Off-and-On Again Republican Ard Has State GOP Backing

The Rev. Robert Ard, an arm-waving, Bible-quoting black community activist, may not be a typical Republican legislative candidate.

But he is off and running in an admittedly uphill struggle to unseat veteran Democratic Assemblyman Peter Chacon in the 79th District. And, the well-known 48-year-old minister says he’ll match his Republican credentials with anyone--Ronald Reagan included.

Never mind his involvement two years ago with Jesse Jackson’s unsuccessful presidential campaign. Never mind the “Tom Bradley for Governor” button displayed in his office. Never mind that photographs of him and Democratic House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill of Massachusetts are hung high above a picture with California Republican Sen. Pete Wilson.

Ard, a natural and articulate public speaker, preaches the virtues of less government, free enterprise and the work ethic with the same fervor that he speaks of Christian brotherhood.

“Those are Republican principles,” says Ard, who first registered in “the party of Lincoln” in 1964 to campaign for former vice president Nelson Rockefeller in one of “Rocky’s” many unsuccessful attempts to win the GOP presidential nomination.

“I think when you foster programs, but you do not foster responsibility, . . . that’s unforgiveable. . . . I don’t want to have anything to do with that, and I associate that mainly with the Democratic party,” he added.

Republican leaders, both here and in Sacramento, say they are comfortable with their candidate’s political philosophy and history--although he was registered as a Democrat when he campaigned for Jackson in 1984.

“If there is a Republican who can win that race, Bob Ard will be it,” said Assemblyman John Lewis (R-Orange), the Assembly GOP Caucus’ elections chairman.

“No doubt Bob Ard is not as right wing as I am,” added Lewis, who is in charge of the GOP’s statewide effort to increase its numbers in the Assembly. “But then, a Republican as right wing as I am is not going to win in the 79th Assembly District. Then again, Bob Ard isn’t going to win any races in my district either.”

Republican strategists see Ard as their best chance ever to win in the heavily Democratic 79th Assembly District, where Chacon has won comfortably eight times, starting in 1970. The district stretches from downtown to the northern border of National City on the mainland side of San Diego Bay, and eastward to Lemon Grove and Spring Valley.

GOP leaders in Sacramento admit they hand-picked Ard to challenge Chacon, paid his filing fee and discouraged others who toyed with the idea of making a run in the legislative race.

Strategists and elected officials in both major parties say the race between the two minority candidates--Chacon, a Hispanic, and Ard, a black--could prove to be one of the most hotly contested ones in San Diego County during 1986.

Lewis said final decisions have not been made on which San Diego County legislative districts the GOP will “target”--concentrating the party’s money and campaign resources.

But despite heavy Democratic registration, Ard’s race against Chacon is among the “potential targets,” along with the challenge to Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego) and--depending on who wins the Republican primary--the challenge to Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista), Lewis said.

“We think there is an outside chance we can pick up three seats in San Diego County,” Lewis said. “We have a good chance of picking up two, and I’d say we have a better than even chance that we’ll pick up at least one.”

Democrats, conversely, predict they will hold onto all three seats. And, while strategists in Sacramento have not identified any potential targets in San Diego County, local Democrats say they think they have a decent chance at winning seats held by Assemblymen Bill Bradley of San Marcos and Larry Stirling of San Diego.

Both Chacon and Ard are running unopposed for their respective June primaries. But Ard has already set up a campaign organization and is making several public appearances most days.

Chacon said he is taking the challenge seriously but feels “pretty confident of victory.”

“Obviously, I am going to run on my record. And, I have a very good record in the areas of housing and education,” the eight-term lawmaker said. “Democrats in the 79th are very loyal.”

In seven previous re-election bids, Chacon has won by comfortable margins, ranging from 15,000 to 29,000 votes. On paper, this race should not be much different.

Despite a major Republican registration drive, end-of-the-year registration totals gave Democrats a 38,000-voter edge in Chacon’s district, with 58.7% of the registered voters compared to 28.6% for the Republicans.

But County Supervisor Brian Bilbray and U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, both Republicans who represent districts that overlap Chacon’s, have won election upsets in recent years by winning favor with Democratic voters.

Republican strategists say Ard, a high-profile community leader who has earned the respect of all segments, may well be able to overcome that Democratic registration edge too.

“We think we have a reasonable expectation of a sizable black crossover,” Lewis said. “He’s really got a presence about him.”

Blacks accouont for about 20% of the district’s voters, while Hispanics make up about 22%. Two of the seven candidates who have tried unsuccessfully to unseat Chacon during the past 14 years have been black. But none have been as well known as is Ard.

“A lot of people tried to get me to run against Chacon years ago when I was still on the (city) council,” said San Diego County Supervisor Leon Williams.

But Williams said he rejected the overtures, viewing them as obvious and inappropriate attempts to split black and Hispanic voters.

“I think that is divisive,” Williams said.

Ard and his supporters make it no secret that they are counting on winning a bloc of black voters, who might normally vote Democratic, to push his candidacy over the top. Already, Ard’s entry into the political arena has garnered excitement in the community.

“I’m very glad to see Bob running, because I think it is bad for anybody to stay in office too long without a serious challenge,” said the Rev. George Walker Smith, president of the Catfish Club, a mostly black weekly political forum. “ . . . Chacon needs to be challenged.”

“With financial support, he’ll (Ard) run a good race,” said Democratic Central Committee member Adolphus Reed, who declined to say how he might vote in an Ard-Chacon contest. “He’s well known and he’s a humanitarian. . . . He might even win.”

But Sonja Reid, former county chapter president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said it “remains to be seen” whether Ard can appeal to Republican conservatives and civil rights activists at the same time. Chacon, in the past, has had good support among black voters, she noted.

“I’ll reserve my opinion” on the race, she added.

While Republican leaders think Ard’s candidacy might bring more blacks into their party, Ard says his main interest is winning their votes; not changing their registration.

“I suspect we will see a lot of Democrats voting for me,” Ard said. But “they can do that without changing their party affiliation.”

Still, Ard said 21 of the required 40 registered voters who signed his nomination papers for the Republican primary were people who changed party registration to be among his electors.

Although it is early, Democrats say they see no signs that black voters will desert Chacon to support Ard. Tom Lavaut, county Democratic chairman, said he knows of no black party activist who so far has endorsed Ard.

“I really don’t see Chacon having any trouble,” Lavaut said.

A bigger problem, say Democrats, may be Chacon’s announcement late last year that he was not going to seek re-election. Chacon said it was “just a passing fancy” that should have no bearing on the election.

He admits, however, that his thoughts of retiring obviously “encouraged people to consider running . . . who never thought of it before.”

“Shortly after that, I made it clear that I would be a candidate and I would continue to be a candidate as long as the district supports me,” Chacon said.

Ard says the indecision shows that Chacon, 60, is burned out and should be replaced.

“He’s tired and he wants to retire,” Ard said earlier this month, winning applause and laughter from a group of gay Republicans in Hillcrest. “I’m trying to help him retire.”

“My opponent has been in this district for 16 years. And I think you’d be hard pressed to point to some tangible things he has done for this district,” Ard said.

Meanwhile, in campaign reports submitted last week, Ard reported raising only $3,145 so far; $1,000 of it was from mortgage banker Tom Stickel, his campaign chairman.

Incumbent Chacon reported he had raised $19,775 this year and had more than $12,000 left in the bank. Chacon said he should have little trouble raising $100,000 for his re-election campaign, adding, “I don’t think I’ll need more than that.”

Ard says he is not certain now how much he’ll need or how much he can raise. But he said he is certain he’ll be able to run a viable campaign--within whatever limits circumstances dictate.

Should Republican leaders decide to make the Chacon-Ard race a target--first they’ll see if Ard can “catch the imagination of Republican voters”--they say they might pump $300,000 to $400,000 into Ard’s campaign.

California Assembly candidates averaged just under $89,000 in campaign spending last election. But the median spending figure for winners in those 1984 races was $195,000, as overall spending on state legislative races topped $50 million, setting a new record.

Ard challenged the party leadership to decide whether they really want to broaden their party, as they say, and how much they “want this seat.”

“Now, if they want me to do it by myself, then I’m not discouraged by that,” he said. “But I could continue to remember that. . . . I just might pull this thing off. And, they don’t need to wait until October to come running.”