ELECTIONS 31ST SENATE DISTRICT : Graham Not Getting Help She Expected : Democratic candidate counted on heavy support in opposing the GOP’s Hill, but her campaign has suffered inattention.

Last January, Democrat Janice Graham was rubbing her hands over the prospect of running against Republican Assemblyman Frank Hill in a special state Senate race.

He is on the wrong side of the electorate in opposing abortion, she thought. And he has been targeted by the FBI’s influence-peddling investigation in Sacramento at a time when public attention is focusing on political ethics.

In a race against Hill (R-Whittier), Graham predicted, state Democratic leaders and California abortion-rights groups would mobilize volunteer forces for her campaign and raise thousands of dollars in contributions.

Graham got her wish to run against Hill. She and he won their party nominations in the Feb. 5 special primary to replace former state Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights). But instead of being swamped with money and support, Graham has been frustrated by the lack of attention her race has received.

She is still convinced that she can win the April 10 election in a predominantly Republican district that is split between Los Angeles and Orange counties. But her effort is going to be more lonely than she anticipated.

“Why wouldn’t they take the chance?” Graham wondered recently. “Is it because I am a woman? I think my pro-choice stance is not popular with the Democratic leadership, so I am not getting so much support there.”

Robert Forsyth, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), put it bluntly.

“This is a race that would be very, very, very difficult for any Democrat to win because of the (Republican) nature of the registration and the voting in that district,” he said. “Just as there are certain districts where it’s a given that it is Democratic, there are also certain districts where it’s a given that it’s Republican.”

Graham also complained about the California Abortion Rights Action League, which worked for one of her Republican opponents in the open primary but declined to support her candidacy in the general election because it considered the race unwinnable.

“They have created a division within the pro-choice ranks in Orange County,” Graham said. “They tell me I don’t have a chance to win and they only back winners. And I said, how are we supposed to win when you don’t back our candidates?”

Peter Scranton, spokesman for the league, responded: “We only have so much time and money to spend. All the professionals seem to think that this one can’t be won.”

Graham’s campaign manager, Peter Remer, said the race was “tougher than we realized.”

“Part of the problem is that Frank Hill is a sitting assemblyman and a lot of special interests are reticent about going against him . . . when they think he’s got a good shot at winning,” Remer said. “It’s not like the blood is in the water and they’re going to jump on him.”

Remer said, however, that Hill “can be beaten.” He said Graham’s campaign will target Democratic voters with a message that includes abortion rights and ethics. And he said it is significant that Hill won the primary with less than 25% of the vote.

Hill said he is concerned that “only one out of four voters voted for me” in the primary.

That is one of the reasons he said he is running a full-scale general election campaign even though he is the favored candidate. Hill said he plans to spend $400,000 in the general election, while Graham said she has raised $34,000 but is now broke.

Hill spent an additional $745,000 on the intensely competitive primary in which he beat Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) by about 1,200 votes.

“We’re not taking anything for granted,” Hill said.

Graham responded: “Maybe it will work against him because Americans have a tradition of supporting the underdog. The amount of money he spent borders on the obscene; it’s overkill.”

Hill’s greatest advantage is the overwhelming Republican registration in the district. The 31st Senate District is the third most heavily Republican in California, with a GOP voter registration edge of about 54% to 36%.

The district stretches from Laguna Beach in the south to Whittier and West Covina in the north.

Hill’s campaign is working to solidify that Republican majority, especially those who voted for other GOP candidates in the primary. Gov. George Deukmejian energized the Republican troops at a fund-raiser in Hacienda Heights last week. And there is another one planned three days before the election with Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson.

This week--at a cost of $85,000--Hill also sent a letter to all of the registered Republicans in the district that was signed by Deukmejian, Senate Minority Leader Ken Maddy (R-Fresno) and Assembly Minority Leader Ross Johnson (R-La Habra).

Hill said he anticipates at least three additional districtwide mailings in the last two weeks of the race.

Graham, meanwhile, said her campaign will also reach voters through the mail, but she declined to detail her strategy. And she said she has prepared a 60-second spot for cable television that features her Laguna Hills fund-raiser last week with state Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Brown.

“With the strategy we use, we are going to reach far more people than anybody will expect us to,” Graham said.

The biggest reason Graham was excited last January about a race against Hill was the FBI investigation. She expected that to excite Democrats statewide about the chance of seizing a solid Republican seat from a weakened GOP candidate.

Hill’s Sacramento office was raided by the FBI more than a year ago as part of an undercover sting operation that has led to the conviction of former state Sen. Joseph Montoya (D-Whittier) and the recent indictment of former state Sen. Paul Carpenter (D-Norwalk).

Hill has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged. He said he has had no contact with the investigators in more than a year.

But to keep the issue alive, Graham issued a scathing press release this week charging: “Mr. Hill has disgraced the California state Legislature with his actions and he has clearly shown that his vote is for sale to the highest bidder. He has the ethics of a rattlesnake--slippery and slimy and ready to bite.”

Hill won the primary even though he was repeatedly linked to the investigation by most of his opponents in the primary. He said, however, that the investigation did make his Senate bid more difficult.