Robinson, Carter Vie for Right to Oppose Dornan in 38th : Longtime Legislator Has Clout, Powerful Backing for Candidacy

He sounded like some alley tough boasting that he was going to beat the daylights out of the red-haired bully who had just moved down the block.

But the speaker, a short, round-faced man neatly dressed in a business suit, was Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove). And as he sat recently in the bleak Santa Ana storefront that was his campaign headquarters, he wasn’t talking about a fight that would be waged with knives, brass knuckles and spit. For this brawl, the weapons would be political mailers, millions in campaign funds and intense debate. The turf would be the 38th Congressional District, a mix of middle-income neighborhoods, trailer parks and barrios that sprawls from Santa Ana to Cerritos.

Most important, the opponent would be Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), a hawkish, outspoken conservative and one of five GOP congressmen around the nation whom Democrats have targeted for defeat in November.

Robinson, 43, a six-term legislator who is giving up his Assembly seat to run for Congress, is itching to take on Dornan. In a recent interview, he came alive as he talked about the upcoming battle with the red-headed Republican, who moved into the district two years ago to beat the incumbent congressman, Jerry M. Patterson.

“Every campaign, he’s (Dornan’s) been able to control his agenda. He’s been able to talk about beating Castro. Well, I fought Castro,” the legislator and Marine Corps veteran, said.

“I’m different than Gary Peck or Gary Familian,” Robinson said, referring to the two candidates Dornan defeated in his former congressional district in West Los Angeles. “The debate in this campaign is not going to revolve as much as Bob Dornan would like it to around foreign policy. It’s going to revolve around performance.”

But for all Robinson’s interest in Dornan, he faces a different battle right now. He would prefer not to discuss it, but before he can tackle Dornan, Robinson must first win the June 3 Democratic primary against Superior Court Judge David O. Carter.

From his first press conference of the campaign, Robinson has treated Carter’s campaign as not worth discussing. During his Feb. 11 announcement, for example, he mentioned Carter briefly, but only because a reporter brought the name up.

“I like Dave Carter,” Robinson said at the time. “The opponent is Bob Dornan.”

Although Carter took a leave of absence from the bench to campaign, Robinson has remained at work in Sacramento during the primary. And vowing that “I’m not going to give Dave Carter more exposure,” he has refused to debate the judge.

Beside, after 12 years of representing the 72nd Assembly District, which makes up roughly a third of the 38th Congressional District, Robinson said the primary victory is already his.

“Am I worried about the primary? No. Because I’ve served longer than any Democrat in the history of Orange County. I am not going to be rejected by the Democrats of Orange County,” he said.

In the 1984 election, however, Robinson came close to losing. Nearly swept out of office in the tidal wave that reelected President Reagan, Robinson kept his seat over Republican Richard E. Longshore by just 256 votes.

Carter and his backers contend Robinson is still vulnerable, charging that he spends too much time in Sacramento, ignores community leaders and is more responsive to special interests than the public.

City Council Support

Indeed, nine of 12 Democratic city council members in the 38th Congressional District recently endorsed Carter, some saying they did so because Robinson would not listen to them.

“We’ve had delegations from the community go up to Sacramento and he has been unavailable,” said Westminster Councilman Melvin M. Jay.

Garden Grove Councilman Milton Krieger said Robinson was “impossible to corner” when officials from his city came to visit, adding: “He focuses on issues of statewide significance and does not do much for local constituencies.”

Also for the first time in seven years, Robinson failed to gain a full endorsement from Orange County’s AFL-CIO political action committee, COPE (Coalition of Political Education), during its first vote in late March.

At that time, COPE recommended an open endorsement, with its 60 unions permitted to support either Robinson or Carter. In April, the statewide COPE endorsed Robinson and the local COPE followed. Still some dissatisfaction with Robinson remains.

“He’s always had a good labor voting record . . . 80% or higher, 90%, 95%. But he treats everyone equally--disdainfully,” complained one labor leader, who said that after 12 years of going to Sacramento to lobby, Robinson still won’t say hello to him in the hall.

Robinson denies that he has been rude. “That could mean not showing up at a breakfast because I’m chairing a committee,” he said. “When you’re around for 12 years, there are going to be individuals (who are unhappy). If I agreed with everybody, every bit of the time, then I’m not doing the job because I’m not casting the vote.”

A poll in March by Teichner & Associates of Santa Ana also showed some weakness in support for Robinson.

When 405 Republicans and Democrats were asked to select their favorite candidate for Congress--Robinson, Dornan or Carter--36% picked Dornan, 9% picked Carter and 17% picked Robinson. In a second question about the primary, 33% of registered Democrats picked Robinson, 15% chose Carter and 48% said they didn’t know.

Robinson said he isn’t concerned. When he ran against former football star Marlin McKeever in 1974, a poll by McKeever “had me (losing) 6 to 1 against an all-pro linebacker with the Rams for 10 years,” he recalled. Instead, Robinson won.

Robinson, a scrapper throughout his political career, has beaten the odds a few times since the McKeever days.

Raised in Birmingham, Ala., Robinson grew up a Democrat, working in John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign. He joined the Marines, completing two tours of duty as a Marine radar-intercept crewman in Vietnam. And when he left the service, he settled in Orange County, working for the Communications Worker of America as an accountant and secretary-treasurer.

First elected to the Assembly in 1974, Robinson is Orange County’s senior legislator and one of the most powerful politicians in Sacramento.

By the end of 1979, he and three other legislators, dubbed “The Gang of Four,” persuaded then-Assemblyman Howard Berman (D-Beverly Hills) to challenge Assembly Speaker Leo McCarthy of San Francisco.

Although Berman was defeated, Robinson landed on his feet. Willie Brown, the newly elected Speaker, made Robinson Democratic Caucus chairman--or one of Brown’s chief lieutenants--and by 1982 some at the Capitol thought Robinson’s next move would be to the Speaker’s job.

But in early 1984, his fortunes turned. Leading Democrats said Robinson had become too cozy with Republican Gov. George Deukmejian. He was ousted from the caucus post and from a comfortable office overlooking the Capitol courtyard.

Then, in January, 1985, an aide to convicted political fixer W. Patrick Moriarty said Robinson was one of many government officials who had accepted prostitutes paid for by the Anaheim fireworks manufacturer.

Charge Denied

Robinson denied the charge made by former Moriarty aide Richard Raymond Keith, who recently began serving a prison sentence for income tax evasion. Last week, Moriarty himself began serving a prison term for money laundering, fraud and bribery.

“I have absolutely no involvement with Moriarty,” Robinson said recently. “I’ve been told that by federal officials. I’m not worried about it.”

Meanwhile, his clout remains. Robinson chairs the powerful Assembly Committee on Public Investments which hears all bills dealing with the state’s $7.7-billion bond debt and $35-billion investment portfolio. And he regularly carries some of the state’s most significant legislation. In 1983, for example, Robinson sponsored a compromise bill allowing Deukmejian to balance the budget without a tax increase. Last year, he carried a bill authorizing $450 million in bond measures for jails and prisons.

And if Robinson doesn’t like a bill, he can block it. Some Capitol observers contend he did that out of spite last September on a bill to finance child-care centers. The bill, by Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), was scheduled for a hearing before Robinson’s investment committee when he canceled it because of “a procedural problem.”

Some observers said Robinson was angry that county officials had asked Bergeson, instead of him, to carry the bill. Others said he simply didn’t want the Republicans to gain credit for child-care legislation after Deukmejian had previously vetoed Democratic child-care proposals. This April, however, Robinson helped steer the bill through his committee.

‘Hit the Ground Running’

Though some of Robinson’s supporters call him arrogant, they also said they would like to see him elected to Congress. With his legislative skills, one backer said, he could “hit the ground running.”

Santa Ana Mayor Dan Griset said, “What you get with Dick Robinson is that he’s part of an activist group in the California (congressional) delegation. He’s close to the Waxman-Berman group, and he becomes a part of the team that has a good piece of clout in the House.”

In running for Congress this year, Robinson has garnered a list of endorsements and contributions from political action committees that read like a Who’s Who of Democratic politics.

Through May 15, Carter raised $131,244, mostly from individuals, but Robinson had raised $160,264, mostly from such groups as the American Federation of Teachers, the American Nurses Assn. (PAC), Willie Brown Campaign Committee and Irvine Co. Employees Political Action Committee. Also appearing on his list of endorsements are: Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp, State Controller Ken Cory, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica), Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and Howard L. Berman (D-Studio City).

In the early stages of the primary campaign, Robinson’s headquarters on Broadway in Santa Ana was often empty. Carter aide George Urch said he came by one day, stuck a Carter-for-Congress sign on the front door and observed it hanging there for four days.

Robinson campaign manager Hope Warschaw conceded that the story might be true but only because “people don’t go out the front door. We go out the back.”

But as the primary nears, Robinson’s headquarters no longer has that vacant look. On recent weekends, for example, Warschaw organized work crews composed of high school students, 40 teachers and some of Robinson’s staff to stuff campaign mail--including Robinson-for-Congress potholders packaged with a letter by Robinson’s mother.

Warschaw promised more mail developed by the high-powered, Los Angeles political consulting firm of Berman & D’Agostino. And Carter, in a recent interview, worried that he might be “overwhelmed” by a flood of Robinson mail at the end. While the Robinson camp won’t reveal its plans for the final week before the election, Warschaw said, “We have a lot of things to come.”

If Robinson has more mailers, his public appearances are still limited. Saturday he rode in Garden Grove’s Strawberry Parade, and today he is expected to attend a forum for county Democratic women. But throughout the campaign, most of his meetings with public officials and community groups have been private. Asked to discuss them, he declined. Still if this was not a high-profile campaign like Carter’s, “he (Robinson) is doing the hard work with the local leaders,” Warschaw said. “This campaign is not flash,” she added.

“In our own quiet way, without a lot of flamboyance, people know what he’s done in Sacramento, and they know what he will do in Congress--things that will not be publicized but will show in the ballot booth.”