Killea Is Best Bet for 39th District Seat

When Roman Catholic Bishop Leo T. Maher banned Assemblywoman Lucy Killea from receiving Communion until she recants her pro-choice views, he virtually assured that abortion would be the overriding issue in the campaign for the vacant 39th Senate District seat.

After days of national publicity, few voters could be unaware that Killea supports a woman’s right to decide whether to have an abortion, and that her opponent, Assemblywoman Carol Bentley, believes that abortion should be legal only in cases of rape, incest or when a woman’s life is endangered.

While it’s unfortunate that Maher’s heavy-handed action so distorted the race, taking attention off other issues, this election is an unusually important one on the abortion rights question. The Senate is evenly divided on abortion and Killea could provide the vote to give pro-choice advocates a majority. There is already a pro-choice majority in the Assembly.

Killea’s stand on abortion is one of the reasons we believe that she is the better candidate for the Senate. Her courage when the church imposed a stiff spiritual fine for her convictions is another reason.

But we also think Killea’s positions on other issues better serve San Diego and the state. For instance, she supported the ban on military assault weapons; Bentley did not.

Killea also has much more legislative experience than Bentley. Killea, a Democrat, has been in the Assembly for seven years. She also served four years on the San Diego City Council. Bentley has been in the Assembly less than a year. Before that, the freshman Republican was an aide to former state Sens. Jack Schrade and Jim Ellis, who represented the heavily Republican 39th District, which includes El Cajon, La Mesa, Santee, Ramona, Mission Gorge and parts of Mission Valley, Point Loma and Coronado.

While Bentley can hardly be blamed for seizing the opportunity provided by Sen. Larry Stirling’s resignation, it’s hard to accept her campaign rhetoric about being the candidate with real experience.

This difference in the two candidates’ experience showed up in last year’s session. The Legislature passed 20 of the 46 measures Killea introduced, while only 11 of Bentley’s 48 measures passed.

With experience, Bentley may prove to be an equally competent legislator. But Lucy Killea’s experience better qualifies her for this Senate seat.