The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 376

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1992 LOS ANGELES TIMES CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS C50 THE TIMES POLL Herschensohn Narrows Boxer's Double-Digit Lead to 9 Points Boxer and Feinstein benefit from running in the Year of the Woman and in an election where the political pendulum is swinging toward the Democratic Party. A plurality of voters believe that the Democratic Party will be better than the GOP at I MORE STATE POLITICS: A30 Republican positions than with Democrats on the issues of defense cuts and environmental regulations. The Times Poll, directed by John Brennan, interviewed 1,110 registered voters by telephone for four days ending Friday night. Among these were 833 people considered likely to vote. The margin of error for all registered voters was three percentage points in either direction.

For likely voters it was four points. Among registered voters, Boxer led Herschensohn by 50 to 41, with 1 for other candidates and 8 undecided. In a mid-September Times survey, Boxer enjoyed a 19-point lead: 52 to 33, with 15 undecided. When only the likely voters were counted in the new poll, Boxer's lead tightened to 49 to 44, with 1 for someone else and 6 undecided. Please see POLL, A36 After paying little attention to these two contests through the summer, voters clearly are sizing up the candidates as the Nov.

3 election approaches. And as wavering voters have taken critical looks in recent weeks, Herschensohn has gained the momentum, Times Poll interviews showed. The statewide survey indicated that many voters who were previously undecided appear to have sided with the former Los Angeles television commentator, who scored a campaign coup by running two weeks of effective TV commercials before the Marin County congresswoman went on the air with her ads. Although Boxer has lost little support overall, Herschensohn has made substantial gains among people age 65 and older, independents, Republicansmen and women and so-called Reagan Democrats, the poll found. He also has picked up ground in Northern California.

Campaigns: Feinstein holds a 19-point lead over Seymour among registered voters in other Senate race. By GEORGE SKELTON TIMES SACRAMENTO BUREAU CHIEF Democratic Rep. Barbara Boxer's once-lopsided lead over Republican Bruce Herschensohn in their U.S. Senate race has been halved to nine points among all registered voters and to just five among those likely to cast ballots, The Los Angeles Times Poll has found. In California's other Senate race, however, Democrat Dianne Feinstein is maintaining a lead of 19 points over Republican Sen.

John Seymour among registered voters. handling California's problems, an attitude that has increased during the last 17 months, various Times surveys have shown. But voters are closely divided on the importance of electing a woman to the Senate and most think it is not important to elect two women, according to interviews. Also, in the midst of a stubborn recession with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost and many more in jeopardy, Californians appear to be siding more with U.S. SENATE Where the PAC Money Comes From Here is a list of contributions from political action committees to Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Republicans John Seymour and Bruce Herschensohn through Sept.

30. Seymour TV Ad Blasts Feinstein on Crime Issue Boxer Feinstein Senate Hopefuls Lead Nation in Race for Cash Politics: Candidates raise $28 million despite weak economy. Feinstein and Boxer lead GOP opponents in funding, but Seymour and Herschensohn are gaining with party boost. By GLENN F. BUNTING and DAN MORAIN TIMES STAFF WRITF.RS WASHINGTON -California's four U.S.

Senate candidates have raised more than $28 million in contributions from constituents and special interests with much at stake in next week's elections. Gun owners, real estate interests and big business are fueling the campaigns of Republicans Bruce Herschensohn and John Seymour, while organized labor, women and Hollywood are lining up behind Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. The money generated to finance each of the two Senate races in California this year is more than any congressional race in the country to date. But the two contests will cost considerably less than political experts had predicted. Fund-raisers blame California's deep recession and stiff competition from the presidential campaign and other state races for draining the pool of political California this year.

It features Stephen Baker, the father of one of Harris' victims. When Harris went to the gas chamber April 21, he became the first person to be executed in California in 24 years. Baker, appearing in a prison setting, said that he has kept "a close eye on these politicians" since his son Michael was murdered in 1978, adding: "And the fact is, when Feinstein had a chance, she paroled 21 convicted murders. On average, murderers were turned loose after only six years when Feinstein sat on the parole board. "We don't need another liberal senator like Feinstein appointing more liberal judges, and turning people loose, like Robert Alton Harris." Feinstein was one of five members of the state women's parole board from 1960-66, and Seymour has used the parole issue against Feinstein repeatedly since raising it in their televised debate in Sacramento this month.

Feinstein has responded that the board handled about 5,000 cases while she was a member, that she Please see SEYMOUR, A31 By BILL STALL TIMES POLITICAL WRITER Republican Sen. John Seymour aired a television ad Saturday claiming that Democrat Dianne Feinstein's positions on crime issues are so liberal they would result in "turning people loose, like Robert Alton Harris," an executed murderer. Feinstein campaign manager Kam Kuwata denounced the ad as "a piece of trash." Feinstein said Seymour has nothing else to run on, so he hopes to win their Senate race "by destroying me." "Anyone who knows me knows that I am not soft on crime," added the former San Francisco mayor, who is challenging Seymour for the final two years of the Senate term won by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1988. Wilson appointed Seymour to the seat in early 1991 when Wilson resigned from the Senate to become governor.

The 30-second commercial, which is airing statewide, is arguably the toughest attack ad in either U.S. Senate race in AMOUNT 0F AMOUNT 0F PAC GIVEN TOTAt GIVEN TOTAL JJnion $243,135 39.0 $268,966 41.7 Ideological 126,728 20.3 204,046 31.7 Healthcare 65,726 10.6 48,794 7.6 Financial Services 52,300 8.4 29,114 4.5 Legal 30,000 4.8 21,624 3.4 EnergyOil 19,500 3J none AerospaceDefense 17,000 2.7 7,200 1 1 Entertainment 13,700 2.2 16,000 2.5 AgricultureFood 15,500 2.5 16,600 2.S Other 39,306 6.3 27,061 5.0 Total 622,895 644,405 Seymour Herschensohn AMOUNT 0F AMOUNT 0f PAC GIVEN TOTAL GIVEN TOTAL AgricultureFood $273,537 22.4 $61,425 18.1 Financial Services 175,298 14.3 20,000 5.9 AerospaceDefense 135,425 11.1 41,321 12,2 EnergyOil 1 12,650 9.2 41,000 12.1 Ideological 114,530 9.4 89,944 26.5 Healthcare 90,150 74 none Real EstateOevelopere 78,500 6.4 8.50Q 2.5 TransportationShipping 33250 2.7 9,250 2.7 Auto Industry 26,000 2.1 12,000 3.5 Legal 31,500 2.6 none Entertainment 21,250 JT none TimberPaper Products 21,200 1.7 18,500 5.4 TravelTourism 16,500 L4 none Telecommunications 16,500 A none Other 75,850 6.2 37,930 11.1 Total 1,222,140 339,870 donors. "There's a recession out there," said Richard McBride, Seymour's campaign manager. "People are unemployed. The economy is horrible.

Those contributors who are out there who have given in the past have to cut back This article was based on a Times computer-assisted analysis of campaign finance records by Dwight Morris, editor for special investigations. Assisting were researchers Murielle Ga-mache, Charlotte Huff and Michael Cheek. PROPOSITION 162 Boards Seek Authority Over Pension Funds Source: Times analysis of Federal Election Commission reports. Percentages may not add to 100 because of founding. U.S.

Senate Campaign Finances Campaign fund raising and spending documents filed by candidates for California's two U.S. Senate seats were released Thursday for the Oct. 1-14 period. SIX-YEAR SEAT TO REPLACE ALAN CRANSTON like everybody else. Boxer and Herschensohn are running for the six-year seat to replace retiring Sen.

Alan Cranston. Feinstein and Seymour are vying for the two-year seat vacated last year by Gov. Pete Wilson. Heading into the final week of frenzied campaigning before the Nov. 3 election, Boxer and Feinstein are the leading fund-raisers, even as the races are tightening.

But in an infusion of unrestricted cash that probably will equalize the money wars, Herschensohn and Seymour each expect to receive $2.5 million from the Republican Party. Reflecting his conservative ideology, Herschensohn has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from groups that include gun owners, religious fundamentalists, former colleagues in the Richard M. Nixon Administration and conservatives led by Sen. Jesse Helms Like Herschensohn, Seymour has garnered his share of aerospace, oil and gun money, but has received virtually no funds from anti-abortion groups or the religious right because of his abortion rights position. Agriculture and real estate, two industries whose interests Seymour has promoted tirelessly on Capitol Hill, are his campaign's richest sources of cash.

Individual and PAC contributors for these industries have funneled about $1 million to Seymour's campaign. At the same time that feminist groups are raising unprecedented amounts for them in the "Year of the Woman," Boxer and Feinstein are relying heavily on the traditional Democratic fund-raising base of labor and the entertainment industry. Boxer has expanded her base since the June primary, and men now account for 60 of her large individual contributors of $200 or more. Feinstein, the more moderate of the two Democratic women, has received 60 of her large individual donations from men throughout the race. But liberal women's groups, energized by the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill confrontation to increase their representation of two women in the Senate, have raised more than $1 million for the Feinstein and Boxer campaigns.

That level of women's money is new to politics this year and little of it is going to Herschensohn and Seymour. The Hollywood Women's Political Committee has raised $1.2 million for Demo-Please see FINANCES, A26 OCT. 1-14 EXPENSES OCT. 1-14 RECEIPTS CASK ON HAND TOTAL RECEIPTS on the PERS governing board. However, opponents argue that the measure does little to prevent raids but instead makes pension fund governing boards more autonomous and less accountable to the Legislature and other elected bodies.

Proposition 162 would change the state Constitution tO: Give the governing board of a public employee pension fund "sole and exclusive authority" over investment decisions and management of the system. Require governing boards to place more emphasis on providing benefits to the system's participants and less on the costs to taxpayers. The state, using taxpayer funds, makes an annual contribution to PERS. Allow the PERS board to hire its own actuaries experts who calculate the contributions needed to keep the fund sound instead of using those named by the governor, as state law requires. Please see PROP.

162, A29 By WILLIAM TROMBLEY TIMES SIAEF WRITER is one of the most obscure issues the California voter has ever been asked to decide." That was how Fred Main, vice president and general counsel for the California Chamber of Commerce, described Proposition 162 on the Nov. 3 ballot, a measure that would give governing boards of public employees retirement systems more authority and independence. Obscure though the initiative may be, supporters say it is needed to protect the $70-billion Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) fund and other public employee pension funds from political "raids." They cite the deal that allowed Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature to use $1.9 billion in supplemental pension funds to balance the 1991-92 state budget and also to Wilson's attempt last year to place more gubernatorial appointees DEMOCRAT Barbara Boxer REPUBLICAN Bruce Herschensohn $546,511 $1,720,286 $8,836,194 $283,106 633,344 504,046 6,108.883 336,940 TWO-YEAR SEAT OCT. 1-14 EXPENSES CASH ON HAND OCT.

1-14 RECEIPTS TOTAL RECEIPTS DEMOCRAT Dianne Feinstein REPUBLICAN John Seymour 512,573 284,560 1,694,343 7,121,024 572,904 6,282,714 226,746 174,388 Note: Total figures are for Jan. 1991, to Oct. 14, 1992 Budding Metrolink Rail System Ready to Roll for L.A.-Bound Commuters Transit: First phase of suburban-city network debuts Monday. Up to 5,400 cars may be removed from roads. by Monday morning.

This will not pose a problem because passengers will ride for free during the first week. The machines should be in place by the time the first fares are "This system was devised to serve people who commute at least 20 miles each way," Ventura County rail authority board member Bill Davis said. If all of the trains carry the maximum number of passengers, they could remove as many as 5,400 cars from the road, he added. The three start-up Metrolink lines will run from Union Station to Moorpark in eastern Ventura County, to the Santa Clarita Valley and to Pomona. Travel time from Moorpark to.

Union Station should take up to 84 minutes, with intermediate stops at' stations in Simi Valley, Chats7r worth, Van Nuys, Burbank ancj, Glendale. The trip from Santa. Clarita and Union Station is to take Please see TRANSIT. A34 trams and trolleys. "Two years ago, voters showed us with overwhelming support of rail transit funding that they wanted that kind of service again," said Jacki Bacharach, chairwoman of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, which owns and manages the Metrolink network.

But the commuter rail network being primed for its premiere at 5:06 a.m. Monday in Moorpark more closely resembles Amtrak's intercity San Diegan trains. Unlike the Metro Blue Line, the Long Beach -to -Los Angeles trolley line that runs trains as often as every six minutes during the week, Metrolink trains are scheduled to operate 35 to 55 minutes apart and only during weekday rush hours. link until next year, when it adopts Metrolink's ticketing system and lower fares. Even at stations that will be open for business Monday, passengers may find the paint not completely dry and light fixtures not installed.

Such details testify to the swiftness with which Metrolink was created and the last-minute preparations that had to be attended to in the final days before the trains start running. Workers labored hurriedly last week, erecting signs at Union Station on Friday morning and paving the Burbank station's parking lot with asphalt between intermittent rain showers. Only about half the system's 23 computerized ticket-vending machines will be installed ON THE MOVE Southern California's transit agenda S3 waysand sometimes within sight of them the initial 114 miles of Metrolink routes will be but a sample of a 450-mile web promised to stretch within a few years from Ventura to San Diego and into the Inland Empire. Orange County commuters have had an exclusive, 16-month preview of Metrolink service with one daily round -trip on a train supplied by the Orange County Transportation Authority. Ridership averages more than 14,000 passengers per month.

Although the OCTA train uses Metrolink's name and equipment, it won't formally join Metro- By MARK A. STEIN TIMES STAFF WRITER Before another rush-hour Sig-Alert blackens commuters' moods, Los Angeles will quintuple the size of its budding rail-transit system. Early Monday, a dozen double-decked, periwinkle and white trains are scheduled to roll from distant suburbs into downtown Los Angeles on the first three lines that form the new Metrolink commuter rail network. Running parallel to some of the region's most congested free I One in a series to be collected a week from Monday, officials said. To many longtime commuters, Metrolink may evoke memories of Pacific Electric 's storied Red Car.