Knight makes desert chilly for election opponents

Challenger Lott seeks political, not popularity, contest this fall

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press October 2, 2000

By THOMAS FRANCIS
Valley Press Staff Writer

The 17th Senate District - stretching across desert territory from the Antelope Valley to San Bernardino County and up to Inyo County - is a cold place for Democrats.

When the opponent is state Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight, a Republican, a political conservative and a living legend in the aerospace world, that desert gets even chillier.

It will be tough going for Democrat challenger Rick Lott, because conservatism and aerospace are two things voters in the 17th Senate District seem to prize.

"People identify me with the aerospace industry through my background as a test pilot and as a conservative through my having carried bills forward that checked the growth of big government," Knight said.

Lott, a Boeing engineer who lives in Santa Clarita, has an aerospace background, too, but he knows that he's not the aerospace figure that Knight is.

Still, Lott is determined to make this campaign more a political contest than a popularity contest.

"I really admire Sen. Knight myself for his test pilot days, but it really has no impact on his job as a senator," Lott said.

In making a run at Knight in the Nov. 7 general election, Lott will draw a line between Knight the pilot and Knight the senator. The latter, he believes, has been neutralized by hostility to gay rights.

"I think Sen. Knight has been marginally effective as a legislator," Lott said. "I'm seeing instances where he's handicapping himself with his anti-gay campaign.

"One case is the veterans home bill, which was blocked because the chair of the (Assembly) Appropriations Committee was Carole Migden, who happens to be an open lesbian."

Knight, of course, authored the ballot initiative that was Proposition 22, which barred any chance that gay partnerships could be legally recognized as marriages in California. Though the measure passed, Knight's efforts have earned him enemies among such prominent gay legislators as Migden and Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl.

At home, Prop. 22 was even more popular than in the rest of the state, gaining "Yes" votes of 80% in Lancaster, for instance. So while it may have damaged his popularity in Sacramento, it only added to his favor in the district.

In Santa Clarita's portion of the district, Lott has made noise with charges that Knight has forgotten about the people and not represented their issues in the legislature.

"That's his opinion, but I don't believe that's correct," answers Knight. "I believe I've represented Santa Clarita as well as can be done."

For his part, Knight looks to be preparing for a low-key campaign. His only campaign expenses so far are bumper stickers and leaflets.

As for the message, Knight will continue on his cause for limited government.

"I don't think government is there to solve all your problems," he said. "It's not there to take care of you. It should be the individual's responsibility to take care of himself."

If that is the language of a conservative, then Lott's talk has a liberal ring, especially when he broaches education, one of his favorite issues.

"I think people just have to face the fact that it's going to take more money to really improve our schools," he said. "Nobody wants to pay more taxes but until we get that money back that was lost since Prop. 13 the system won't get much better."

Lott opposes Prop. 38, a measure to provide school vouchers to parents wishing to send children to private school, because he believes it will lead to an abandoning of the public school system.

He favors Prop. 39, which would make it easier to pass school bond measures in local areas and likely lead to a greater flow of money to the schools, though at the expense of higher property taxes.

On education issues, Knight is in polar opposition. If he had his way the state would completely scrap the California Department of Education. To him, it is applying a one-size-fits-all standard to school districts that have fundamental differences.

"I'd like to get rid of the state Department of Education and let our local community and school board educate our children," Knight said.

"Each district is different. Sacramento and the federal government tend to broad-brush education policies; they cover a problem across the board, but what's good for one district isn't good for everybody."

Lott is making education and campaign finance the two focal points of his campaign. With campaign finance, Lott hopes to draw a stark contrast between himself and Knight.

"In this race, you've got the best and the worst styles of campaign finance," Lott said. "Sen. Knight accepts contributions from corporations like tobacco, alcohol, mining and casinos and I only take contributions from individuals."

There will be no special interest money in Lott's campaign, but that also means there will be little money and, therefore, little means to spread his message.

"I find that the best way to work against that is to just go out and meet people and let them judge me as a candidate," he said.

Knight's own opinion on campaign finance is that a candidate need only be required to state his contributors, not limit them.

"I think an individual should be able to take any amount of money as long as there is full disclosure," Knight said.

In the March 7 primary election, Knight got 56,136 votes, or 66.69% of the ballots cast. Lott gathered 24,441 votes, or 29.04% of the 84,173 ballots cast.

Speaking of his chances in the general election, Lott is very cautious in predicting victory.

"I could put together a scenario where that could be possible but I wouldn't put it as probable," he said.