ELECTIONS ’88 SOUTHEAST / LONG BEACH : Democrats Capture 54th Assembly Seat

State Democrats captured at least one key Southeast Assembly seat from a Republican incumbent and claimed a razor-thin victory over a second area Assemblyman in two of California’s most hard-fought election battles.

Democrat Willard H. Murray defeated incumbent Paul E. Zeltner (R-Lakewood) by a margin of about 3 percentage points to capture the Assembly’s 54th District seat, according to semi-official election returns released Wednesday.

In the race for the 63rd District seat, Democrat Robert D. Epple claimed victory over two-term Assemblyman Wayne Grisham (R-Norwalk) by the slimmest of margins--fewer than 100 votes. The incumbent, however, was not ready Wednesday to admit defeat in Tuesday’s election.

Election officials today will begin to count last-minute absentee votes and voting cards that were damaged or, for some other reason, could not be counted by computer. The number of votes still to be counted in the 63rd District race was not known Wednesday, said county registrar of voters spokeswoman Henrietta Willis.

“I expected it to be close,” said Tony Russo, Grisham’s campaign manager. “Right now I feel very optimistic we’re still going to win this one.” Russo said Grisham planned to be in Sacramento today to cast his vote for Assembly minority leader. Grisham declined comment pending the final election results.

The margin of victory was solid enough for the Epple camp, which benefited from strong support from allies of Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco). The Democrats believed Grisham was especially vulnerable after he was defeated last year by Cecil N. Green (D-Norwalk) in a special election for the state Senate’s 33rd District seat.

Epple, after an hour of sleep, flew to Sacramento Wednesday morning to attend a meeting of the Assembly Democratic Caucus.

He also attended a press conference at the Capitol held by Brown, who pointed to Epple and said, “He is up here all smiles.” Brown and his top strategists cited the heavy get-out-the-vote effort in the Southeast area as a chief reason for the Epple and Murray victories.

The state’s Democratic and Republican leadership focused on the 54th and 63rd District races in their efforts to control the Legislature in anticipation of the 1990 reapportionment. Party leaders from each side poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the races. Democrats make up the majority of registered voters in the 54th and 63rd, but residents of both districts have conservative leanings and cross-over votes are ample.

The races were of special interest to Brown, who counted on victories by Murray and Epple to help him retain his threatened leadership post. Those wins, combined with the upset victory of Democrat Ted Lempert, a San Mateo attorney, over freshman Assemblyman William P. Duplissea (R-San Carlos) appears to have strengthened Brown’s chances of retaining his speakership.

After Brown’s press conference, Epple joked that he won by “a landslide of 87 votes.” Epple attributed his victory to walking precincts. He said that Grisham had not “talked to enough people” or had seen enough voters to persuade them to keep him in office. “I saw more people. My family saw more people, the volunteers I had saw more people,” Epple said.

Got Message Out

Another key to the election was “Bob Epple’s message that Wayne Grisham wasn’t doing the job, that Bob will work hard to do the job,” Epple campaign manager Dan Eaton said Wednesday in Norwalk. The Epple campaign used a barrage of mailers to portray Grisham as an ineffective, absentee legislator.

Despite heavy financial support from Brown’s top lieutenants, Epple said he was “not any more beholden to Mr. Brown than I am to the 45,000-plus voters who voted for me.”

Epple, a lawyer and a member of the Cerritos College Board of Trustees, said he would like to get seats on the Education Committee, the Labor Committee or the Utilities and Commerce Committee.

In the 54th Assembly District, Zeltner blamed his defeat on a wave of campaign mail by Murray and his supporters during the final days of the campaign. In particular, Zeltner said material attacking his support for various gun-control measures struck a responsive chord among members of the National Rifle Assn.--which endorsed Murray--and other conservatives in the district. He also said Murray was able to convince voters that Zeltner was soft on crime because of legislation he sponsored to give tax breaks to businesses that hire gang members.

“Zeltner wants to reward drug dealers, street thugs and murderers with your money,” said mailers signed by Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and by the head of COPS, the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs.

Murray also sent out a mailer to Republicans that included his name--not Zeltner’s--among the GOP candidates on the ballot. “Vote for our community Republican team,” said the mailer, which featured pictures of Vice President George Bush and Republican Sen. Pete Wilson.

‘You Can’t Respond’

“He did me in with the late mailers,” Zeltner said in an interview Wednesday. “You can’t respond. Even if you know they are coming, you don’t have the time or the money to respond.”

At a campaign rally on Election Night, Zeltner boasted that he waged an “ethical” campaign and he reiterated in the interview that he intentionally steered clear of “smearing” Murray. By contrast, Zeltner said, Murray blanketed the district with literature containing lies and distortions.

“I conducted a clean, ethical campaign and that might have been my mistake,” Zeltner said. “But I couldn’t have done it any other way.”

But one of Zeltner’s GOP colleagues in the Assembly said Wednesday that Zeltner’s unwillingness to hit Murray harder led to his downfall.

“A lot of that was his personal fault,” said a Los Angeles-area assemblyman, who asked not to be identified. “He is a difficult candidate. He is a hardhead. He did not want to do hit pieces. And he came out for gun control.”

Wednesday morning, already on his way to Sacramento for a luncheon meeting with Democratic leaders, Murray discounted Zeltner’s view that the NRA mailing had won the contest for him.

“With a 3,000-vote margin . . . no one mailer makes that much difference,” Murray said. A political consultant himself who is known for well-targeted mailings, Murray estimated that his campaign sent out 30 different mailings, all targeted to specific geographical areas or voter groups.

His victory, he said, resulted from a well-planned and well-executed campaign that began in January and did not let up until after the massive get-out-the-vote effort ended as polls closed Tuesday at 8 p.m.

“It was not any one thing (that helped me win),” Murray said. “It was a continuous effort, it involved a lot of people, a lot of money--a lot of money to me,” he said, referring to the approximately $500,000 he raised and spent, most of it given to him by other Democratic office holders in the Legislature and by party fund raising committees.

Backing by Groups

His campaign, he said, made especially effective use of the backing it had from law enforcement groups. He also made use of broad labor support, which paid off not only in campaign donations but with the dozens of union members who joined more than 100 other get-out-the-vote workers on election day, knocking on doors to get Democratic voters to the polls.

In the end, some Zeltner aides said, Zeltner’s loss was probably more a matter of mathematics than anything else. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district by a margin of 2 to 1, and during the final weeks of the campaign Speaker Brown and other state Democrats pumped tens of thousands of dollars into the district.

During the last weekend of the campaign, Zeltner said, Brown inundated the district with dozens of party loyalists from outside the area who worked to get out the Democratic vote.

“Murray was an invisible candidate right along to the very end,” Zeltner said. “My opponent wasn’t Murray. It was the numbers in the district and Willie’s desire to regain the seat.”

Probably the most telling sign of Zeltner’s defeat was his apparent inability to convince enough Democrats in the district that he is different from other Republicans. Zeltner worked hard during the campaign to downplay his GOP affiliation and characterize himself as a friend of conservative Democrats. But in Bellflower, Lakewood, Paramount and Willowbrook the freshman Assemblyman actually garnered fewer votes than Bush. He was able to outdistance Wilson, but only by small margins. Only in Compton did Zeltner attract more votes than either Bush or Wilson. A breakdown of votes in the Long Beach portion of the district was not available.

Voter turnout and registration gains over the past two years could also help explain Murray’s narrow victory. Two years ago when Zeltner won by 2,800 votes, there were 143,840 registered voters in the district and 49.58 % of them cast ballots for the Democratic or Republican candidate. This year, there were 152,774 registered voters and 58.77 % of them voted for Murray or Zeltner.

Strongest Support

Murray’s strongest support came from Compton and Willowbrook, the heavily Democratic and black areas of the district where his campaign worked hard to increase voter turnout over two years ago. In 1986, voter turnout was 44.6% in Compton compared to 48.57% on Tuesday. Zeltner was able to pick up about 700 votes in Compton over 1986, but Murray still trounced him in that city, 17,205 votes to 1,775. Murray picked up about 3,500 more votes in Compton than did Democratic candidate Edward K. Waters in 1986--roughly the margin of Murray’s victory over Zeltner.

Zeltner ran strong in Lakewood and Bellflower, but not nearly as strong as in 1986. Zeltner took Lakewood by a 2-1 ratio, but in 1986, he crushed Waters there by nearly 3 to 1. In Bellflower, Zeltner won 60% of the vote on Tuesday. In 1986 he took Bellflower by a 2 -1 ratio. Zeltner did not give up hope, however, until about 4 a.m. Wednesday, largely because his staff was unable to determine whether the returns giving Murray his lead were coming from areas of the district identified as Murray or Zeltner strongholds. Vote totals coming from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office did not identify which precincts in the district were reporting.

At Zeltner’s Election Night headquarters at the Lakewood Civic Center, more than 100 supporters cheered wildly when local television stations indicated that Zeltner held a large margin in absentee ballots. But that lead--63% to 37%--slipped quickly, and by 11:15 p.m., Zeltner’s lead had narrowed to just 2 percentage points.

“It is a real nail-biter,” Zeltner’s campaign coordinator Dennis Cushman announced as he emerged from the campaign’s “war room”--a tiny office in the plush Sycamore Plaza where campaign aides collected results over the telephone.

While still holding a 650-vote lead, Zeltner took a seat at a banquet table in the plaza’s ballroom and scribbled some thoughts on a piece of paper. The election was too close to call, but it was getting late and Zeltner was losing his audience. While it was too early for a victory speech, it was time for a pep talk.

Zeltner, all but proclaiming victory, thanked his campaign staff and volunteers and exulted, “This ‘two more years’ sounds great!” His left hand resting on his wife’s shoulder, the 63-year-old former Lakewood city councilman said his campaign was “moving the mountain tonight.”

Even as Zeltner spoke, however, the mood in the “war room” turned to despair. With 80 of the district’s 239 precincts reporting, Murray edged ahead by 75 votes. Zeltner never led again.

“I just can’t believe this,” said campaigner Bill Kennedy as word spread throughout the ballroom. Meanwhile, across the district in Paramount, cheers went up from the small crowd of Murray supporters gathered at the back of the Parthenon Restaurant.

A jubilant Murray was still being coy Wednesday morning about one of the nagging unanswered questions of the campaign: Will he support Brown as speaker?

“I will vote for whomever the Democratic caucus selects and as far as I know he is the only candidate,” Murray said.

In the 63rd District race, more than 50 campaign workers and supporters waited until after midnight Tuesday in an auditorium in Santa Fe Springs, hoping that Epple would be declared the victor. About a dozen campaign workers and supporters waited at Grisham’s campaign headquarters in Norwalk. Absentee ballots, most of which were counted early in the evening, had Grisham ahead, but neither side celebrated.

The race was still too close to call when Epple shut down his “victory party” shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday. Most supporters left Grisham’s headquarters before 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Epple received strong backing from supporters of Speaker Brown. As of last week, the Epple campaign had raised $719,227 for the general election. Grisham was backed by Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan and other state Republican leaders. He raised $539,133, according to campaign disclosure statements.

Local party leaders and political observers agreed the 63rd campaign was a dirty one, full of personal attacks that may have obscured important district issues such as reducing crime and improving water quality and public transportation.

The 63rd District includes Artesia, Cerritos, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, Santa Fe Springs, almost all of Norwalk and parts of Lakewood, southern and eastern Whittier and Long Beach. Registration is 56.7% Democratic and 35.8% Republican.

From the start, Epple attacked Grisham as a lawmaker who did not write important legislation. He criticized the incumbent for missing a large percentage of his committee votes--24% from December, 1986, to the end of September, 1988. He also attacked Grisham for missing a vote last year on legislation to provide relief to victims of the Whittier Narrows earthquake.

At first, Grisham mailers portrayed Epple as a college trustee who was soft on crime and had voted to cut math, reading and science, while preserving less important classes. He hit Epple as a puppet of Speaker Brown. And then in mid-October, the Grisham campaign released information that Epple had faced criminal charges after he was involved in a 1970 auto accident while returning from a holiday party. The Grisham campaign accused Epple of trying to hide the incident.

Epple, 39, was forced to admit he was fined after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of public drunkenness and leaving the scene of an accident.

In addition, the Epple campaign brought up old allegations that Grisham fired a secretary for spurning his advances. Grisham, 65, has denied the allegation. And then in the final days of the campaign, the Epple campaign released a mailer that said Grisham had been forced to resign as the director of Peace Corps in Kenya. Grisham, a former congressman, was appointed to the post by President Reagan. After nine months, he returned to California to win his first Assembly term in 1984. Grisham has denied he was forced to resign.

Grisham strategist Russo acknowledged the campaign had a negative tone, but he denied Grisham forces were unfair.

“They (Epple’s campaigners) attempted to misrepresent Wayne’s voting record originally,” Russo said. “They tried to paint Wayne as totally ineffective. We wanted to show the Bob Epple campaign for what it was, something not totally trustworthy.”

Eaton, Epple’s campaign manager, accused the Grisham campaign of trying to draw attention away from the incumbent’s record.

“This district has had enough negative mailing,” Eaton said. “I think in the end their type of campaigning hurt them a great deal.”

Incumbents in other assembly districts that touch the Southeast easily won reelection.

Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier) defeated Democrat Terry Lee Perkins in the strongly Republican 52nd District. Despite being one of five state lawmakers targeted in an FBI political corruption probe, Hill had little difficulty winning a third term.

Other Assembly winners included Dave Elder (D-Long Beach), 57th District; Dennis L. Brown (R-Long Beach), 58th District; Charles M. Calderon (D-Alhambra), 59th District; Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles), 56th District; Teresa P. Hughes (D-Los Angeles), 47th District, and Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who ran unopposed in the 48th District.

Staff writers Michele Fuetsch, Mary Lou Fulton, Mark Gladstone and James M. Gomez contributed to this article.