Editorial: Poizner for Assembly Editorial: Poizner for Assembly (October 27, 2004)

21st District race becomes a battleground between a self-funded moderate 'reform' Republican and state Democratic party interests
Democratic Assemblyman Joe Simitian may have been the first politician who saw the makings of a Republican upset in the 21st Assembly District.

When Democratic and Republican party leaders went about the reapportionment process more than two years ago, Simitian warned that the new boundaries, which reduced the Democratic party registration edge, made his district vulnerable to a moderate Republican the likes of Pete McCloskey, Ed Zschau, Tom Campbell and Becky Morgan.

Democratic party leaders dismissed Simitian's concerns, believing the Peninsula district was firmly in their pocket and in no danger of becoming a competitive district. By shifting some Republican voters into the 21st, the reasoning went, the Democrats could strengthen their position in adjacent districts.

That redistricting misjudgment is now coming back to haunt the Democratic party, and create the most expensive Assembly campaign in state history.

With Simitian vacating the seat to run for State Senate, the race between Steve Poizner, a high-tech, moderate Republican, and Democrat Ira Ruskin, a nine-year Redwood City Councilman, has become the most important priority in the state for the Democratic party.

Poizner, 47, is funding most of his campaign with his own personal wealth and could easily end up spending in excess of $6 million.

Ruskin, 61, whose fundraising was initially modest, has had to practically turn over his campaign to the Democratic party, which is pouring money and mailers into the district in unprecedented amounts -- and also engaging in campaign distortions that run the risk of backfiring on Ruskin.

Thus voters have the odd choice between a Republican millionaire who won't even disclose whether he will vote for George Bush and a Democrat who will owe his victory to the most powerful Democratic and special interests in California.

On social and environmental issues, there are only minor differences between the candidates, in spite of Ruskin's attempts to cast Poizner otherwise. On fiscal and business issues, Poizner expresses Schwarzenegger-like concern over excessive regulation and their effects on California's business climate while Ruskin embraces traditional Democratic policies of protective legislation.

We think voters in the 21st ssembly District would be competently served by either Poizner or Ruskin. With a legislature that is in no danger of falling into Republican hands, whomever we elect will make little difference in the outcome of individual legislative votes in Sacramento. If it did, we would not hesitate to support Ira Ruskin, who would be a solid, albeit uninspired, Democratic legislator.

But Steve Poizner offers the chance to send someone to Sacramento who is not just like all the other local-government graduates pursuing the next step in their political careers. While Poizner could turn out to be a bust, finding it impossible to reform a system that is so entrenched in extreme partisanship, it's equally possible that he could form the necessary alliances to forge a new centrist and less politicized approach to government.

Either way, the opportunity to elect a successful high-tech business executive who is willing to give up several years of his life to public service, and whose views fit with the progressive values of the district, is simply too great to pass up.

We recommend Steve Poizner for the 21st Assembly District.

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