Three Southland Democrats in House Targeted by GOP

With Vice President George Bush faring well in Southern California, Republican campaign advisers are pouring in aid to challengers here who they think now have a chance to upset incumbent Democratic congressmen.

The targets are Reps. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Colton), Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park) and Jim Bates (D-San Diego), who for various reasons have been added to the GOP’s list of possible victims on Tuesday.

Brown, a veteran of 12 terms in Congress, has been on the Republican hit list before. He represents the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, where Democrats are in the majority and where GOP opponents have been disappointed several times in trying to defeat Brown on his liberal record.

Ken Clinge, campaign director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Thursday that Republican pollsters think this time could be different. The area has been turning more conservative, Clinge contends, and challenger John Paul Stark has covered the district with signs that remind voters that Brown opposes capital punishment.

Stark, an insurance salesman with a Christian activist background, has already lost three races to Brown. Brown’s victory edge was substantial each time, and the Democrats do not seem particularly concerned that this outcome will be any different.

But the Republicans called in their heaviest hitter, President Reagan, to stump for Stark Tuesday at a rally in San Bernardino. Reagan attacked Brown as an obstacle to a strong national defense and praised Stark.

The national committee, which helps selected Republican congressional candidates every election, is spending the maximum allowed by law for Stark, Clinge said. The aid has come in the form of $10,000 cash and about $45,000 worth of services.

The Republicans are going after Martinez for a different reason. He has not earned much praise for his performance in three terms in the House, and Republicans suspect that his support at home was weakened by a brutal primary campaign against former Monterey Park Mayor Lily Chen.

Challenger Ralph Ramirez, a businessman, gives the Republicans a Latino hopeful in a San Gabriel Valley district that is not only heavily Democratic but also home to many Latino voters.

Besides the maximum amount of help allowed from the national committee, Rep. Jack Kemp (R-New York), the former presidential candidate, and Cabinet officials have come into the district to campaign for Ramirez.

In the case of Bates, the Republicans hope to take advantage of sexual harassment allegations against the three-term congressman by as many as 14 current and former staff members.

Bates has apologized for flirting and “kidding around” with women on the staff. But the controversy has revived the flagging campaign of GOP lawyer Rob Butterfield Jr.