San Diego Legislators Win Primaries

Surviving the sternest tests of their political careers, a handful of San Diego County legislators--several of them mired in ethics-related controversies--were overcoming strong primary challenges Tuesday to earn the right to defend their seats this fall.

In the most competitive, contentious primary in recent San Diego political history, Democratic Rep. Jim Bates and two Assembly members--Democrat Peter Chacon and Republican Sunny Mojonnier--were winning their respective nominations, turning back the most serious challenges that they have faced in incumbencies stretching from 7 1/2 to 20 years.

In another closely watched race, one-time City Hall aide Jeff Marston was headed towards victory over former Democratic San Diego City Councilman Mike Gotch in the special 78th District contest to fill the vacancy created by Democrat Lucy Killea’s election to the state Senate last December. Both also won their respective “normal” primaries, meaning that Gotch, who also finished behind Marston in April’s special primary, will have an opportunity to reverse the outcome this fall when they compete for the two-year term at stake in November.

Two other Assembly members--Tricia Hunter (R-Bonita) and Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista)--won their contested primaries over opponents who, if nothing else, converted those normally somnolent races into much more than mere electoral formalities.

The legislators’ sweep demonstrated anew the considerable advantages of incumbency, for several of their victories came amid the kind of debilitating controversies that often end political careers. Bates, Chacon and Mojonnier, for example, each have faced official investigations into their conduct during their past term, while the incumbents’ positions on volatile issues such as abortion and the death penalty also acted as a magnet for opposition in those and other contests.

Bates’ victory over lawyer Byron Georgiou marked the second consecutive campaign in which sexual harassment charges involving the congressman have been the issue, as the script and battle lines in Tuesday’s primary largely duplicated those of his 1988 race. Bates’ opponent this fall will be Republican Randall (Duke) Cunningham, a former Navy fighter pilot who outpolled government consultant Jim Lantry, former U.S. ambassador to Qatar Joseph Ghougassian and two long shots.

“I feel like a guy that got hit with the kitchen sink but withstood it,” Bates said. “I think my good record over 19 years made the difference.”

Chacon, meanwhile, defeated former San Diego City Councilwoman Celia Ballesteros and newspaper editor John Warren, while Mojonnier handily outdistanced three rivals, led by former Del Mar Mayor Ronnie Delaney.

Despite warm, sunny weather Tuesday, the voter turnout was estimated at 34%, a dismal performance that some attributed to the paucity of major contested statewide contests. Even an unusually large number of competitive primaries here failed to generate higher interest among local voters.

In a county where partisan campaigns often are races more in name than in fact, Tuesday’s election was a compelling departure from the norm, as five San Diego legislators--four state Assembly members and one congressman--faced serious opposition in their party primaries.

Ironically, a key factor that makes so many incumbents virtually unassailable in general elections--their party’s lopsided voter registration edge within their district--exposes them to greater vulnerability in primaries. Challengers from within their own party, while still having to overcome the incumbents’ daunting name-recognition and fund-raising advantages, at least do not have those problems exacerbated by the demographic hurdle that confronts opponents from the opposite party.

From the start, Bates, Chacon and Mojonnier were viewed as the incumbents whose seats were most at risk, largely because each has been buffeted by serious ethical charges that compounded existing questions about their overall effectiveness. Hunter and Peace, meanwhile, also were forced to mount unusually aggressive campaigns against, respectively, anti-abortion activist Connie Youngkin in the 76th District and lawyers Darrel Vandeveld and Robert Garcia in the 80th District.

In the wake of Bates’ rebuke last October by the House Ethics Committee, it came as no surprise that the four-term San Diego Democrat drew strong opposition in his reelection campaign. What was unanticipated, however, was that, before Bates would have to face any of the five Republicans lining up for the chance to oppose him in November in the 44th District, he would have to turn back a challenge from a fellow Democrat.

Running on the slogan “The Democrat We Can Respect,” Georgiou, the former legal affairs adviser to then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., sought to transform the primary into a referendum on Bates’ morality. Bates’ reprimand for sexually harassing two female aides and for improperly using his congressional staff for political purposes, Georgiou argued, not only diminished his effectiveness, but also left him vulnerable to a Republican challenge this fall. The entry of five Republicans--Cunningham, Ghougassian, Lantry, Eric Epifano and Kenny Harrell--into the GOP primary in a district with a 54%-34% Democratic voter registration edge bolstered his argument, Georgiou said.

Although Bates repeatedly apologized for the behavior that led to the reprimand, he also sought to downplay the controversy, attributing it to “some kidding and flirting around . . . blown out of proportion” by his opponents. Trumpeting his strong record on the environment and other core Democratic issues, Bates also encouraged voters to “not let one thing wipe out” his 19-year career as a San Diego city councilman, county supervisor and congressman.

Two other issues that kept Bates on the defensive were his vote for a hefty congressional pay raise and his opposition to the death penalty in most cases, a contrast to Georgiou’s strong advocacy of capital punishment. Although Bates struck back by labeling Georgiou a carpetbagger for moving into the district early this year after dropping out of the special 78th Assembly District contest, the congressman conceded: “This race comes down to an up or down vote on me.”

Chacon faced a similar situation in the 79th Assembly District, where Ballesteros’ candidacy, combined with his own liabilities, confronted him with the most serious challenge in his 10-term career.

Even some of his closest supporters conceded that Chacon entered the primary with an unusually heavy load of political baggage. A recent California Journal article ranked him next-to-last in overall effectiveness in the Assembly, and Chacon, who occasionally has hinted that he was contemplating retirement, has drawn increasing criticism for spending far less time in San Diego than at his home in Placerville, near Sacramento.

The controversy spawned by Chacon’s acceptance of $7,500 from a check cashers’ organization in 1988 after he abandoned legislation opposed by the group also figured prominently in the campaign. The state attorney general’s office concluded that there was insufficient evidence to charge Chacon with a bribe, but Ballesteros charged that the gift placed him in murky ethical waters.

“Peter Chacon keeps saying he’s going to retire,” said one Ballesteros mailer that aptly summarized her campaign theme. “It’s time the public took him up on his offer.”

Mojonnier’s campaign for a fifth two-year term in the 75th District was fought on similar turf, as she encountered the political fallout from a series of embarrassing headlines chronicling her recent tenure in Sacramento.

In February, Mojonnier agreed to pay a $13,200 fine for double-billing the state and her campaign committee for business trips, as well as for using political donations to pay for fashion and beauty treatments for her staff. Along with other state legislators, she also has been criticized for routinely using state-paid sergeants-at-arms for personal tasks, such as chauffeuring her children and escorting her home after evening parties. Her opponents also resurrected an issue from Mojonnier’s last campaign--her 1987 acceptance of a $10,000 speaking fee from the California Peace Officers Assn. after leaving her sickbed to vote for a new Los Angeles prison.

Mojonnier benefited, however, from the splintering of the anti-incumbent vote by Delaney and the two other challengers--La Jolla businesswoman Fay McGrath and Poway school board member Stan Rodkin.

The special 78th District race between Gotch and Marston, meanwhile, was perhaps more notable for its unorthodox, confusing format than for its content. With Gotch’s experience in elective office providing the major distinction between the two candidates, most attention focused on the peculiarity of their “double election”--the runoff in the special race for the remaining six months in Killea’s unexpired term, and their normal primary for the two-year term at stake this fall.

Billing himself as the “only tried and tested” candidate in the race, Gotch argued that his eight years’ service on the City Council made him better-equipped to quickly adapt to the Legislature. But Marston, a one-time aide to former Councilwoman Gloria McColl and Sen. S.I. Hayakawa (R-Calif.), characterized his own staff work as “doing everything but pushing the button” on a wide range of local and statewide issues.