ELECTIONS ’88 ORANGE COUNTY : Van de Kamp Touts Crime Stances in Endorsing Green and Thierbach

Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, in a campaign swing through Orange County on Monday, endorsed local Democrats running in two key state legislative races.

In separate appearances, Van de Kamp, one of the state’s leading Democrats, backed Christian F. Thierbach in the 72nd Assembly District and incumbent Cecil N. Green in the 33rd state Senate District. Touting their records on crime, Van de Kamp said the election of Thierbach and Green is necessary to ensure that residents of the two districts have a “strong voice for law enforcement.”

Van de Kamp’s endorsements, not altogether unexpected, underscored the importance that state Democrats have placed on winning the two races, which have been targeted by both parties because they are considered tossups.

Van de Kamp campaigned for Green in the spring of 1987 when the former Norwalk city councilman won the 33rd District seat in a special election against Assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk). Despite Green’s upset victory, Democrats acknowledge that he is anything but certain to retain the district, which spills across southeast Los Angeles County into northwest Orange County.

The backdrop for Van de Kamp’s endorsement of Green was a graffiti-covered barricade at the end of a Buena Park street. Pointing to the spray-painted gang markings, Van de Kamp said: “Not even this historic, charming community is immune to the spread of street gangs.”

Green, who also received the backing of nearly half a dozen local and state law enforcement groups, said he would push for state funding of local police programs to decipher gang graffiti. “You can tell an awful lot from those symbols,” said Green, who is running against Republican Don Knabe, a former two-term Cerritos councilman. “But if you can’t read them or understand them, it doesn’t make any difference.”

Earlier Monday in Santa Ana, Van de Kamp praised Thierbach’s background as a Riverside County prosecutor. Thierbach, locked in a tight battle with Garden Grove Planning Commissioner Curt Pringle, has received endorsements from police unions in three district cities: Anaheim, Santa Ana and Westminster.