ELECTIONS / 38th ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Boland’s Fund-Raising May Prove Her Edge : Politics: Three others running in the primary say the weak economy and dissatisfaction with incumbents make her ‘beatable.’

Republican Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland would seem to have a relatively painless path to reelection this fall.

She is running unopposed in the June primary and the 38th District, which includes the northwest San Fernando Valley and the Ventura County cities of Simi Valley and Fillmore, is 49% registered Republican and 40% Democrat.

She also has an enormous lead in fund raising over her challengers.

But the two Democrats running in the primary and the unopposed Libertarian candidate think that Boland is beatable. Democratic challengers Howard Cohen and James Blatt said the state’s sluggish economy and a general dissatisfaction with incumbents among voters give them a chance to beat Boland in November’s general election.

“I am going up against the status quo as a conservative Democrat,” said Blatt, a criminal attorney and Northridge resident. Blatt said he will win voters over because he is a conservative in favor of helping business, favors the death penalty and supports keeping abortion legal.

Blatt, 43, said Boland is not an effective legislator and cites a published survey of Sacramento legislators, reporters, aides and lobbyists who ranked Boland in the bottom 10 among the state’s 80 lawmakers in intelligence and overall effectiveness.

Boland said the survey, published this month in the California Journal, is biased against Republicans because the bulk of lawmakers in Sacramento are Democrats. “I don’t think anyone takes that seriously,” she said of the survey.

Cohen, who does not have a job but is campaigning full time, said of Boland: “She is vulnerable to the right candidate.”

Cohen, 29, said he supports a tax cut for middle-income residents and tax increases for the top 1% of the state’s wage earners. He supports both the death penalty and legal abortions. He lives with his parents in North Hills.

Devin Cutler, 25, is the Libertarian candidate and is unopposed in the June primary. He works in the finance department of an entertainment firm. “Obviously, no one is happy with the way things are being done,” he said.

Cutler, like those in his party, favors cutting taxes and dramatically reducing government services.

Boland (R-Granada Hills) said she will base her campaign on efforts to reform the state workers’ compensation program, as well as several anti-crime bills she has introduced. She was elected in November, 1990, with the retirement of former Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette. La Follette has since decided to run in the 19th District state Senate race.

Boland raised about $42,000 in cash and another $6,000 in goods and services between January and March 17 of this year, according to campaign finance reports. Blatt raised about $8,000 and Cohen about $3,200 during the same period. Cutler has raised less than $1,000.

Boland collected all but about $3,000 in individual contributions over $100 from business and business interest groups during the reporting period. Business interests outside the district contributed about $25,000 of the total.

Cohen said Blatt cannot beat Boland in the conservative district because of his high-profile career, which in the past two years has included defending clients such as a gang member accused of a drive-by slaying, a man accused of killing his wife and burying her in the back yard, and a USC football player accused of sexual assault.

In the sharpest one-liner of the campaign so far, Cohen said of his opponent: “Here’s a man who represents accused murderers, drug dealers, gang members and wife beaters. Do you want him to represent you?”

But Blatt says that sort of campaign attack will not serve Cohen.

“We are putting more people than ever in prison, but we are not stopping crime,” Blatt said. “Rather than focus on more prisons, we need to balance it out with providing more opportunities through the economy and education.”

Blatt said not all his clients are accused of crimes. He also represented an African-American man who was trying to become the first black member of the Van Nuys Elks Lodge, he said.

Since her 1990 election, Boland has proposed giving the death penalty to drug dealers whose dope ends up killing a minor and expanding a program to arraign suspects in jails instead of courtrooms.

A constituent’s phone call just days after Boland’s election prompted her most passionate campaign, which is a proposal to exempt sex crimes against children from California’s statute of limitations. The bill, AB 638, which is scheduled for committee hearings next month, is one of several that Boland said shows she is an effective lawmaker.

“I’m married to this bill,” Boland said. “I’ve spoken to hundreds of victims, listened to them, sat with them.”

Boland’s proposal would allow prosecutors to introduce evidence--such as old hospital records or witnesses--years after the alleged offense.

Boland, a former real estate business owner and Chamber of Commerce stalwart, said she blames excessive regulation by state agencies, as well as high premiums to employers for workers’ compensation insurance and high taxes, for the state’s current economic slump.

Her proposal to reform the state workers’ compensation system is one of more than 50 under discussion in Sacramento. The reform measures are directed at reducing fraud, which critics say is causing high employer costs while benefits remain among the nation’s lowest.

Boland, who supports the death penalty, said she is opposed to abortion, calling it a “non-issue. I only agree in cases of rape, incest” or if the health of the mother is threatened by pregnancy.

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