Hill’s Victory in 31st Senate District Aided by Absentee Ballots

Assemblyman Frank Hill combined an effective absentee ballot strategy with a loyal constituency in his home district of Whittier to narrowly win the Republican nomination in a special state Senate election Tuesday.

Half of the votes Hill received were already in the registrar of voters’ office days--if not weeks--before Election Day because of a sophisticated strategy that included paying workers for each absentee ballot they collected.

Because none of the eight candidates in the 31st state Senate District election received more than 50% of the vote, Hill will face the Democratic nominee, Janice Graham, and Robert Lewis of the American Independent Party in a runoff election April 10.

Hill goes into the runoff as the favorite because the 31st District, which is split between Los Angeles and Orange counties, is overwhelmingly Republican by a margin of about 54% to 36%.

“I feel very confident that it will go well,” Hill said Wednesday. “I am ecstatic.”

Hill said he has talked with Gov. George Deukmejian and Republican Sen. Pete Wilson, a candidate for governor, about making campaign appearances on his behalf for the runoff election.

The results of Tuesday’s voting showed that the race came down to Hill and Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), the two best-known candidates in the race. Experts said Wednesday that the heavy five-week barrage of personal attacks and name-calling that dominated the election only resulted in keeping many voters away from the polls.

Campaign officials estimated that the four Republican candidates spent a total of about $2 million almost entirely on their direct mail campaigns. Ferguson finished a close second--less than 1,000 votes behind Hill--even though he spent less than $100,000 on his effort.

Turnout for the special election to replace former state Sen. William Campbell was about 17%, election officials said.

“Hill and Ferguson were able to turn out their bases of support, and nobody beyond that even voted,” said Harvey Englander, campaign manager for Republican challenger Ron Isles. “Those people who were planning to vote for Isles got turned off by all the attack mail.”

There is a cloud over Hill’s candidacy, however, because he is under investigation by the FBI in connection with its probe of influence peddling at the Capitol. No charges have been filed against Hill, but his critics have speculated that he could be beaten if he is indicted before the April 10 election.

Isles said Wednesday that he is considering a possible write-in campaign against Hill. He said that if Hill were to be indicted in connection with the FBI investigation, he would almost certainly run as a write-in candidate.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson said that she was disappointed that Isles would not “rally behind the Republican choice.”

Isles responded: “I’ll support Hill when hell freezes over.”

Graham, the Democratic challenger, said of the investigation, “I think that’s going to be out of my hands and out of his.”

For Ferguson, Tuesday’s defeat was not the only bad news. He said he heard Wednesday that there were three Republicans seeking to challenge him for his Assembly seat in June, including former Rep. Robert Badham’s daughter Phyllis.

Ferguson said he does not consider himself vulnerable in the Assembly race and expects to be reelected. Of Badham’s daughter, he quipped, “Some of those daughters don’t have enough to do so daddy helps them get into politics.”

Ferguson blamed his narrow loss in Tuesday’s primary on the influential support that Hill received from Republican leaders in Sacramento. Ferguson said Hill’s supporters in Sacramento persuaded Deukmejian to schedule a special election that allowed only five weeks to campaign, which proved to be an advantage to the better-funded Hill.

“He beat us because the governor called a quick election,” Ferguson said. “We didn’t lose a game; we ran out of time.”

Ferguson also said the election results show that the abortion issue is not the powerful weapon against Republicans that many believe. Both Hill and Ferguson are against abortion, and Isles, who finished third, campaigned hard on his pro-choice abortion stand.

But Englander noted Wednesday that Isles finished second in both the Los Angeles and Orange County returns. And Isles said he “was a very unknown Brea councilman going into this race. The votes I got are probably largely attributable to the pro-choice stance.”

Republican Gary Miller, a city councilman in Diamond Bar, said he called Hill to congratulate him Wednesday, even though they viciously attacked each other during the campaign.

“I’m a Republican,” Miller said. “The voters have made their decision.”

HILL’S WINNING EDGE

VOTES % Frank Hill, R* 15,265 22.8 Gil Ferguson, R 14,488 21.6 Ron Isles, R 12,010 17.9 Gary Miller, R 10,470 15.6 Janice Graham, D* 9,464 14.1 Bradley McFadden, D 3,092 4.6 Thomas Whaling, D 1,508 2.3 Robert Lewis, Al* 689 1.0

* 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. Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier) won the Republican nomination in the 31st State Senate District special election Tuesday with strong support from his constituency in Los Angeles County. Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) was the top vote getter in the Orange County portion of the district, but the turnout was not enough to edge out Hill. Orange County: Ferguson: 29.4% Hill: 13.2% Other: 57.4% Los Angeles County: Ferguson: 12.2% Hill: 34.4% Other: 53.4% Source: Orange County registrar of voters