Candidates Quickly Target Brown’s Seat : Politics: Would-be successors of the 58th District assemblyman pop up within three days of announcement he won’t run again.

Eager to take advantage of Dennis Brown’s decision not to run for reelection to his 58th District Assembly seat, would-be successors are sprouting like desert wildflowers after a spring shower.

Within three days of Brown’s announcement last week that he will not seek another term, three Republicans announced they would run in the June primary, while two Democrats have also indicated they will compete for the seat.

Long Beach City Councilwoman Jan Hall, Long Beach physician Seymour Alban and Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas J. Mays said they will pursue the Republican nomination. On the Democratic side, Joel R. Bishop, a Long Beach computer systems analyst, and Luanne Pryor, a public relations firm owner who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Long Beach, are expected to mount campaigns for the seat, which represents Signal Hill and parts of Long Beach as well as communities in Orange County.

A three-term City Council member who also ran for mayor two years ago, Hall announced a month ago that she would not seek another term on the council but remained interested in other political positions.

“An opportunity has presented itself to continue to serve the public at the state level, an opportunity to continue the work I have pursued for the past 20 years,” said Hall, who heads the California Commission on the Status of Women and recently resigned her position on the board of directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District.

The primary will be the political debut for Alban, a 65-year-old orthopedic surgeon and past president of the Long Beach Medical Assn.

“I’m interested in California health and I think I can make a major contribution,” said Alban, adding that he had previously considered the seat but decided against challenging Brown, a staunch conservative whose voting record earned him the nickname “Dr. No.”

“I think there are times when it should be ‘yes,’ ” said Alban, who noted he was pro-choice on abortion issues.

Mays, an ambitious 36-year-old, moved swiftly to capitalize on his sudden visibility from last month’s oil spill.

“It’s been a crazy couple of days, but late Tuesday I decided the time is right to take a chance and go for it,” Mays said Wednesday. “I was setting my sights on 1992, but Dennis’ announcement Monday accelerated my plans. Nobody thought Dennis would bow out.”

All but Brown’s closest friends and political allies were surprised by the veteran lawmaker’s decision not to seek reelection after representing the heavily GOP district since 1978. But Brown, 40, said he wants to pursue other interests, perhaps returning to the brokerage business.

Mays is the only Orange County-based candidate in the race so far. The mayor, a lean former surfer with a boyish face, appeared almost daily on national network TV as he answered questions about the oil spill and its effect on the beaches of “Surf City.” About 394,000 gallons of oil spilled from the tanker American Trader on Feb. 7 when it struck one of its own anchors about 1.3 miles southwest of Huntington Beach.

Mays likes to describe himself as a conservative with a “strong bent for the environment.” He contends that “politics and bickering” have stymied attempts by Sacramento lawmakers to make serious headway in solving important environmental concerns, a theme he says will be the centerpiece of his campaign.

Hall, too, mentioned environmental issues, saying she has “fought to clean up the air we breathe and move toward alternative fuel sources” while on the rapid transit board.

Hall resigned from the transit board in late January to work for a private consulting firm, creating controversy when she announced that she would oversee the company’s lobbying contract with the transit district. Her former board colleagues subsequently cancelled the contract, anxious to quiet criticism that the arrangement smacked of revolving-door favoritism.

Staff writer Steven R. Churm contributed to this story.

NEXT STEP The deadline for filing election papers, which would have been Friday, has been extended until Wednesday because of Assemblyman Dennis Brown’s announcement not to stand for reelection in the 58th District.