Hill, Graham Will Square Off for 31st State Senate Seat

Assemblyman Frank Hill--who was backed by state Republican leaders despite being targeted by an FBI corruption investigation--won the Republican nomination Tuesday in a special election to replace former state Sen. William Campbell.

He will face Janice Graham--an unsuccessful challenger to Republican Campbell in 1988 who bested two other Democratic candidates Tuesday--in an April 10 runoff because neither candidate garnered more than 50% of the total vote necessary for outright election.

Hill, of Whittier, finished first among all eight candidates Tuesday, with all 429 precincts reporting in the heavily Republican district, which is split between Orange and Los Angeles counties. He tallied 15,043 votes.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) finished second among the four GOP candidates, about 1,000 votes behind Hill.

Republican Ron Isles, a Brea city councilman, was third and Gary Miller, a Republican city councilman from Diamond Bar, was fourth.

In a victory speech shortly before midnight, Hill said: “We never said we promised you a landslide; 900 votes, that’s great.”

In a reference to the FBI investigation, he also said, “And you know we were carrying a heavy weight around.” The audience laughed and then Hill sang, “I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll.”

Graham, who finished with 9,357 votes, said she was happy to have made the runoff and was looking forward to the race against Hill, who she said would be vulnerable because he opposes abortion.

“It looks like I’m going to get the person I wanted,” the former school teacher said. “I wanted either Hill or Ferguson because of the choice issue and the votes they have cast I think I can use against them.”

Hill is under investigation by the FBI in connection with a Capitol influence-peddling scandal.

The rest of the field included Democrats Bradley John McFadden and Thomas M. Whaling. There was one American Independent Party candidate, Robert Lewis.

The 31st District stretches from West Covina and Whittier in the north to Laguna Beach in the south. Campbell held the seat for 14 years, then resigned in December to become president of the California Manufacturers Assn.

In the reapportionment after the 1980 census, Campbell added part of Orange County to his Los Angeles district, increasing its Republican makeup. Today, Republicans in the district hold a commanding lead over Democrats, by a margin of 54% to 36%.

Gov. George Deukmejian created one of the shortest campaigns ever in California when he scheduled the special election in an announcement just before Christmas. Because of the brevity, experts predicted that the five-week race would be a brawl.

The campaign included a shouting match that erupted between GOP candidates at a public forum, exaggerated claims in mailers and relentless attacks.

In a bizarre twist, sources said a Sacramento Republican organization paid for a mailer last weekend that was sent to promote Democrat Graham. The sources said the purpose had been to help Hill by heading off Democrats who might defect to Isles over the abortion issue. Isles is the only pro-choice Republican in the race.

Isles has strongly appealed to Democratic voters in a campaign strategy similar to the formula used in the upset October victory by pro-choice Assemblywoman Tricia Hunter (R-San Marcos).

Isles sent a telegram to Democratic voters Monday that outraged Democratic Party Chairman Michael Balmages, who called the mailer flatly untrue. The telegram said in part: “The Democratic leadership agrees that no matter how hard we try, a Democrat will not be elected.”

The telegram also called the other Republican candidates “right-wing extremists.”

Times staff writers Tony Marcano and Shelby Grad contributed to this report.

ELECTION RETURNS

100% Precincts Reporting

Votes % Frank Hill, R * 15,043 22.8 Gil Ferguson, R 14,123 21.4 Ron Isles, R 11,827 18.0 Gary Miller, R 10,310 15.6 Janice Graham, D * 9,357 14.2 Bradley McFadden, D 3,056 4.6 Thomas Whaling, D 1,489 2.3 Robert Lewis, AI * 682 1.0

Turnout: 17.0 %

* Because no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election with the top vote-getter in each party will be held April 10.