married for one year to Beverly Kelley, a professor at Cal Lutheran University and a newspaper columnist. Has one adult son and two adult stepsons.