January 07, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Simitian, Lempert off to a feisty start

by Don Kazak

Joe Simitian and Ted Lempert have launched their campaigns for Byron Sher's Senate seat against with a testy exchange that may foreshadow a rough campaign.

Simitian drew first blood in late November with a letter to Lempert that claimed the candidate published inaccurate information about the assemblyman on the Internet.

Lempert wrote Simitian back before Christmas, criticizing his rival for not following the guidelines of a voluntary campaign spending limit passed by voters.

Each accused the other of below-the-belt campaign attack pieces in the past, and are apparently preparing for more of the same in their two-month run up to the March 2 Democratic Party primary.

"It's the clash of the titans," said former Mayor Gary Fazzino, a longtime Simitian friend and supporter.

Simitian, 50, and Lempert, 42, are vying to succeed longtime legislator Byron Sher, who is being term-limited out of his state Senate seat. Simitian was elected to represent Palo Alto in the Assembly in 2000. He's also a former school board member, former Palo Alto mayor and councilman, and former Santa Clara County supervisor.

Lempert served eight years in the Assembly, the last four in the Palo Alto area. He's a former member of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and a former San Mateo school board member. He is currently a member of the San Mateo County Board of Education.

It's rumored that the two high-powered Democrats don't like each other. Therefore, few were surprised when a war of words broke out during the holidays.

In his Nov. 25 letter to Lempert, Simitian took exception to a statement on his rival's Web site. Lempert's Web site accused Simitian of intending to break Prop. 34 spending limits. Simitian defended himself by saying he didn't want to limit his campaign spending "because you (Lempert) have a history of late attack ads in your campaign."

Lempert countered in a Dec. 17 letter by noting Simitian has "already spent over $40,000 researching my background and record. A candidate engaging in opposition research spending of this magnitude is not usually preparing to solely defend himself against the attacks of an opponent." Simitian's comment about the $40,000: "That's simply untrue."

The state assemblyman also noted that his Nov. 25 letter to Lempert wasn't intended to be public. It was Lempert who released the two letters to the press.

Lempert said he will stick to the $637,000 voluntary spending limit set by Proposition 34, a limit he called "overly generous." The candidate said he would have no trouble raising and spending that much money.

As of last Sept. 30, Lempert had already raised $561,945 while Simitian had raised $814,895.

Simitian said he receives more local and small donations than Lempert. "I don't want to deny myself that support, particularly in a race against a tough opponent," Simitian said.

Simitian has locked up local -- meaning Palo Alto -- support. But Lempert has scored some important endorsements in Sacramento, including state Treasurer Phil Angelides, state schools chief Jack O'Connell, state Controller Steve Westly, and several state senators and Assembly members.

And Sher himself.

Lempert was going to challenge the esteemed legislator back in 2000 but chose not to, in return for receiving Sher's endorsement in 2004.

Sher was elected to that seat in 1996 after spending 15 years in the Assembly. He had previously been a member of the Palo Alto City Council, and had served as mayor.

State Senate District 11, in addition to Palo Alto, includes Redwood City through Menlo Park, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Campbell, a small slice of San Jose, and northern Santa Cruz County, including Santa Cruz, Aptos, Capitola and Boulder Creek. Fifty-eight percent of registered Democrats in the district live in Santa Clara County, 22 percent live in San Mateo County, and 20 percent live in Santa Cruz County.

Don Kazak can be e-mailed at dkazak@paweekly.com

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