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SY: So how would you, though, describe the, kind of the political climate when you were running for state assembly at the time? Did you feel that there was, was it very pro-Democratic, was it...

GN: Well, because Debra had served six years in that seat Democrats at least felt like it's a Democratic seat, even though only had a three percent advantage in the registration. And so Republicans felt that it was their seat to be taken, or to take. And so Bill Eggers, who was from a think tank, the Heritage Foundation, had a lot of ideas about how things should be. He ran. And one of the things that -- well, this is the other things I had done in Torrance I forgot to mention to you, and that is, and it was a result of my being involved with Southern California Association of Government, and you have to seek that position because certain, you'll be representing a certain number of cities. And anyway, I was able to get that position and at that, one of the meetings, Governor Rosen had created -- we had a recession going on -- created this California competitiveness, and it was made up of labor, businesspeople, and academicians and they came up with a recommendation how to make California more competitive. And in there they talked about the high tech and light manufacturing industry should be focused on, because they employ the higher paid workers, more skilled workers, and they're the one who have the disposable income. And they, in turn, will be spending the money and help the economy move. So I brought that idea at the city council level, and one of the things that I recommended was to create the Office of Economic Development. And so the charge for the Office of Economic Development is have a place where businesses come to, and what this office did was they had about five different ways of providing financial assistance for businesses that want to locate in Torrance that's high tech or light manufacturing, or even existing businesses in Torrance that want to expand or relocate. There'll be this additional funding resource that will be available. And here's a, and anyway, as a result of this -- this happened in 1992, we're now into 1998 -- there were several companies that had relocated, left L.A. city to come to Torrance for that reason. And then Torrance at that time was the fourth largest city in L.A. County, but it had the second highest sales tax revenue in L.A. County, after the city of L.A.

SY: That's really --

GN: And so here's a real live thing that I initiated, and it's pro-business. So for Bill Eggers, who's at the think tank talkin' about what we should be doing, well, here's a living example of something that's already been done, that a Democrat had done, and so in my election against him I got sixty percent of the votes.

SY: I see. And was the, the governor at the time was no longer Pete Wilson. It was, was Ian Vergosa the governor at that time?

GN: No. Governor Davis won the governorship in 1998, same time I was running for state assembly.

SY: So Davis was the governor, so it was a Democratic governor and so you had the advantage of attracting --

GN: But the incumbent was Rosen at that time, 'cause it wasn't until November election that Davis took this, well, I actually, it wasn't until January that he was able to take the seat, I think, 'cause that's when the swearing in ceremony took place for the governor.

SY: So in this open primary election, did you, what percentage of the Republican versus Democratic vote did you get?

GN: Well, the way you would kind of look at it is... and there were like, at that time, seventeen percent decline to state, so I probably got a lot of the decline to state to support me as well that made up the difference. I think if you, if, I don't remember the exact percentage, but when you say that there were, the Democrat has a three percent advantage in the registration and then when I get sixty percent of the votes, then there has to be a mixture of both Republicans and the independents that supported me. Now, this is not a scientific sample, but I know this one doctor that was involved with the L.A. County Medical Association that was involved with the endorsement, and he's someone that I had talked to subsequent to the election and he turns out to be, not a Republican, but a decline to state. And if he's a sample of what a lot of the decline to state are, people are in the coastal area, tends to be pro-environmental, tends to be pro-choice, but they are fiscally conservative and they can't, and because the Republican party has shifted so far to the right that they didn't feel like they fit in with the Republican party, but nor did they feel like they fit in with the Democrats because their concept of the Democrats is tax and spend, and they're fiscally conservative. But I think philosophically they felt comfortable with me and so I got their support.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.