CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : 31st SENATE DISTRICT : GOP’s Frank Hill Runs in Safe Territory

It has been a little more than three months since Gov. George Deukmejian scheduled a special election to replace veteran state Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) and set off a vicious primary battle in which the campaigns of eight candidates combined to spend about $2 million.

On Tuesday, voters in the 31st Senate District will go to the polls in a runoff to choose among the three survivors of the primary battle in February.

Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier), the Republican nominee, is the favorite to win, largely because the seat is in the third most heavily Republican Senate district in California. Republicans hold a registration advantage of about 54% to 36%.

Hill is opposed by Democrat Janice Graham and American Independent Party candidate Robert Lewis.

The district straddles the boundary between Los Angeles and Orange counties and stretches from Whittier and West Covina in the north to Laguna Beach in the south. It also includes part of Brea and Placentia, as well as Yorba Linda, El Toro and Mission Viejo.

For the most part, the campaign strategy for almost all of Hill’s opponents has been to attack the Whittier assemblyman on two issues--abortion and ethics.

Graham, who defeated two other Democrats in the Feb. 6 primary, recently produced her only mailer for the general election campaign--an eight-page attack on Hill. The mailer focused on Hill’s connection to a federal influence-peddling investigation in Sacramento that resulted in FBI agents raiding his office more than a year ago.

Hill has not been charged with any crime and denies wrongdoing.

But Graham’s mailer is filled with headlines, such as, “The FBI has Frank Hill on tape selling his vote for $5,000” and “We have to stop Frank Hill now--before he becomes State Senator Frank Hill.”

Graham, 53, a former schoolteacher from Laguna Hills and the 1988 challenger to Campbell, has also campaigned on her support of abortion rights, highlighting Hill’s opposition to unrestricted abortion.

She had hoped that the FBI investigation and the recent political attention given to abortion would cause state leaders and organizations to throw their support behind her campaign against Hill.

Some California Democrats consider that race “unwinnable.”

Hill, meanwhile, has largely campaigned on his eight-year record in the Assembly and the support he has received from state Republican leaders, including campaign appearances from Deukmejian and Sen. Pete Wilson. Literature mailed to the district also highlights his local roots.

One cover pictures the governor and senator with the headline: “Why are George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson working so hard to elect Frank Hill to the state Senate?”

Hill, 36, grew up in Diamond Bar, graduated from Rowland High School, and attended Mount San Antonio College in Walnut.

Hill, who narrowly defeated Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) in the February primary, said he plans to spend more than $1 million in the race. Graham, meanwhile, reported recently that she has raised a little more than $28,000.

Lewis, who ran unsuccessfully for the 69th Assembly District seat in 1976, supports existing abortion laws, saying, “I don’t want the government getting anywhere near my family’s matters.”

A native of Washington, Lewis attended Cal State Fullerton.

Voter registration officials said the polls throughout the district will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Orange County Registrar of Voters Donald Tanney predicted an 18% turnout for the race, about average for a special election.