Both Parties Mounting a Major Turnout Effort : Special 33rd Senate District Election Today Brings In Volunteers From All Over the State

Republicans and Democratic volunteers were airlifted and bused from all over the state to bolster get-out-the-vote crews in today’s special election in the 33rd Senate District, which includes parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties.

A turnout of 20% to 30% of registered voters is expected, according to election officials in both counties. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Both two-term Assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk) and Democrat Cecil N. Green, a Norwalk councilman and former mayor, trudged through precincts in search of votes Monday, believing that the race, which is targeted by both parties because it could affect 1990s reapportionment battles, will be decided in the streets. Meanwhile, campaign aides exchanged charges about what each side called the other’s last-minute, “dirty tricks.”

Two Other Candidates

Also running are Libertarian Lee Connelly, 34, and Peace and Freedom candidate Ed Evans, 39. Both Connelly and Evans are from Buena Park.

At stake is the seat vacated by Paul Carpenter, the last Democrat from Orange County to hold a state legislative office. Carpenter was elected to the State Board of Equalization last November.

About 25% of the district’s 275,267 voters live in the Orange County communities of Buena Park, La Palma, Cypress and Los Alamitos. The Los Angeles County portion of the district includes Downey, Norwalk, Lakewood, Cerritos, Bellflower, Santa Fe Springs, South Whittier and Hawaiian Gardens. Voter registration is 54% Democratic and 38% Republican; independents and small-party voters make up the balance.

Only 20% of the voters in the district cast ballots in the March 17 primary, when Green, a four-term Norwalk councilman, surprised Grisham by outpolling the GOP legislator. Green took 48% of the primary vote, compared to the 43.6% won by Grisham. But Green, 63, failed to win a majority, requiring today’s runoff contest with the 64-year-old Grisham.

As happened just before the primary, each side claimed Monday that it was the victim of unfair, 11th-hour campaign tactics.

Green’s staff said Grisham had inaccurately portrayed Green as a “Moonie,” a supporter of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, in a letter mailed on Friday and Saturday but not received by some voters until Monday. The letter alleged that Green had accepted gifts and trips from Moon’s organization two years ago when the councilman attended a conference on anti-communism in Washington, campaign aides said.

Green did not know that Moon sponsored the conference, his aides said Monday, adding that it was former Green aide Randall Economy whose air fare was reimbursed by Moon’s organization, not Green’s. Economy now is a paid member of Grisham’s campaign staff.

Charge by Latinos

At the same time, several Latino voters told Green’s campaign workers that someone had informed them that they didn’t need to vote today because they had previously checked off Green’s name on a campaign document, Green aides said. Latinos voted heavily for Green in the primary.

Grisham’s campaign staff defended the “Moonie” letter as a proper use of information, which was supplied by Economy. But they denied making any attempt to discourage voters from going to the polls.

Meanwhile, Grisham’s staff alleged that Green’s campaign falsely implied that President Reagan had endorsed Green by mailing copies of a 1984 letter in which Reagan thanked Green for a donation to his reelection effort.

Green’s aides said they merely reproduced the letter, in which Reagan praised Green as someone who can support “both Republicans and Democrats.”