Kuykendall for Assembly

54th District (corrected from 45^th) can do better

than Karnette.

Press Telegram

Editorial

October 22, 2004

State Sen. Betty Karnette's legislative career has been neither inspiring nor grossly offensive; she's carefully treaded partisan waters and done little to distinguish herself from other legislative Democrats.

Unlike Long Beach Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat who has used his legislative office to call much-needed attention to issues of port pollution, and to push for solutions, Karnette hasn't jumped to the forefront of a single issue. She claims partial credit for class-size reduction, which was a good idea in theory, but was ultimately unaffordable and contributed to the state deficit.

One Karnette vote after another has been consistently party-line, and anti-business, even when her colleagues and former Gov. Gray Davis were erasing the state's record surplus and plunging California deep into deficit.

Now that she's being termed out of the Senate, should voters reward her lackluster performance with a seat in the Assembly? We don't see a compelling reason.

The race for Assembly District 54 (corrected from 45) is one of the few competitive elections for the state Legislature in all of California. Thanks to partisan gerrymandering, most state races are sewn up in the primaries, but the54th (corrected from 45^th) is one of the few exceptions. The district covers Long Beach , Signal Hill, San Pedro, Catalina Island and the Palos Verdes Peninsula .

Karnette's opponent is Republican Steve Kuykendall, who represented the district in the Assembly from 1994 to 1998. He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives (36th Congressional District) from 1999 to 2001. If elected to the state Assembly, term limits dictate that he could only serve one term.

Neither candidate would tip the scales of power in Sacramento , though Kuykendall would at least offer some balance.

It may seem ironic, but we have more faith in the Republican, Kuykendall, to help tackle one of Long Beach 's major environmental issues, port pollution. Kuykendall, noting Gov. Schwarzenegger's recent rejection of Lowenthal's anti-pollution bill (AB 2042), says he would work for a bipartisan version that would accomplish many of the same goals and be more acceptable to the governor. We'd like to see Kuykendall have that chance, since Karnette hasn't taken a leadership role on port pollution.

Kuykendall would also be a stronger advocate in Sacramento for more sound transportation planning, more aggressive deficit reduction and more bureaucratic consolidations, as outlined in the governor's plans to streamline state government.

Karnette has had her time in the Legislature. We'd prefer to see what Kuykendall could do with one more, final term in the Assembly.

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