TERRY B. FRIEDMAN : PAUL E. ZELTNER

Party: Republican.

Age: 61.

Family: Wife Patricia, three grown children.

Residence: Lakewood.

His district: The 54th, which includes Bellflower, Compton, Lakewood, Paramount and a portion of Long Beach. Formerly represented by Democrat Frank Vicencia, who retired.

Background: Zeltner, a native of Philadelphia, served as a Navy seaman during World War II and spent 26 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department before retiring as a captain in 1974. He introduced police stress-training practices for the department’s deputies and led a statewide fight against the display and sales of drug paraphernalia. After studying public administration at USC and California State University, Long Beach, Zeltner served three terms as a Lakewood city councilman, twice acting as mayor.

What Terry Friedman says about Zeltner: “Paul is one of the best people to work with up here, certainly in the Republican Party. He’s a very easygoing, open individual. He doesn’t put on any false airs. . . . We have a pretty different philosophy on most issues, but I observe him . . . to be very concerned and serious. At times he has surprised some people by exercising a degree of independence (from the Republican Party), largely based on his own experience . . . in law enforcement. When he talks, he has something to say.”