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Kuykendall charts own course in unpredictable 36th District
by Kevin Cody
The Manhattan Beach and Lawndale chamber members at the upscale Beluga restaurant in downtown Manhattan Beach provided a receptive audience for 36th Congressional District Rep. Steve Kuykendall.
Members nodded approvingly when he criticized President Clinton for threatening to veto the "death tax" and the marriage penalty tax (which the president did that same day). And they expressed sympathy with his reluctant support for $1.3 billion to help the Colombian government fight drug traffickers.
But the audience's first question, from the Manhattan Chamber's political affairs director, challenged the Republican candidate to block commercial development of the nearby Ballona Wetlands. A second member of the audience urged Kuykendall to secure funds to make the wetlands area a national park
The questions typified the challenge of representing a wealthy district that leans predictably right on business issues, except where the environment, or more precisely local quality of life, is concerned; right on foreign policy, but left on domestic and social issues such as gun control, school vouchers and abortion.
Like the district, the former banker and Marine Corps captain is himself not easily pegged. As a state assemblyman from Palos Verdes from 1994 to 1998, he voted to ban "Saturday Night Specials" and assault rifles. "Assault rifles are good for the military, but not for hunting," he told the chamber audience. In the state legislature he supported school vouchers, but now opposes Proposition 38, the school voucher initiative.
"In the state legislature we enacted bills for smaller class sizes, statewide testing and better teacher training. We need time to let those changes take affect," he said in explaining his switch on the voucher issue.
He supports the strategic defense initiative ("Star Wars"), but bucks his party by being unapologetically pro choice.
Like a banker telling a desperate loan applicant no, Kuykendall shows no reluctance to tell constituents what they don't want to hear, even in a election race that he characterizes as a "dead even squeaker." Democrat Jane Harman, who represented the Palos Verdes-to-Venice district for three terms before making an unsuccessful bid for governor in 1996, is seeking Kuykendall's seat.
In response to Ballona wetlands questions, Kuykendall said, "That's a local land use issue. If the people opposed the development, like you claim, they would have voted out their supervisor and [Los Angeles] city council representatives. I'm not interceding in a local land use decision." He did allow that if someone "of standing" sought federal funds to buy the wedlands at fair market value, he would work with them. Last year he helped the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy obtain $10 million in federal funds to purchase 1,000 acres of Peninsula open space.
Kuykendall's un-political forthrightness, so laudable in principal, can also be frustrating to voters who want answers before the election on questions that his banker mentality demands more information on.
One critical campaign example is the proposed expansion of LAX. Public sentiment is almost unanimously against it. Kuykendall is not ready to take a position
In an interview after the chamber breakfast, Kuykendall said, "I'm not going to pound the table and say under no circumstances will I allow the number of flights at LAX to increase. I'm not taking El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon's side nor Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's." (Gordon supports a plan that would cap LAX passengers at 70 million annually. Riordan's plan calls for 90 million annual passengers. LAX presently handles 64 million passengers a year.)
"I want to make sure the community has the data needed to decided how to keep this area a nice place to live," Kuykendall said.
He recently sent Riordan a letter urging him to extend the public review period for the LAX expansion EIR.
He also recently helped secure federal funding for an Air Space Utilization Study for Southern California.
"After we get the Air Space Study and the LAX expansion EIR, then we can make decisions on where to fly, and where to build surface transportation. We're going to get the answers incrementally. It's not going to be done over night. We're looking at 10 to 15 years," he said.
Like other civic leaders, Kuykendall says a regional solution must be found to meet the demand for increased air travel in Southern California.
He holds the Federal Aviation Administration responsible for much of the controversy surrounding the proposed expansion.
"The FAA has done a lousy job of planning for the future. I hope a new president will can the bunch of them. The whole summer of lousy flying conditions on our national air transport system is because of one big reason. The FAA will not manage. Congress has had to get in the driver's seat and tell the FAA to spend money to upgrade.
"With the technology available, and the size of the new planes, we're years away from the ceiling on passengers at LAX. The constraint isn't the planes. It's the stuff on the ground. We need more mass transit. Local officials need to find ways to move people around."
That may not be what his constituents want to hear as the Labor Day weekend passes and the campaign goes into the home stretch. But it's the position Kuykendall appears prepared to stick with through November because neither the LAX expansion EIR nor the Air Space Utilization Study is likely to be released before election day.
"I won the first poll - the March primary vote. Since then the polls have shown us even," he said of his race against Harman.
In March, Kuykendall received 42 percent of the popular vote or 58,2396 votes. Harman received 40.67 percent, or 56,323. In the three Beach Cities Harman beat Kuykendall by just over 500 votes from among 22,690 votes cast.
Kuykendall said he thinks the Bush\Cheney ticket will help him in November despite the Democrats' slight registration advantage. Registration in the district is 41 percent Democrat, 39 percent Republican and 20 percent other.
"We left 10,000 Republican votes on the table during the Dole and Lundgren elections. Republicans didn't vote because the tickets weren't doing well," he said
One source Kuykendall is looking toward for a boost is Senator John McCain of Arizona. The former presidential candidate appeared at a Kuykendall fundraiser in July, and is scheduled to return to campaign for Kuykendall in October. During the March primary, Kuykendall outpolled both Al Gore and George Bush.
At least three debates between Kuykendall and Harman are planned. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is hosting a debate September 23 at the Armstrong Theater in Torrance. The Torrance Chamber is hosting a debate, tentatively scheduled for October 12 at the Torrance Marriott. And the Daily Breeze is hosting a debate October 25 at a site not yet determined. ER