September 25, 1998
By Jordan Lite
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAN FRANCISCO - The race for the obscure but influential office of California's chief financial officer pits an ambitious Democratic incumbent against a Hispanic touted by the state Republican Party as a rising star.
Californians active in Republican politics are pushing hard for Ruben Barrales, trying to make the most of a record Hispanic turnout in the June primary. Latino voters were drawn to the polls by a ballot measure to end bilingual education, which passed by a wide margin although Hispanics voted against it 2-to-1.
``Ruben Barrales is very much a rising star in the Republican Party,'' said Mike Madrid, political director for the California Republican Party. ``He's one of the few elected Latino officials and will be a big bridge between the Republican Party and the Latino community.''
Democrat Kathleen Connell is the favorite in the race, collecting 3.3 million votes in the open primary, compared to 1.8 million for Barrales.
Voters were able to cross party lines for the first time in that contest, and since neither candidate had opposition for their party nomination, it amounted to a preview of the Nov. 3 general election.
And a Field Poll last month showed her ahead of Barrales 46 percent to 24 percent.
The controller sits on a number of obscure but influential fiscal boards and commissions, including the Franchise Tax Board, Board of Equalization and two of the nation's biggest pension funds, the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers' Retirement System.
Tom Kuchel and Alan Cranston used the job as a steppingstone to the U.S. Senate, and Houston Flournoy went on from there to win the Republican nomination for governor in 1974.
Barrales, a son of Mexican immigrants, was elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in 1992 and re-elected with more than 72 percent of the vote in 1996. He was named one of America's most influential Hispanics in 1996 by Hispanic Business Magazine.
Before her election in 1994, Connell was an investment banker and taught graduate business courses at the University of California in Los Angeles and at Berkeley.
Some government officials in both parties have criticized Connell for going after the fiscal practices of several state agencies, including the Lottery, the Department of Health Services and the Department of Corrections.
Republican Gov. Pete Wilson's administration has disputed Connell's claims that her performance audits of state agencies show $1 billion in potential state savings.
But Connell stands by her performance and said she is determined to see passage of a law approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Wilson that would allow the controller to conduct audits of all state agencies.
Barrales said he also would take an activist approach.
``I will make sure that dollars that should be used for public safety (will) be used to put cops on the street,'' he said.
Barrales is one of four Hispanics running for statewide office in November; no Hispanic has held a statewide office in over 120 years.
The others are Democratic state Assemblyman Cruz Bustamante, who is running for lieutenant governor against state Sen. Tim Leslie; Democratic Assemblywoman Diane Martinez, who will face Republican Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush; and Gloria Matta Tuchman, a Mexican-American crusader against bilingual education who is challenging incumbent Delaine Eastin in the nonpartisan race for superintendent of public instruction.
Madrid says a quarter of the 2 million registered Hispanic voters in California identify themselves as Republicans.
``The challenge we face as Republicans is not with our message. It's with our messengers,'' Madrid said. ``We've fallen short in Latino neighborhoods. The answer is finding better messengers.''
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