Brown’s Decision Likely to Spur Scramble for Seat : Campaign: Assemblyman says his announcement not to run followed months of prayer.

Assemblyman Dennis Brown’s decision not to seek reelection is expected to touch off a scramble to succeed him in the heavily Republican 58th District.

Declaring that the Lord “wants me to do something else with my life,” Brown (R-Los Alamitos) on Monday announced he will drop out of the race.

Brown, 40, a staunch conservative elected in 1978, emphasized that his announcement followed six to eight months of prayer and was not a last-minute decision.

“I’ve been up here 12 years . . . and I never intended to stay this long. Before I get too decrepit, I want to do something else,” said Brown, whose negative votes on a variety of issues earned him the nickname “Dr. No.”

Even before Brown’s decision, he faced a challenge from Democrat Joel R. Bishop, 32, a Long Beach computer systems analyst who works for the Orange County government. On Monday, Democrat Luanne Pryor, owner of a public relations firm and an unsuccessful candidate for Long Beach mayor in 1988, said she is also planning to run.

Among the Republicans considering the race is Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas J. Mays, who has gained attention with his high-profile handling of the oil spill in Orange County last month.

“I’m definitely taking a look at it,” Mays said Monday. “I was really looking at 1992 because I didn’t expect any of our local legislators to be leaving office. But I guess opportunities come along and they have to be evaluated.”

Dr. Seymour Alban of Long Beach, a past president of the Long Beach Medical Assn., was also mentioned as a possible Republican candidate.

The Friday deadline to file election papers for the Assembly seat will be extended until March 14 as a result of Brown’s announcement. The district includes parts of Long Beach, Signal Hill and Catalina Island in Los Angeles County, and Seal Beach and part of Huntington Beach in Orange County.

Brown said he now will have more time for religious activities. In fact, he is immediately resigning from the powerful Ways and Means Committee to have time to attend Bible classes at a fundamentalist center in Sacramento.

Brown, a former stockbroker, said he may also return to the brokerage business. But he would not rule out running for office in 1992 or 1994.

Ever since Brown’s 1978 election, in which he supported the property tax-cutting Proposition 13, Brown has been a charter member of the Assembly’s “cavemen” faction, known for their fundamental political beliefs.

Among others in the group are Brown’s friends, Assemblymen Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) and John R. Lewis (R-Orange). In the past year or so, Nolan has been the target of a federal political corruption probe and Lewis was indicted for his role in preparing allegedly phony presidential endorsement letters. A state appeal court in January dismissed a felony forgery charge against Lewis.

In part because of these two cases, Brown said, “the whole atmosphere (is) more tense and less friendly” in the Capitol. Also contributing to what Brown called a lack of “pleasantness” has been increasing pressure to raise money to run for office.

Brown’s announcement is the second by a Republican lawmaker in the past week. Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) last week announced that she is not running for reelection, saying lawmakers should not serve more than 10 years.

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) said Brown and La Follette will be missed because they “are the glue that holds the party together up here,” citing their encouragement of moderate GOP lawmakers to toe a conservative line.

Times political writer Dave Lesher contributed to this story from Orange County.