State Assembly Candidate Peters Seeks Local Republican Support

More than 100 local Republicans paid $99 each to attend a fundraiser held last Thursday evening for State Assembly candidate Heather Peters, who is hoping to replace Democrat incumbent Fran Pavley in November’s election. Peters, a professional mediator who lives in Santa Monica with her husband Jeff Bonhach, first came to public attention when she ran for governor in the recall election. ‘A Terminator and a Mediator will make a great team to get California back on the right track!’ reads her campaign flyer, which also takes a jibe at Pavley. ‘The incumbent sat on the budget committee that created our fiscal crisis and wants you to pay a county income tax to bail us out!’ Neighbors who came to meet Peters include Stephanie and Brad Ebner (‘We wanted to hear what she had to say’), and local real estate developer Greg Schem, who helped raise funds for Bill Simon’s gubernatorial campaign (‘I came to see how I might help out’). ‘People ask, ‘Why are you running? ” Peters, a self-described ‘Schwarzenegger Republican,’ told the crowd. ‘I tell them because now is the time, now is a new day in California. I just want to put up my hand and say, ‘Stop!’ Stop spending more money than we have, stop passing laws we don’t need and stop believing that government needs to be our parents.’ Peters then criticized her opponent’s record, saying Pavley ‘voted to triple the car tax,’ ‘voted to give illegal immigrants driver’s licenses without background checks,’ and ‘she wants health care for everyone,’ which Peters said she doesn’t think the government can afford. Asked how much she has raised for her campaign thus far, Peters said ‘almost $10,000 just tonight,’ referring to the cocktail party held at the Huntington Palisades home of Kenneth Jonsson in the Huntington Palisades, hosted by the Palisades Republican Club. ‘Heather will need much more than that to get elected,’ offered Bill Simon, the former gubernatorial candidate who is currently running for state treasurer. He has thrown his support behind Peters, whom he described as ‘intelligent,’ ‘hard-working,’ and ‘successful, just the kind of new leadership we need in Sacramento. I told her the hardest part of the campaign is right now, at the beginning. It was for me,’ Simon said. ‘I remember my wife Cindy saying she wasn’t sure I’d carry the neighborhood,’ a comment eliciting many laughs. ‘But as I look around here tonight I know Heather will carry our neighborhood. And if we can raise enough money we can win.’