Hollywood and West Hollywood Independents Cover Toussaint Campaign

The Sprawling 42nd AD: Welcome to L.A.
Politics: The race to succeed Koretz is to represent an area far beyond West Hollywood.

West Hollywood Independent
March 9, 2006

By MARY FRANCES GURTON, Staff Writer

California’s 42nd Assembly District, where a contentious race to succeed incumbent Paul Koretz, who will be termed out of office, is a lot like surrounding Los Angeles itself: sprawling and affluent in parts.

It spans from Brentwood on the far west, through Bel Air, Beverly Hills, and West Hollywood and then meanders up towards Sherman Oaks and the Hollywood Hills and then into Toluca Lake.

The largely Democratic district — with a population of 423,388 that is largely made up of whites (80.1 percent), followed by Hispanics (10.4 percent) and Asians (7.2 percent) — also spans from Mandeville Canyon on the west all the way past Hancock Park towards Los Feliz in the east.

Much of the area is often considered one of the most affluent regions of California, an observation that even Koretz joked about.

“I would say I am probably one of the low income residents of the district,” said Koretz, who earns over $100,000 a year, during a phone interview. “This is what most assembly members wouldn’t be able to say.”

Eight candidates are currently vying to replace Koretz in the state assembly district that has 246,088 registered voters, made up of Democrats (54 percent) and Republicans (21 percent).

The candidate who replaces him, says Koretz, should have an intrinsic understanding of the challenges, goals and the uniqueness of the district,

“It’s a pretty liberal district, and at the same time, it’s a ‘tough on crime’ district. It is a district that makes some people pro-business and pro-development and then makes other people anti-development, which makes it very unusual,” said Koretz.

“In some ways it’s not that diverse and in some ways it is. We don’t have large minority populations the way some other districts do — not a lot of African Americans or Latino residents. But we have other groups that aren’t present in most districts, such as a very large and significant LGBT community and a large Russian community in West Hollywood and a Persian community in Beverly Hills.”

As Koretz further noted, the district has also been the home to three governors: Pete Wilson, Gray Davis and former Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“I’m waiting to see when Phil Angelides will move into the district,” quipped Koretz, a reference to the gubernatorial candidate who is running against Schwarzenegger this year.

And as the countdown begins to the June 6 primary election, political observers predict that the 42nd Assembly District will be one of the most interesting races to watch.

It is a race that pits former Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Feuer, who has been endorsed by the incumbent, against West Hollywood Mayor Abbe Land for the Democratic nomination.

“It will be one of the more interesting primary races. They both have high name recognition, plenty of money in the bank and political endorsements,” said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs for Cal State LA.

Experts say that this race could serve as a political comeback for the 47-year-old Feuer, whose promising career was cut short after an humbling loss to then deputy mayor Rocky Delgadillo in the 2001 city attorney race.

For Land, the campaign marks her second attempt at a state assembly position. She was defeated in a 1994 race for the 42nd Assembly District seat, which was held then by Wally Knox.

“In a sense, both of their careers are on the line here,” says Regalado. “If Mike loses, then the notion will be that his career in public office is pretty much finished. If Abbe loses, it’s that she will never be able to win the big one. She will always be associated with small city politics.”

In addition to Feuer and Land, the campaign has attracted a number of other candidates, who are, at best, long shots at winning.

Among them is Cynthia Toussaint, 45, a former Playboy model and dancer, who suffers from the neurological disease Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and is a longtime advocate for universal health care.

Toussaint, a Valley Village resident, is also the founder of a nonprofit for people suffering from Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy disease, which causes chronic pain.

“I am the underdog, and I want to be a voice for the underdog,” says Toussaint. “I have gone through a lot of struggles and tragedies in my life but I believe I can change tragedy into something positive in people’s lives.”

Other challengers for the assembly seat include Eric Michael Fine, 42, of Beverly Hills, who works as a coordinator for a marijuana advocacy group, and Mark Gonzaga, a producer and educator from West Hollywood.

The remaining candidates are Republicans Steven Mark Sion, 43, a labor law attorney from West Hollywood and Clark Baker, 48, a Hollywood Hills resident and former LAPD officer, as well as libertarian Colin Goldman, 37, a screenwriter from Sherman Oaks who unsuccessfully ran against state Senator Sheila Kuehl two years ago.