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The race for the 66th State Assembly District is a rematch of the June primary between Republican Craig Huey and Democrat Al Muratsuchi. In the primary, Muratsuchi, a state prosecutor and Torrance school board member, was the top vote-getter with 40.5 percent compared to 38.9 percent for Huey, who owns a Torrance marketing and advertising firm.
Muratsuchi and Huey beat out Republican Nathan Mintz, who had 20.6 percent of the vote. The top vote-getters earned the right to face each other in the Nov. 6 general election.
The new district runs from Manhattan Beach to Rancho Palos Verdes, including Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach as well as Gardena, Torrance and Lomita. According to state registration records, 39.1 percent of voters consider themselves Democrats while about 34.7 percent call themselves Republicans. The rest belong to a different political party or decline to state an affiliation.
The race is one of a handful of state races considered to be close enough to go either way, with both political parties pumping money to each of the candidates.
“The money is coming out of the woodwork,” said Bill MacAlpin, a political consultant and president of Redondo Beach-based AMAC Graphics that produces campaign literature for local city council and school district issues.
MacAlpin said the presidential race will affect the Assembly race. “It’s the swing vote that’s going to determine it,” MacAlpin said.
MacAlpin said that Muratsuchi has been mailing residents a steady stream of campaign literature presenting Huey as too conservative for the South Bay.
“There is so much of it,” MacAlpin said. “People get almost a piece a day. I don’t know if people actually sit down and read it… Muratsuchi has been slamming him an awful lot. Whether it’s true or not, Huey hasn’t done a lot of response to this stuff. It’ll be a huge turnout election.”
Huey said he doesn’t plan to counter-punch.
“I’m not going to do negative,” Huey said. “Al sends out mailers on national issues, on Medicare and Social Security, and it has nothing to do with Sacramento.”
After Muratsuchi produced a mailer accusing Huey of marketing a fake cure for Alzheimer’s and diabetes to senior citizens, Huey’s attorney sent a letter to his opponent demanding a retraction.
“It’s a lie,” Huey said about Muratsuchi’s mailer.
Muratsuchi stands by the mailer. “I think voters should know who they are voting for, and I believe one’s actions speak louder than words,” Muratsuchi said.
Huey said the only way he is going to win is to get independents and democrats to vote for him. Small business owners such as himself are needed in Sacramento where the Democrats control the Assembly, Huey said, adding that Muratsuchi as a career politician embodies the problem in Sacramento.
“Al has never created a job,” Huey said. “I’m a job creator.”
Muratsuchi touts his public service background.
“I have a record of being a problem solver, and not as an ideologue, whereas in contrast, my opponent is a Tea Party Republican with absolutely no public service background,” Muratsuchi said.
Muratsuchi has the edge in fundraising, according to campaign finance records.
From Jan. 1 to Oct. 20, Muratsuchi raised more than $1.7 million, according to the Secretary of State. From Jan. 1 to Oct. 20, Huey raised more than $1 million.
From Oct. 1 through Oct. 20, Muratsuchi raised more than $807,000, while Huey raised more than $255,000 during the same period.
Huey had $255,000 cash on hand after Oct. 20, and Muratsuchi had $371,000, according to campaign records. Huey has lent his campaign $100,000 of his own money, and Muratsuchi has lent his own campaign $45,000, the records showed.
Huey is a radical right-wing fundamentalist extremist along the lines of Sarah Palin and Todd Akins. His extreme views simply do not reflect the moderate values of South Bay residents. His goal is to legislate his extreme fundamentalist religious beliefs upon us all. I have no problem with his right to hold those views, but our nation was founded upon the principle that we don’t force those views upon others. His “small business” involves direct mail and e-mail schemes that irritate us all and fail to provide any quality manufacturing type jobs our economy needs. His “businesses” includes “voting guides” that simply show him for who he is — a long time political hack in the pocket of the extreme wing of the Republican Party. Many of the schemes promoted by Huey have been implicated in predatory fraud upon our seniors (see below). A minimum wage job cold-calling for a scheme in a cubicle is not what this country needs.
I have no problem with a moderate Republican, I’ve voted for many. But radical extremist — no thank you. Al Muratsuchi is not some out there liberal — he’s a former prosecutor and centrist. Just the kind of man we need representing the South Bay.
Below from an LA Weekly investigation report:
Huey’s fondness for dirty advertising tactics:
“Your job as a marketer is to move them from skepticism to greed,” [Huey] said in a 2009 interview with the Newsletter on Newsletters. On his website, he notes that good ad copy “motivates with fear.”
In fact, the election of President Obama gave Huey the perfect opportunity to scare conservatives and merge his ruthless approach to business with his extreme political agenda:
As [Huey] explained in the interview, they could make use of “fear of government, uncertainty and confusion in Washington, and information overload” to sell investments.
Which investments was Huey trying to sell? Amongst others, a “pump and dump” mining stock scheme aimed at seniors which promised big returns but ended up wiping out their retirement savings:
[One of Huey's "pump and dump"] pitches was featured on a blog that exposes “attempts to extract money from the elderly.” The author of the blog wrote that he started it after his father, who had dementia, fell for a series of direct mail scams.
Incidentally, on his company website Huey has an article that explains how to target the “mature market,” which he defines as anyone over 55.
It gets worse. Huey also promoted two direct mail nutrition companies that had to pay huge fines for misleading advertising to seniors:
According to the settlement, the companies had claimed that their products could cure emphysema, diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease.
But that’s not the only time one of Huey’s clients has run afoul of the law. Donald Rowe paid Huey big money to promote a newsletter. The problem? The newsletter turned out to be a front for ponzi scheme in which hard working Americans lost millions of dollars. That doesn’t seem to bother Huey. On his business website, Huey features a quote from Rowe praising Huey’s work marketing the scheme:
“The new direct mail package you created is productive beyond my best expectations. I received a $300,000 profit in less than 30 days–from one mailing! Without a doubt, this has been my most profitable mailing, and I’ve been in business for 20 years.”
Profitable to his scam artist clients. Devastation to the families who lost their money. Testimonials from con-men make one thing clear: Craig Huey cannot be trusted.
Huey has spent his professional life marketing for scam artists and direct mail schemes — taking money from thousands of good people. Now he wants to represent you in Sacramento.
No thanks. Huey can’t peddle his ultimate scam to the voters of the South Bay. He simply does not share our values of moderation.
As of this morning, 48.1% of Republicans who vote by mail have voted compared to 38.9% of Democrats. If 9.2% more Republicans than Democrats who don’t vote by mail go to the polls on election day then Muratsuchi is going to have a very bad day.
Also, the reporter forgot to mention the $40,000 that Muratsuchi donated to his own campaign. Not a great investment to be sure but to be fair, Muratsuchi is more accustomed to spending taxpayer’s money than his own.
Someone has been drinking the Kool Aid! The LA Weekly…Really Greg?
Your resource material is suspect, and your rabid Liberalism shows right thru!
I think we just discovered who developed and wrote the the anti-Huey campaign ads!
Charles, you are right. After checking the records, Muratsuchi has lent his campaign $45,000. I have added that information to the article and updated it. I apologize for the error.
Al Muratsuchi is the best and only qualified candidate to represent the 66th Assembly District. I’m voting for Al – and so are all of my friends – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.