BOXER WILL VISIT EVENT IN SAND CANYON; FUND-RAISER TO AID RE-ELECTION.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., will attend an afternoon fund-raiser today to rally local support in a re-election battle against her Republican opponent, state Treasurer Matt Fong.

Boxer, making a bid for a second six-year term on Capitol Hill, will stop at the Sand Canyon home of Larry and Francesca Loftis for the $100- to $1,000-per-person gathering. Although the Santa Clarita Valley has a longstanding reputation as Republican turf, local Democrats contend that the senator and her party have plenty of support here.

``We wanted to help her get re-elected. She's in a tough race,'' Francesca Loftis said. They expect the fund-raiser to draw more than 100 guests.

Organizing the event is the Democratic Club of the Santa Clarita Valley.

Club President Roberta Gillis said local Democrats appreciate Boxer's record on environmental issues and see her as an ally in two causes affecting the Santa Clarita Valley - the now-defunct proposal to locate a landfill in Elsmere Canyon and the preservation of the Santa Clara River.

Gillis credited Boxer with spearheading a bill that prohibited situating a dump in the canyon. ``Without Barbara Boxer, that bill never would have (become law), because it had to pass the Senate,'' Gillis said.

She also said the loss of open space is a concern to environmentalists in the Democratic ranks. ``The overdevelopment (is) cementing the valley,'' Gillis said. ``We're going to be living in an asphalt jungle.''

Rick Lott, a Canyon Country resident active in another Santa Clarita Valley group, the Democratic Alliance for Action, will attend the event because he supports Boxer's stance on several national issues. ``I just think she's been doing a bang-up job all along,'' he said.

``I'm proud of her environmental record,'' added Lott, who works for an El Segundo aerospace company that builds communication satellites. ``She presented legislation in the Senate that was similar to what (Rep. Howard ``Buck'') McKeon did in the House to prevent the federal land from becoming a landfill,'' he said.

Given the current scandal in Washington, D.C., and the swirling talk that President Clinton could be forced to leave office, Lott said he'd like to pass on another request to Boxer.

``I would probably ask her to support the president. It's my personal opinion that we're not in a constitutional crisis here, and that's (the only time) when impeachment should be considered,'' Lott added.

Francesca Loftis, meanwhile, said she and her husband, both of whom work in the insurance industry, offered to host the fund-raiser because they had met Boxer on previous occasions.

``We're very staunch Democrats. We basically believe that we're the party of compassion,'' she said.

``We're both very strong environmentalists. In this valley, Barbara Boxer was instrumental in stopping Elsmere Canyon. I still think that somehow, some way, they'll figure out how to get a dump there in Elsmere,'' she said.

Like the others, Loftis said she and her husband are concerned about the recent failure to get the river included on a list of federally protected waterways.

Gillis said Boxer will reintroduce the river issue in the next Congress.

``We're still very worried about the Santa Clara River and the preservation of that. We want to continue to make people realize how important that is to us and to Ventura County,'' Loftis added. ``Our water supply is so dependent on that river. We can't afford to have it polluted, or to have it hurt in any way,'' she said.

Gillis focused on the significance of ``a high-ranking Democrat coming to this valley'' in search of votes. The Democratic club, she said, intends to use phone banks and volunteers to get out the vote on Nov. 3 to narrow the gap between parties on Election Day.

Democrats must combat not just Republicans but voter apathy that sweeps across party lines, Gillis said. ``Overall, Americans take everything for granted. They have never lived under a system other than democracy, and they think that no matter who wins (the election), nothing is going to change,'' she said.

``They don't really care that much who is in power, as long as their personal lives are in order,'' Gillis added.