CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / SECRETARY OF STATE : Flores Bankroll Helped Decide Run at Eu

Since 1978 March Fong Eu has won reelection to the post of secretary of state by record margins, earning a reputation as one of California’s most unbeatable politicians.

So why would anyone run against her in this year’s election?

In the case of Joan Milke Flores, a Los Angeles city councilwoman from San Pedro, one reason is that she had an extra $588,000 to spend.

Flores raised the money from developers, trade unions and others who supported her three successful City Council campaigns. The bankroll became unusable for a fourth council bid when the city recently passed a Charter amendment that placed new limits on campaign spending.

For a time, Flores considered donating the leftover money to a charity such as the Girl Scouts. But then a ruling by a federal judge overturned parts of another campaign finance law, Proposition 73. The ruling allowed Flores to use the monies to run statewide in Tuesday’s Republican primary with the hope that she can face Eu in November.

The generosity of her local supporters has given Flores, 54, a low-risk opportunity to catapult her political fortunes far beyond the working-class community where she began her career 30 years ago as a secretary to now-retired Councilman John Gibson.

“(The money) certainly was a determining factor,” Flores said. “As long as it’s legal, I feel it’s a very appropriate way to spend the money.”

But Flores has run into a snag in the Republican primary in the person of Gordon Levy, a prosecutor in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The most recent California Poll, released in mid-May, showed Flores trailing Levy, 30% to 15%.

A longtime Republican activist, Levy is a member of the party’s Los Angeles County Central Committee. In 20 years of trying, he has never won an election, running several unsuccessful campaigns for the Burbank and Los Angeles city councils and for state Assembly.

Political consultants said Levy’s lead in the polls may be only a fleeting phenomenon, a result of Levy’s ballot designation as “deputy district attorney.”

But whatever the reason, it has forced Flores to dip into her campaign treasury, which has grown to about $800,000 with contributions raised since she declared her candidacy. She has grudgingly spent about $500,000, mostly in statewide direct mailings, to defeat Levy.

“I really feel bad that I had to spend all the money I spent in the primary, because I know that it’s going to be a tough race in the general election and we’re going to have to concentrate our forces,” Flores said.

Levy’s campaign has been run on a shoestring. He acknowledges that he has yet to raise his first $30,000. “Money, it’s always an obstacle,” Levy said. “There’s so many things we’d like to do, but you can’t do them because you don’t have the money.”

Not surprisingly, Levy has made Flores’ money a central issue in his campaign. He has attacked Flores, saying her use of locally raised funds for a statewide campaign is “unethical.”

“It’s wanton disrespect to take people’s money and use it for something that they never dreamed of,” Levy said.

On the Democratic side, Eu’s only challenger Tuesday is Mervin Evans, a self-employed business development consultant from South Los Angeles. Evans, 37, said he is concentrating his efforts on reaching black and Latino voters. In 1987, Evans challenged Los Angeles City Councilman Robert Farrell. He finished third with 7.5% of the vote to Farrell’s 54%.

Evans said he has about $40,000 in uncollected pledges. He said he plans to buy radio time in the final days before the election to attack Eu for failing to reveal her husband’s financial statements. He has also said Eu may be too old to serve another term--she is 68.

“It’s a challenge,” Evans said. “I won’t beat March Fong Eu based on the strength of Merv. I’ll beat her on the strength of her own weaknesses.”

For her part, Eu has done almost no campaigning since filing for reelection in February, said Miyun Lim, Eu’s campaign director.

However, Lim said Eu is taking the Flores campaign seriously, largely because it is so well financed.

Although Eu has never failed to capture less than 60% of the vote in her three reelection campaigns, some Republican activists consider her vulnerable because of her abortive 1988 campaign to challenge U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson. The campaign ended in embarrassment when Eu’s husband, a Singapore-based financier, refused to comply with federal campaign laws requiring him to disclose his investments.

“I think March Fong Eu is very beatable by Flores,” said Ron Smith, a Los Angeles Republican political consultant. “Suppose there’s a big Wilson sweep (in the governor’s race). Flores is going to get in.”

Flores has hired Joyce Valdez, the chief fund-raiser for Wilson. If she wins on Tuesday, she anticipates needing $1 million to unseat Eu.