STATE ELECTIONS / LEGISLATURE : GOP Incumbents Try to Fend Off Feisty Challenges

Amid the predictability of Republican conquests in Orange County’s state legislative races are a few battles where feisty Democratic underdogs are at least making life interesting for the GOP incumbents.

Most notable are the 34th Senate and 68th Assembly District races. Each features a longtime City Council member--Buena Park’s Donna L. Chessen and Anaheim’s Irv Pickler, respectively--challenging well-financed Republicans, state Sen. Rob Hurtt and Assemblyman Curt Pringle.

But the indisputable marquee race in Orange County is the knock-down, drag-out contest in the 69th Assembly District. As Democrats and Republicans wage war for control of the Assembly, the brawling 69th has become one of the most closely watched legislative races in the state this year.

The stage was set last spring when Democrat Tom Umberg announced he was vacating the seat to run for attorney general.

Now voters in the heavily Latino, blue-collar district encompassing Santa Ana and parts of Anaheim and Garden Grove are watching two little-known candidates slug it out in a battle that could be a microcosm for politics this year nationwide: more vitriol than virtue.

Charges of fraud, of theft, of misrepresentation seem to ring out from both camps almost daily. But aides of Republican Jim Morrissey and Democrat Mike Metzler agree that no Assembly race is being watched more closely.

“This is probably the No. 1 targeted seat among the Democrats and the Republicans in the whole state Assembly delegation,” said Mark Thompson, a political consultant working for the Morrissey campaign.

The stakes are huge for both parties. Democrats want desperately to keep a toehold in Orange County, and Umberg’s old district is the only state or federal office they possess in the GOP bastion. Republicans see the race as a way not only to secure another seat in Sacramento for their side, but to give the party 100% control of the county.

Morrissey, a 64-year-old manufacturer from Anaheim who is anti-abortion and a proponent of Proposition 187, which would bar education and most social service benefits for illegal immigrants, was running well in early polls. His campaign attributes it to Morrissey’s folksy style and diligence at walking precincts to meet the voters.

“I’ve already walked 72 of the 123 precincts in the district by myself,” Morrissey said. “This is a working-class district and I’m a tool and die maker by trade and people can relate to that. I’m one of the few people running for office that has signed both sides of a paycheck, front and back.”

Metzler’s camp claims the Republicans gained early momentum by not only confusing the voters, but by lying to them. Angered that Morrissey was misrepresenting Metzler’s stand supporting the “three strikes” anti-crime law, Metzler was forced to call a press conference recently to publicize his position.

“Morrissey’s people seem to be going at our strengths, our strong stands against crime and for business, and trying to convince people they don’t exist,” said Rich Milner, a Metzler aide. “It’s an interesting approach, but it’s clearly very fraudulent.”

Metzler, 46, the president of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce for the past 11 years, is an abortion rights advocate and an opponent of Proposition 187. But, after a bitter primary against two Latino challengers, he has little time left to get out and take advantage of the Democratic majority in the district, of his endorsement from Umberg and his many backers among local police organizations.

“Mike not only has the support of law enforcement and supports tough crime prevention but has done a lot in the community to back it up . . . things such as anti-gang programs and scholarship programs,” Milner said. “We need to get out and make it clear who is on whose side.”

Also on the ballot is Libertarian George Reis, a police photographer from Santa Ana.

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In the 34th Senate District, Chessen has demonstrated moxie just by taking on Hurtt, a wealthy manufacturer who has cut a wide swath in Sacramento with his conservative politics and willingness to finance his brand of candidates and causes.

Senate Democratic leaders, who make no secret of their dislike for Hurtt, have talked openly of funneling campaign money to Chessen in an effort to neutralize the Republican’s spending or possibly even defeat him.

To that end, Chessen has been busy trying to portray Hurtt as a lawmaker more adept at funding campaigns and playing politics than taking care of the district, which sprawls across parts of Garden Grove, Buena Park, Santa Ana and Anaheim. She also criticizes him for missing key committee votes, supporting last year’s unsuccessful school voucher initiative and his staunch opposition to abortion.

“He’s trying to be a kingmaker,” said Chessen, a Buena Park councilwoman for the past nine years. “Where the rubber meets the road, he hasn’t been there for the district.”

Hurtt scoffs at such assessments. He contends Chessen is “stretching it a bit” on his missed votes and said he’s only doing his job as the Senate Elections Committee chairman by traveling the state to help elect fellow Republicans.

He won’t be surprised if abortion rights supporters and teachers attack him in the closing days of the campaign due to his stances on vouchers and abortion. “That doesn’t go far,” he said. “This is a working person’s district. By far and away all my surveys show jobs is the biggest issue. So that’s why we’re saying, ‘Hey, I’m the job guy.’ ”

Rounding out the contest is Libertarian Thomas E. Reimer of Orange.

The race between Pringle and Pickler in the 68th Assembly District touches on many of the same themes.

Pringle, who has quickly risen to the No. 2 GOP post in the Assembly, has solid backing both logistically and financially from his party colleagues. He also is much more conservative than Pickler, a Boston native who contends Pringle is too ideologically rigid to accomplish much in Sacramento.

Pickler is making much of Pringle’s acceptance--along with nearly all other state lawmakers--of a recent wage increase approved by an independent salary commission. He says he would give the money instead to charity. He also criticizes Pringle for votes against restricting assault weapons.

In running a mostly upbeat campaign in a district that includes parts of Garden Grove, Westminster, Anaheim and Buena Park, Pringle has underlined his support for the “three-strikes” measure and Proposition 187, as well as his work to improve the business climate and economy.

“I think I’m pretty much in sync with the people in this district,” Pringle said. “But I don’t take any race for granted.”

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In the 38th Senate District, which stretches from South County down through northern San Diego County, Republican William A. (Bill) Craven of Oceanside is an overwhelming favorite to win his fifth straight--and his last--four-year term.

Craven, a former San Diego County supervisor who has spent more than 30 years in public life, is best known for helping establish Cal State San Marcos in the district and for his work on the railroad corridor between Los Angeles and San Diego.

His Democratic opponent, Thomas Berry of Laguna Hills, said he has been winning over Republican voters with such issues as his proposal to make the San Onofre nuclear plant a water desalination facility. “I don’t seek to replace a Republican as much as I’m replacing an incumbent who has lost touch with the voters,” Berry said.

Libertarian candidate August Anderson of Encinitas and Peace and Freedom Party candidate Mary Ann Nikl of Carlsbad round out the race.

The other race this November for a vacant seat is in the 70th Assembly District, which is heavily Republican and includes Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Irvine and parts of Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest and Leisure World.

Marilyn C. Brewer, a former aide to Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, emerged the winner in June in the Republican primary and remains the heavy favorite to take over the seat Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) is vacating to run for the state Senate.

Her opponent is Democrat Jim Toledano of Costa Mesa, an attorney and former University of California regent. Toledano, 50, is a different kind of Democrat who, as a young Republican, worked on former Sen. Barry Goldwater’s national presidential campaign. Now he’s hoping to pull off an upset with the help of publicity on his lawsuit against the plan to turn Newport Coast Drive into a toll road.

In the 71st Assembly District, the most Republican seat in the state, Democrat Jeanne Costales faces long odds. Even though Assemblyman Mickey Conroy may have been sued by a former employee and reprimanded by the Rules Committee in August for sexual harassment, the Republican lawmaker enjoys such a huge voter registration advantage that he has hardly had to campaign.

Costales still believes she can win and has been walking precincts with the help of a campaign staff that features more Republicans than Democrats. A former school board member in her native Ohio, Costales contends she would bring to the post integrity that Conroy lacks.

Conroy, however, made a name for himself throughout the country this year when he sponsored a bill calling for paddling of juvenile graffiti vandals. The harassment charges will put to test his personal popularity in the district, which includes Tustin, Orange, Villa Park and Lake Forest. Conroy’s chief of staff, Pete Conaty, argues that “the voters do not believe these charges, and this election will prove it.”

The Democratic underdog in the 72nd Assembly District has no illusions about his chances for victory. Allan L. Dollison, a third-year law student and a first lieutenant in the California National Guard, said he is running for the seat simply because no other Democrat would take on incumbent Republican Ross Johnson.

Dollison’s prime issue: He would save the voters $100,000. That’s the cost of a special election that would be needed if Johnson wins the special election early next year to replace state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach).

Also on the ballot in the district, which includes Fullerton, Yorba Linda and Placentia, is Libertarian Geoffrey Braun of Placentia.

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In the 67th Assembly District, which covers Huntington Beach and several surrounding cities, 10-year Republican incumbent Doris Allen is expected to have few problems.

The real question in this race remains whether Allen plans to abandon the post and run against Johnson and Ferguson for Bergeson’s Senate seat. She has admitted to strongly considering the possibility.

Democratic candidate Jonathan Woolfe-Willis says he is “realistic” about his chances of defeating Allen, in view of the 51% to 35% registration advantage for the Republicans.

“I have a shot at it, although I think it would be fair to say it’s a long shot,” said Woolfe-Willis, a homeowners association attorney who is also treasurer of the Democratic Foundation of Orange County. Like Dollison in the 72nd district race, he is making an issue of Allen’s plans to possibly abandon the seat.

The race in the 73rd Assembly District, which includes much of South County, is a rematch of the 1992 contest, when Republican Bill Morrow of Oceanside walloped Democrat Lee Walker of Laguna Niguel by 21,000 votes.

The only real difference this November is that Morrow, a stalwart conservative, is an incumbent. Walker, a longtime English professor at Saddleback College, said he offers voters a choice.

Also running are Libertarian B. Wade Hostler of Oceanside and Carlsbad’s Tonatiuh Rodriguez-Nikl, the Peace & Freedom candidate.