2 Republicans Vie to Lead Uphill Challenge of Bates for Congress

Recent political history suggests that seeking the Republican nomination in San Diego’s 44th Congressional District is the electoral equivalent of volunteering to reinforce Custer at the Little Big Horn.

Expressly carved out to be a “safe” Democratic seat by the Democratic officeholders who controlled reapportionment after the 1980 census, the 44th District includes large concentrations of blacks, Latinos and other minorities who have given the Democrats a commanding 56%-32% edge among registered voters.

That demographic makeup has, indeed, provided a safe political haven for Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego), a 46-year-old former San Diego City Councilman and county supervisor who has never received less than 64% of the vote since capturing the seat in 1982.

By all conventional political yardsticks, there is no reason to suspect that the outcome this November will be any different. But the bleak prospects that confront any Republican in the 44th District have not deterred lawyer Robert Butterfield Jr. and former Reagan Administration official Luis Acle, who have campaigned hard this spring for the dubious privilege of tackling those all but insurmountable odds this fall.

‘It’s Very Tough’

“I realize it’s very tough, but Jim Bates should not be allowed to just skate through without substantial opposition,” Butterfield explained. “I feel almost a civic obligation to provide an alternative to Mr. Bates. At the very least, that will keep him on his toes.”

The Acle-Butterfield race is the only seriously contested primary in San Diego County’s four congressional districts. In the 41st District, small businessman Rick Singer is waging an offbeat campaign against Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego) in the GOP primary. But Singer’s own slogan--”Vote for Rick Singer and waste your vote, or vote for Bill Lowery and waste your money”--has made it difficult to take his candidacy seriously.

In the 44th District, Acle, a staunch conservative, and Butterfield, whose positions on most issues are considerably more moderate, have spent much of their time trying to persuade Republicans that their respective philosophies offer the GOP the better chance of upsetting Bates in November. Libertarian Dennis Thompson, the president of a computer time-sharing company, is unopposed in his party’s primary.

Butterfield, a 37-year-old longtime party activist running in his first race, argues that his moderate policies could appeal to Democrats disenchanted with Bates, a necessity for any Republican who hopes to win in a district in which the GOP is outnumbered more than 3 to 2.

In contrast, Acle, 45, saying “you can’t out-liberal Jim Bates,” views his positions as more attractive to conservative Democrats in the 44th District, which covers downtown and southern San Diego, extending from Linda Vista south to Otay, and also includes Lemon Grove, National City and Chula Vista.

“I believe my opponent is right when he says we have to appeal to Democrats, but I don’t think you can lure away too many liberals from a Democrat,” Acle said. “Conservative Democrats are the ones who might cross over. Plus, if he’s going to try to appeal on the basis of being a liberal Republican, he’s going to have trouble holding on to his Republican base.”

The two candidates’ philosophical sparring stems largely from what Butterfield now terms “an ill-advised . . . poor choice of words” in a March newspaper story in which he referred to himself as possibly being more liberal than Bates on some issues.

With the word “liberal” being almost heretical to many Republicans, that remark has haunted Butterfield throughout the campaign, partly because Acle takes every opportunity to remind campaign audiences of it. Put on the defensive, Butterfield has gone to lengths to clarify his comment over the past two months, and now, half-jokingly, vows “never to use the L-word again.”

“Some people took that comment out of context, so it’s hurt me in some respects,” Butterfield said. “What I meant to say is that I might be more willing than Jim Bates to spend dollars in some key areas, such as child protection and child care for the poor. But I never intended to say I’d be more liberal than Jim Bates on pure social issues. I’m not a liberal, but I’m not an ideological conservative either. I think of myself as a problem-solver, a pragmatist who’s in the mainstream of the Republican Party in San Diego.”

A specialist in employee benefits programs, Butterfield grew up in Connecticut, later receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston University and his law degree at the University of San Diego. Butterfield has served on the San Diego’s Retirement System Board, the body that administers more than $620 million in employees’ retirement funds, and is active in many charitable activities, including the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation of San Diego County, which he co-founded. He lives in Linda Vista with his wife and stepdaughter.

Acle, a naturalized citizen born in Mexico City, moved to San Diego in 1962 and received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at San Diego State University. Acle, who lives in Golden Hill with his wife, also holds a master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University.

Major Differences

Over the last 15 years, Acle has held posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations, as well as a variety of management and marketing consulting jobs in the private sector. In the early 1970s, Acle was a finance manager and special assistant in the old U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and, in 1985 and 1986, was the Reagan Administration’s liaison to the Latino and Asian communities.

“I have the experience and background necessary in this job, I would not have to spend time learning the ropes,” Acle said. “That’s one of the major differences between us. (Butterfield) would have to go through a training period, a learning period. I could go to work for the district from Day 1.”

However, Butterfield, who won a straw poll at a countywide Republican convention in April, argues that his own experience is at least as well-matched to the congressional job as Acle’s “government bureaucrat . . . background.”

Between them, Acle and Butterfield expect to spend about $100,000, a relatively modest budget for a congressional race, in the primary. As of May 18, Butterfield, who loaned his campaign $25,000, had spent $45,649, compared to $31,509 for Acle.

On a number of major issues, the two Republicans have diametrically opposite views. Butterfield, for example, supports the Equal Rights Amendment and the congressional override earlier this year of Reagan’s veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act, while Acle opposes both measures. Acle’s support for the President’s veto of the civil rights bill, in fact, cost him the endorsement of the Republican Hispanic Assembly. Acle favors a Republican child-care proposal, whereas Butterfield supports a broader, more expensive Democratic version.

But the two also concur on other topics, particularly defense-related issues, as evidenced by their support for aid to the Nicaraguan Contras and for continued funding for the so-called “Star Wars” weaponry research. Both also oppose federal funding for abortions and favor a moment of silence for prayer in public schools.

Their clearest area of agreement, however, concerns their mutual distaste for Bates’ record. In particular, both sharply criticize Bates’ well-publicized efforts to draw attention to waste and fraud in Navy procurement, which Butterfield characterized as “more about going for the headlines . . . than trying to solve the problem.”

Not Planning Change

Given the lopsided party makeup of his district, however, Bates is confident that he will retain his seat as the only Democrat in the county’s congressional delegation.

“Let’s just say I’m not planning a career change anytime soon,” Bates said recently, barely able to stifle a yawn as he discussed his prospective GOP opponents.

Indeed, although Acle and Butterfield often tell their Republican audiences that Bates is “vulnerable”--the favorite word in all political long shots’ vocabulary--the nature of the 44th District would appear to indicate otherwise.

With that in mind, perhaps the most accurate description of the significance of the Republican primary in the 44th District came from Democratic political consultant Nick Johnson.

“Here’s a case where the winner is the loser,” Johnson said. “Because you might win the primary in June but you’re going to lose in November. That’s practically guaranteed. If you’re the Republican nominee in the 44th, the reality is you have to campaign five more months, spend more money, and then you lose. So, the guy who loses in June might be the real winner.”