THE CALIFORNIA PRIMARY : Brown Misses the Big Prize but Still Finds Cause for Optimism

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown has had better nights.

Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign, which Brown chaired, lost California by a wide margin. Voters approved two ballot measures curbing the fund-raising and spending practices that have underpinned his power. Most important, Brown’s one chance to drive a stake into the heart of the rebel faction challenging his speakership fizzled when his forces failed to dislodge dissident Assemblyman Gerald R. Eaves of Rialto.

Still, Brown remained upbeat, telling reporters Wednesday that “for me, in totality, it was a wonderful evening.”

His Image Preserved

Smiling and looking relaxed, Brown cited results in at least two other Assembly primary races as evidence that “it is of zero value” for Republicans or Democrats to try to win seats by running against his controversial image.

In fact, Brown had some reason for optimism. His supporters managed to beat a candidate backed by the dissident “Gang of Five” in one race and the Speaker retains strong hopes of capturing two or three seats in November that could render the rebel faction powerless.

An unexpected development in the Assembly power struggle occurred Wednesday with the death of Republican Assemblyman Richard Longshore, whose Santa Ana district registration favors Democrats over Republicans by a margin of 51.46% to 38.75%.

Longshore’s death of pneumonia leaves the GOP with 35 seats in the Assembly. Even with the dissident Democrats’ five votes, the Republicans may no longer be able to garner the 41-vote majority on favored legislation until the seat is filled in November--giving Brown at least a temporary respite from the ongoing challenge.

Assemblyman Rusty Areias (D-Los Banos), one of the five dissidents, refused to comment on the faction’s future “given the fact Mr. Longshore just died today. It is inappropriate for me to speculate on what will happen next between the Gang of Five and the Speaker.”

Still, the big prize in Tuesday’s primary eluded Brown when Eaves beat back a challenge from Democrat Joe Baca, a community college trustee, who pledged to support Brown and was rewarded with large amounts of cash and campaign help from members of the Speaker’s inner circle.

Eaves was hit with a last-minute bogus mailer that purported to be an endorsement for Baca from U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) along with what Eaves said were a flood of phone calls accusing him of being a convicted child molester and drunk driver.

“The people of San Bernardino County are not going to be fooled by the Sacramento power brokers who try to buy an election and use illegal and immoral means,” Eaves said Wednesday. He added that his victory demonstrated that “the people are tired of the Speaker’s office having so much power.”

Brown, however, downplayed his own role in the race, arguing that Eaves’ victory was more a testimony to the power of incumbency than a judgment on his speakership. “You have to be a terrible incumbent to lose in a primary,” he said.

But Assembly Republican leader Pat Nolan of Glendale said at a GOP gathering in Orange Wednesday that the 66th District race was “an all-out effort” by Brown “to purge Jerry Eaves from the Assembly and it failed.”

While he was distancing himself from the defeat in the Eaves-Baca race, Brown was more than willing to take credit for victory in Southeast Los Angeles’ 63rd District, where attorney Bob Epple, his candidate, easily defeated Downey businessman Peter Ohanesian, who has close ties to the dissident Democrats.

In this case, Brown said the victory shows that when a “first team of quality Democrats” from the area gets involved in a primary race “they can beat anybody.” He said the race also proved that his name is not a liability in such contests “where there are friends of Willie Brown out there actually pumping.”

GOP Results Cited

In attempting to view the results of Tuesday’s primary favorably, Brown pointed to the successful GOP primary campaigns of Assemblyman Gil Ferguson of Newport Beach in the 70th District and Gerald N. Felando of San Pedro in the 51st District. Both won against opponents who criticized them for not moving aggressively to join with the rebel Democrats in ousting Brown.

Brown said the victories showed that candidates in Republican primaries “are now being measured on their own merits,” not their relationship to the Speaker.

Felando defeated Deane Dana III, son of Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana, who lent more than $700,000 to his son’s campaign. On Wednesday, an angry Felando threatened retribution against the elder Dana, saying, “I’m very bitter about that and I’m not going to forget it. So many people are unhappy with what he did that in 1992 there will be a definite challenge to him.”

Although Brown refused to disclose the Democrats’ strategy for the November election, among GOP members expected to be targeted are Assemblyman Wayne Grisham of Norwalk in the 63rd District and Assemblyman Paul E. Zeltner of Lakewood in the 54th District. That is in addition to the 72nd District seat formerly held by Longshore.

Still Holds the Cards

Brown said passage of Propositions 68 and 73, the campaign finance limitation measures, will not jeopardize his power base, despite a ban on the practice of funneling campaign contributions to needy colleagues--a tactic that has traditionally been used by legislative leaders to build loyalty.

Since the measures will not take effect until January, Brown indicated he intends to pull out all the stops in a final attempt to retain power for Democrats--and for himself--in the November election.

“No matter what the rules are, I’m going to play by those rules and I’m going to win,” Brown declared.

Times staff writer Daniel M. Weintraub contributed to this story from Orange County.