State Senate Hopefuls Trade Insults : Politics: Republicans meet in Leisure World forum. Fighting escalates to the point where one candidate is shouted away from the microphone.

With tensions straining, the rival Republican candidates in next month’s special state Senate election tried as hard as they could to be polite Friday.

But like a bursting dam, the first sign of hostility was followed by a torrent.

“This campaign has gotten ugly,” candidate Ron Isles, a Brea city councilman, told the audience. “I’m sorry, but there’s only a week left.”

The candidates apologized to the audience of about 200 Republican residents in Leisure World, but it was probably the best glimpse so far of the raw nerves and vicious combat that have characterized the race.

After an hour of compliments and sweet talk, Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier) triggered the eruption in his closing comments when he complained about two of his rivals campaigning on their honesty while they actually have what he claimed was a record of deceit.

“If you live in glass houses, you shouldn’t throw stones,” Hill said.

As rival Republican Gary Miller rose to rebut the charge, Hill said, “I lost my temper, I apologize.”

But it was too late.

Miller, a Diamond Bar city councilman, said Hill’s accusations were “an absolute lie.” After launching his own attack, he concluded: “I would not do this to him if he didn’t have a chance to rebut it.”

Then, Isles stepped to the microphone. “I’m going to try to lighten this up,” he said. Two minutes later he was shouted down by someone in the audience when his speech turned into an attack on Hill.

“If that’s the light stuff, I’d hate to see the heavy stuff,” Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) joked as he anchored the event.

Such has been the race for the 31st State Senate District seat. The election is scheduled Feb. 6. If none of the candidates receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff between the top vote-getters in each party will be held April 10.

The district is split almost in half between Los Angeles and Orange counties. It stretches from Whittier and West Covina in the north to Laguna Beach in the south. It is overwhelmingly Republican.

There are three Democrats and one American Independent Party candidate in the race on the other side. Friday’s meeting brought together the four Republicans, who have spent almost a combined $1 million so far in a short and heated campaign.

Meanwhile, the Orange County Republican Party’s ethics committee announced Friday that it has voted to censure Isles for a mailer he sent out titled, “Meet the Two Best Legislators Money Can Buy.”

The complaint said that Isles violated the Republican Party’s so-called 11th commandment--”Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.” And it said he did not obey the party’s Code of Ethics, which says in part, “I will conduct my campaign in a style that is constructive, not strident, and in a manner which stresses issues, not personalities.”