Family names ring on ballot

A number of Valley races list relatives of prominent politicos.

Published online on Tuesday, May. 27, 2008

Becky Maze may be a first-time candidate, but she's hoping she's on a last-name basis with voters.

Maze is trying to replace her husband, Bill, who holds the 34th Assembly District seat now but must give it up at the end of the year. One of four candidates for the Republican nomination, Becky Maze isn't shy about touting her marital connection to Bill -- she has used her husband's name in campaign materials and even recycled his yard signs: Elect Maze State Assembly.

She is among an uncommonly large crop of candidates on the June 3 ballot who are attempting to follow relatives into elected office.

Familiar names pop up on Valley ballots every so often, but it's unusual to have so many showing up on the same ballot, said longtime political analyst Don Larson.

"I think you run into a name here and there once in a while," said Larson, whose twin brother, Phil, is a sitting Fresno County supervisor. "But this is not a typical thing to have happen."

Beyond Maze, the June 3 ballot includes:

Democrat Fran Florez of Shafter in the 30th Assembly District. She is looking to join her son, state Sen. Dean Florez, in the Legislature.

Debbie Poochigian, wife of former Sen. Chuck Poochigian, seeking a seat on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.

And farther to the north, Bill Berryhill of Ceres is running in the 26th Assembly District; his brother, Tom Berryhill of Modesto, is the Assembly member for the neighboring 25th Assembly District, which includes part of Madera County. Their late father was longtime legislator and former state agriculture secretary Clare Berryhill.

Two candidates with the last name of Perea: Henry R. Perea, who is running unopposed for his second term as a Fresno County supervisor, and his son, Fresno City Council Member Henry T. Perea, who is among 11 candidates running for Fresno mayor.

Politics has been a family affair throughout America's history, from the presidencies of the Adamses (father John, the second president, and son John Quincy, No. 6) to the Harrisons (grandfather William Henry, No. 9, and grandson Benjamin, No. 23) to the Roosevelts (distant cousins Theodore, No. 26, and Franklin Delano, No. 32) and the Bushes (father George H.W., No. 41, and the current incumbent, George W., No. 43).

And in California, the governors Brown -- the late Edmund "Pat" Brown and son Edmund "Jerry" Brown, now state attorney general -- each served two terms.

Having a familiar political name does have its advantages, said Tom Holyoke, an assistant professor of political science at California State University, Fresno.

"Some of the people running for office are getting a tremendous boost just through the relationships they have," Holyoke said. "In elections, name recognition is probably half the battle."

In her campaign materials, Becky Maze pledges to continue "the [Bill] Maze commitment to effective Republican leadership" and "build on the legacy that Bill has established during his terms" in the Assembly.

Maze says she and her husband have been a team for 41 years. Although she doesn't have any political experience, she said she has worked on his campaigns through his six years in the Assembly and 10 years on the Tulare County Board of Supervisors.

"After being in Sacramento with him for six years, I've seen how it works," said Maze, who is running against Connie Conway of Tulare, Bob Smith of Yermo, in San Bernardino County, and Jon Zellhoefer of the Inyo County community of Tecopa.

But those political names also can create problems, Holyoke said, especially if voters feel a candidate's platform or political ambition is being driven by a relative who is no longer in office.